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Muhammad Ali (born 1942-01-17) American Boxer, Heavyweight of the World three times between 1964 and 1979; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.

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'Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.'

I'm writin' the greatest short poem of all time. This poem tells how it feels to be great as I am.
People say, I miss my prediction, cause the fight went ten rounds. First I said Jones in four, then I said Jones in six. Six & four is what???.
- A Reporter asked him about the Jones fight and his prediction.
For those of you, who wouldn't be able to see the Clay/Liston fight, here is the eighth round and I exactly tell you what's happen:
Clay comes out to meet Liston,and Liston start to retreat,
if Liston goes back an inch further, he'll land up in the ringside seat.
Clay swings with his left, Clay swings with his right,
look at young Cassius carry the fight.
Liston keeps backin', but there's not enough room,
it's a matter of time, o Clay loweres the boom.
Now Clay's swings with a right, what a beautiful swing.
The punch raises the bear, clear out of the ring.
Now Liston disappears from view, and the crowd is gettin' frantic,
but our radar station has picked him up, he is somewhere over the atlantic.
Liston is still risin', and the ref was a frown,
for he can't start countin' till Sonny comes down.
Who would have thought, when they came to the fight,
that they'd witness a launchin' of a black satelite.
Yes the crowd did not dream, when they put down their money,
that they would see, a total eclypse of the Sonny.
- Before the first Liston fight.
Terrell will catch hell at the sound of the bell.
Ernie Terrell thinks he is a championship-fighter,
but when he meets me he fall 20 pound lighter.
He may come in the ring, lookin' clean and meat,
but if he's not cool, there carryin' out fast feet.'
No I'm not sayin' just to be funny, but I'm fightin' Ernie because he needs the money.
I decided to let him make a little praid,
but to catch his, I must whip his head.
If the man wants to stand toe to toe,
and with me trade it blow by blow.
But if he is hip, he'll take a dip, cause I plan to bust his lip.
And after the fight Terrell will know he was in a scuffle,
cause he couldn't master the Ali-Suffle.'
- To Ernie Terrell before their 1967 fight
He will be mine, in round nine, and I ain't lyin'.
He must fall in eight, to prove that I am great.
He wanted to go to heaven, so I took him in seven.
If he'd be in a word of fix, I cut it to six.
If he keeps talkin' jive, he will fall in five.
If he makes me sore, I'll get him in round four, like before, with Archie moore, on the floor.
If that don't do, we'll get him in two.
If he runs, we can get him in one.
If he don't wanna fight, he should keep his ugly self at home that night.

I say it again, and I said it before. Archie Moore will fall in round four.
- Before his fight against the agin' champion Archie Moore.
If I had lower IQ, I could enjoy your interview.
- In a exchange with Broadcaster Howard Cosell
Joe comes out smokin', and I gonna be jokin'. I be packin' and pokin', pouring water on his smokin'. This might shock and amaze ya, but I will destroy Joe Frazier. Some people say you better watch Joe Frazier, he is always strong I said tell them to drive then roll on.
- About Joe Frazier before their first fight. 8. March 1971, New York.
This time Norton will see.
Im truly the most,
and all this time he is been cheasin' a ghost.
There are two things, are hard to hit and see,
that's a spokie ghost and Muhammad Ali.
- Before the second Norton fight.
Im so great, I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest. I told the world, I talked to god everyday, if gods with me can't nobody be against me. I shook Up the world, I shook up the world.
- After defeating Sonny Liston the first time. 25. February 1964, Miami Beach.
Sonny's trainer told him at the beginning of the seventh round, he says: Sonny, son get up the bell is about to rang. Sonny says: My mother didn't raise no fool I'm gonna stay on this stool.
- About his first defeat over Liston.
Liston says: This time am I a bigger fool? I flat on my back, instead of the stool.
- After knocking Sonny Liston out in the first round with the famous "Anchor Punch". Lewiston, Maine. 25. May 1965
I'm gonna put him flat on his back, so he will start acting black. Cause when he was the champion, he didn't do as he should, he tries to force himself into an all-white neighbour hood.
- About Floyd Patterson.
My face is so pretty, you don't see a scar, which proves Im the king of the ring by far.
- Ali about himself.
This is the legend of Cassius Clay, the most beautiful fighter in the world today. He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y, of a muscular punch that's incredibly speed-y. The fistic world was dull and waery, but a champ like liston, things had to be dreary. Then someone with color and someone with dash, brought fight fans are runnin' with Cash. This brash young boxer is something to see and the heavyweight championship is his destiny. This kid's got a left, this kid's got a right, if he hit you once, you're asleep for the night.
- Cassius Clay - I Am The Greatest

The Silent Warrior

There live a great fighter name Joe,
who took his share of blows.
They ranged from high to low.
He traveled around the globe,
and walked the long road home.
There lives a great champion named Joe
who kept his head held high.
He fought the best of men
and proved his strength would not die.
There live a great man named Joe
who was belittled by a loudmouth foe.
While his rival would taunt and tease
Joe silently bore the stings.
And then fought like gladiator in the ring.
As the years passed swifty by
The rounds diminished with time.
But Joe's trouble no man could know,
and his shame no man would find.
No matter how cruel the lyric,
No matter how painful the strike.
Joe was proud to be Joe.
His pride no man would take down.
His dignity rose with his crown.
Long after the final bout ended,
After the last bell rang,
News reached Joe's old opponent,
of the pain his family suffered.
The blows weren't intended to hit home
But his family still remembers the anguish Their hurt had never ended.
Now Ali could feel Joe's pain,
And Ali's worrow could not be relieved.
So today Joe stands a great warrior,
marked with repect and pride.
For all that life has dealt him,
He never let strength subside.
The two men who fought great battles,
became blood brothers in time.
For every struggle that Joe survived,
For every dispute he endured, to rise,
Joe will go down in history
as a model for champions to come.
While Frazier was a man of few words,
Ali was a world of mouth,
but he found his place in history.
Now his heart can express him well.
Joe Frazier was a silent warrior,
whom Ali silently admired.
One could not rise without the other.

- A poem for Smokin' Joe Frazier

How Cassius Took Rome

To make America the greatest is my goal,
So I beat the Russians, and I beat the Pole,
and for the USA won the medal of gold.
Italians said: "You're Greater than the Cassius of old´´.
We like your name, we like your game,
So make Rome your home if you will. I said I appreciate your kind hospitality,
But the USA is my country still,
'Cause they're waiting to welcome me in Louisville.

- After winning the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Summer Games in Rome, Italy.

.

That's the only way you gonna save this sucker. He's doomed.
- About George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle before the start of the fight,when referee Clayton warned Ali that if he doesn't stop talking he will stop the fight.

You been hearing about how bad I am since you were a little kid with mess in your pants! Tonight, I'm gonna whip you till you cry like a baby.
- To George Foreman before the start of the Rumble in the Jungle as the referee is giving them instructions.

I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I'm so great I don't have a mark on my face. I shook up the world.
- Statement from the boxing ring after beating Sonny Liston (1964-02-25); as quoted in "When Clay shook up the world", 2004-02-24)

Ain't no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it.
- Comment after the match with Jimmy Ellis was stopped by the referee in the twelfth round (July 1971)

I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.
- Statement after losing his fight to Ken Norton (1973-03-31)

Last night I had a dream, When I got to Africa,
I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat Tarzan’s behind first,
For claiming to be King of the Jungle.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tustled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And put thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
I have murdered a rock,
I’ve injured a stone, and hospitalized a brick.
I’m so bad, I make medicine sick.
I’m so fast, man,
I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet.
When George Foreman meets me,
He’ll pay his debt.
I can drown the drink of water, and kill a dead tree.
Wait till you see Muhammad Ali.
- A poem from Rumble in the Jungle (1974)

It's gonna be a a killa, a chilla, and a thrilla when I get that gorilla in Manila.

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.
- As quoted in Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties (1999) by Mike Marqusee; also quoted in the International Socialist Review Issue 33 (January–February 2004)

Religions all have different names, but they all contain the same truths. ... I think the people of our religion should be tolerant and understand people believe different things.
- When asked how he felt about the suspects in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks sharing his Islamic faith
- In "Bush: 'Justice Will Be Done'". CNN. 2001-09-20.

What's really hurting me, the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. ... Islam is not a killer religion. ... Islam means peace, I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem.
- In Lisa L. Colangelo and Clem Richardson, "Muhammad Ali Defends His Religion", New York Daily News 2001-09-21, p. 34

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.
- As quoted at "Ali's Quotes" at BBC Sport : Boxing (17 January 2007)

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.
- As quoted at "Ali's Quotes" at BBC Sport : Boxing (17 January 2007)

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
- As quoted at "Ali's Quotes" at BBC Sport : Boxing (17 January 2007)

I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round
- As quoted at "Ali's Quotes" at BBC Sport : Boxing (17 January 2007)

Q: What's the thing you'd most like people to say about your life?

I'd like for them to say he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, one tablespoon teaspoon of generosity, one [unclear] of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then, he mix willlingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stirs it up well, then he spreads it over his span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met. source: Muhammad ali interview

Unsourced

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt. But people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents. People die everyday. Same with fighters, some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just dont let yourself believe it will happen to you.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing.

Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.

All I want now is to be a nice, clean gentleman. I've proved my point. Now I'm going to set an example for all the nice boys and girls. I'm through talking.

Be loud, be pretty and keep their black-hatin' asses in their chairs.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name — it means beloved of God — and I insist people use it when speaking to me and of me.

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

Don't count the days, make the days count.

Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest.

Fifteen referees. I want fifteen referees to be at this fight because there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set except me. There's not a man alive who can whup me. I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see, rumble young man, rumble!

If you were surprised when Nixon resigned, just watch what happens when I whup Foreman's behind!
- (Rumble in the Jungle as documented in When We Were Kings)

Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.

God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; He is.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

I am America. I am the part you won't recognize, but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky — my name, not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals, my own. Get used to me.

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

I am tired of talking.

I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.

I don't always know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm right.

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.

I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer — anything but a fighter. In this trade, it's the managers that make the money and last the longest.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

If Doug Jones upset me, I will retire.
- Prior to his 1963 match with Doug Jones.

I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
- Prior to a boxing match with Floyd Patterson

I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace.

I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy.

I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.
- When asked about his Golf game

I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived 'cause there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them.

If Allah says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up.

If my fans think I can do everything I say I can do, then they're crazier than I am.

If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.

It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.

It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.

It's not bragging if you can back it up.
- Actually the statement " It ain't bragging if you can back it" up was first used by Dizzy Dean in 1934 based on the number of games he would win.

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

Old age is just a record of one's whole life.

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy — nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley — I was the Elvis of boxing.

Pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.

Prejudice comes from being in the dark; sunlight disinfects it.

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
- Variant: The service you do for others is the rent you pay for the time you spend on earth.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

Superman don't need no seat belt.
- Comment to a flight attendant, who replied: "Superman don't need no airplane, either."

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.

To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.

To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich.

Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.

We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last.

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.

You can go to Japan, China, all the European, African, Arabia, and South American countries, and man, they know me. I can't name a nation where they don't know me.

When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble.
- Variant: It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

If my mind can conceive it; and my heart can believe it - then I can achieve it.

Misattributed

How do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?
- Alleged response by Ali to a reporter who asked how he felt about sharing the Islamic faith with the suspects of the World Trade Center terrorist attack, as debunked at Snopes.com.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
- This is actually from Ali's autobiography "The Greatest". However, if read carefully, this quote is actually from Don King and he said it to George Foreman. King was just telling Ali how he managed to convince Foreman to sign the contract.

No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger. (Sometimes quoted as "No Viet Cong ever called me a nigger.")
- Ali biographer Thomas Hauser searched extensively to verify this popular quote's validity, but found no evidence of Ali actually saying it or anything resembling it. (Documented in Ralph Keyes' Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations)

About Muhammad Ali

I'd like to burrow his body for just 48 hours. There are three guys I'd like to beat up, and four women I'd like to make love to.
- Jim Murray, Los Angeles writer

I hit him so hard that I made him cry. He looked at me and said, "I'm going to get you for that." I respected him then, and I respect him now.
- George Foreman, quoted in Andrew Baker (2002-01-15). "'Living legend' still commands respect of peers". The Daily Telegraph.

Clay is a good enough fighter, but it's unfortunate that he's a Black Muslim. A champion should represent all sects, not one.
- Joe Louis, ibid.

Clay is so young and has been misled by the wrong people... He might as well have joined the Ku Klux Klan.
- Floyd Patterson, ibid.

Under the influence of Elijah Mohammad — who preached that blacks should refuse to integrate with "white devils" — Ali made a point of dating only black women and lashed out at men and women who engaged in interracial sex. In an interview with Playboy, he declared: "A black man should be killed if he's messing with a white woman." When the interviewer asked about black women crossing the colour barrier, Ali responded: "Then she dies. Kill her, too."
It's unlikely that a white athlete who made such remarks would receive the praise that Michael Mann heaps on Ali. He says that the fighter "personified racial pride and self-knowledge". The Playboy journalist, who interviewed the boxer, was closer to the mark when he observed of his subject: "You're beginning to sound like a carbon copy of a white racist." ... The transformation of Ali from a great fighter to a celebrated man of conscience and social purpose has succeeded so well because the actual history of his career has been altered to reflect the kinder, gentler man of today. Unpleasant remarks or facts from the past have been swept away or excused. ... A more historically accurate appraisal of Ali would conclude that he was far from heroic outside the ring and was pitifully misused by his masters in the Nation of Islam. For his purposes, Elijah hijacked the impressionable young man's career and filled his head with racist nonsense.
By the time he finally broke free of the old Nation of Islam, in the 1970s, his career was in its last stages. He continued to fight long past his prime, in part to recover the money and time he had lost in his misadventures with the Black Muslims.
- Michael Shelden (2002-01-04). "Let's not pretend Ali was Gandhi". The Daily Telegraph.

Hell no, I aint gonna go. On the war in vietnam I sing this song, I aint got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. Clean out my cell, and take my tail to jail without bail, cause better to be in jail fed, than in vietnam dead.
- Ali on the war in Vietnam, which he refused.

External links

Wikipedia

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Muhammad Ali