When We Were Kings

Yeah, I'm in Africa. Yeah, Africa's my home.

Damn America and what America thinks.

Yeah, I live in America, but Africa's the home of the black man.

I was a slave 400 years ago,

and I'm going back home to fight among my brothers.

Yeah!

For these two African Americans to come home

was of great, great significance.

Because of Hollywood and TV,

a lot of us had been taught to hate Africa.

There was a time

if you called a black person "African," they'd be ready to fight.

When I get to Africa,

we gonna get it on because we don't get along!

I'm gonna eat him up!

Too much speed for him!

Too fast! Too fast! That's right!

I'm gonna retire the heavyweight champion of the world!

I'm gonna retire the heavyweight champion of the world!

September 25, the world will be stunned!

- Tell 'em, Ali! - That's right.

If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned,

wait till I kick Foreman's behind!

An 18-year-old amateur boxing champion with a charming smile

took a physical examination for his first professional fight.

It won't be an easy fight, but my plan of attack on a fighter like Alex Miteff

would be two fast left jabs,

a rapid right cross and a left hook.

But in the Belgian Congo, freedom was followed by rioting

and army mutiny.

For months, the political pattern kept changing with kaleidoscopic speed

until pro-Red Premier Lumumba was seized

by the forces of strongman Colonel Mobutu.

After watching Mike DeJohn and Eddie Machen the other night,

I would rate myself number two now.

I'm out to break Floyd Patterson's record,

and by this being my 20th birthday, today, January 17,

that leaves me exactly one year to reach my goal.

People do say I'm cocky. Some say I need a good whuppin'.

Some say I talk too much.

But anything that I say, I'm willing to back up.

The other night I predicted that I would knock out this Banks

in four rounds, and I did.

I knocked out Don Warner in four rounds,

and I just annihilated George Logan in four rounds.

Let me see you close your mouth and just keep it closed.

- You know that's impossible. - No, keep it closed.

You know that's impossible. I'm the greatest.

I'm knocking out all bums. And if you get too smart, I'll knock you out.

- You'd take him on before the fight? - Beat him like I'm his daddy.

I saw Sonny Liston a few days ago, Cassius...

Ain't he ugly?

I'm young, I'm handsome,

I'm fast, I'm pretty, and can't possibly be beat.

Cassius Clay goes into the record book

with Corbett, Tunney and Braddock

as another who brought off one of the great upsets

in the heavyweight history.

It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in...

beating a big, bad monster

who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him.

That's when that little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky,

came up and stopped Sonny Liston,

the man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice.

He was gonna kill me!

But he hit harder than George.

His reach was longer than George. He's a better boxer than George.

And I'm better now than I was when you saw

that 22-year-old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston.

I'm experienced now, professional.

Jaw's been broke, been knocked down a couple times.

I'm bad!

Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight.

I done rassled with an alligator.

That's right. I have rassled with an alligator!

I done tussled with a whale.

I done handcuffed lightning, throwed thunder in jail.

That's bad! Only last week, I murdered a rock!

Injured a stone! Hospitalized a brick!

- I'm so mean I make medicine sick. - Bad dude!

- Bad. Fast. - Ain't no doubt.

Fast! Fast!

Last night, I cut the light off in my bedroom,

hit the switch, was in the bed before the room was dark.

- Incredible. Incredible. - Fast.

And you, George Foreman, all you chumps are gonna bow when I whup him!

All of you! I know you got him. I know you got him picked.

But the man's in trouble. I'm gonna show you how great I am!

Hell, I think Ali was scared. I think he was scared even then.

He knew he was gonna be very scared as he got closer to the fight.

You know the way George fights. George comes out...

I named him the Mummy!

With his ego, he could keep telling himself he would dominate Foreman,

that he would beat him, that he would dance, make a fool of him,

that he would show him superior boxing,

that Foreman would never lay a glove on him.

But in fact, in his sleep or wherever his private moment came,

he had to know that he had not done nearly as well

against two fighters particularly: Joe Frazier and Ken Norton,

whom Foreman had demolished.

Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!

The heavyweight champion is taking the mandatory eight count,

and Foreman is as poised as can be!

Foreman is going about his job!

He had an overpowering intensity when he punched.

Foreman had won his championship by knocking Joe Frazier out,

and knocked him down something like seven times.

Then he destroyed Ken Norton in two rounds.

The word "murderous" does not quite apply.

Foreman was awesome.

This chump has got everybody scared.

Scared of what?

Nothing to be scared of.

Scared of what?

How many fellas in here now picks George? Be truthful. Be men.

Tell the truth.

John, raise your hand.

Got George?

You got George? Tell the truth.

- You. You, fella. Yeah. - Me?

- No pick. - No pick?

I just wanna know. You got George.

The time may have come

to say good-bye to Muhammad Ali,

because very honestly,

I don't think he can beat George Foreman.

Howard Cosell, you told everybody I don't have a chance.

You told 'em I don't have nothing but a prayer.

Well, chump, all I need is a prayer,

because if that prayer reach the right man,

not only will George Foreman fall but mountains will fall.

Maybe he can pull off a miracle.

But against George Foreman?

So young, so strong, so fearless?

Against George Foreman,

who does away with his opponents one after another

in less than three rounds?

It's hard for me to conjure with that.

You're always talking about, "Muhammad, you're not the same man

you were ten years ago."

I asked your wife, and she told me

you're not the same man you was two years ago!

After this fight, I suspect Ali will retire.

And through all of the years,

my own memories of him will be as a fighter

and as the strange and curious and gregarious

and engaging and sometimes cruel

and sometimes family man that he is.

I'm gonna let everybody know

that that thing you got on your head is a phony,

and it comes from the tail of a pony.

A stolen bicycle.

He had a bicycle, and he went to Columbia Gym.

There was something going on up there, and he left his bike parked outside.

So when he came out, someone had stole it,

and he went inside, and he was crying,

and he told the policeman there, his name was Joe Martin,

that someone stole his bike.

And Joe Martin, he would also teach

the little boys how to box in the evening.

So he asked him, would he be interested in learning how to box?

And he told him yes,

because if he ever found out who stole his bike,

he wanted to know how to fight so he could beat them up.

An overhand right sends Sonny to the canvas!

Referee Jersey Joe Walcott trying to get Ali to a neutral corner.

Ali yelling at Liston to get up and fight!

The anchor punch.

- Which punch? - Anchor. I call it the anchor punch.

- The one Stepin Fetchit helped you with? - Yeah, man.

And people couldn't see it. It was so fast...

Sports Illustrated clocked it. They got a slow-motion camera.

They clocked the punch, and the punch flew at 4/100 of a second.

You can break a second down to a hundred pieces.

You know how people win a ski race, they say, "He won in 16/100,

he won in 32/100 of a second."

So you break a second down to 100 pieces. So, you know, yeah, it's quick.

So 4/100... They got a machine that goes, like, br-r-r-t, real quick.

Br-r-r-t. And it counts real quick. You know, br-r-r-t. Real quick.

And by the time that thing hit four, that's how quick...

From the time the punch started to where it landed,

it was 4/100 of a second, which is an eye blink.

Like a camera flash. That's 4/100 of a second.

Now, the minute I hit Sonny Liston,

all those people blinked at that moment, and that's why they didn't see the punch.

I swear.

If you watch the film close... You gotta hold your eyes real close...

Keep looking.

All right, I'm getting ready to hit him. You can't just...

You got to hold your eyes and wait or you won't see it, man!

They have this beautiful, you know, specimen, a fighting machine,

that was handsome, he was articulate,

he was funny,

charismatic...

and was whuppin' ass too.

Deposed heavyweight champion Cassius Clay,

at a federal court in Houston, is found guilty

of violating the US Selective Service laws by refusing to be inducted.

He is sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000.

The way he fused politics and sports...