Cassius Clay at the 5th Street Gym (with Angelo Dundee) Miami Beach, FL 1961" width="300" height="202" />
Cassius Clay Dynamite
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Today he is known as Muhammad Ali AKA The Greatest, the retired former world heavyweight champion, and a man of few words. Long before that, in the era known as the 1960’s, he rose toprominence as a rhyming poet who called out his opponents, white and black, and then finished them off while people watched. In doing so, he offended the white establishment, who did want to hear anymore about or from the bragging young man.
Cassius Clay Rare Interview Training For Sonny Liston in 1964, Black and White Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miOrg5LWgn8
Cassius Clay versus Lamar Clark 1961 Bout on YouTube, Silent Black and White Footage
Cassius Marcellus Clay of Louisville, Kentucky,was determined not to be another Joe Louis Uncle Tom, not another Sugar Ray Robinson used, dumped and forgotten. Stealing the act of the professional wrestler Curious George, Cassius Clay just kept talking. So much so, in fact, the media went from field day into a frenzy to hear his pompouspredictions of what he would do to his opponent next. Overshadowing the careerof Rocky Marciano, Clay kept bragging and bragging and bragging. What would he say or do next?
The 1960 Olympic Light Heavyweight Gold Medalist, Clay won his first 19 bouts before stopping Sonny Liston in the sixth round at the Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 2, 1964, to win the World Heavyweight title. Clay then fought in ten consecutive world heavyweight championship fights, the most since Joe Louis several decades earlier.
Not many people know this, but Cassius Clay did not become Muhammad Ali at that point. Instead, he changed his name to Cassius X, and became Muhammad Ali later.
For the record, Cassius Clay, before becoming champion and changing his name, scored a number of dynamite knockouts and stoppages in the Clay era of ‘greatest hits’. Those pretenders disposed of by Cassius Clay included: Herb Siler, Tony Esperti, Jimmy Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, LaMar Clark, Alex Miteff, Willie Besmanoff, Sonny Banks, Alejandro Lavorante, Archie Moore, Don Warner, George Logan, Billy Daniels, Charlie Powell, and Henry Cooper.
In the interview video clip from 1964 above, the interview concludes with the statement he does not think Clay is going to beat Liston. They did not think so then, but the upset of the century did occur. In reflection, I wonder which opponent was slower for Clay, Liston in the 1960’s or George Foreman in the 1970’s. Speed and timing beat power, and back in the day, Cassius Clay had it all.
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