When We Were Kings (1996) - full transcript

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

Damn America and what America thinks.

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.'

Once, if you called a Black person
African they'd be ready to fight.

'When I get to Africa we'll get
it on because we don't get along!'



I'm gonna eat him up!

Too much speed for him!
Too fast! Too fast!

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

I'm gonna retire
the heavyweight champion!

September 25th
the world'll be stunned!

Tell 'em, Ali!

If you think the world was surprised
when Nixon resigned

wait till I kick Foreman's behind!

'An 18-year-old amateur
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 an army mutiny.

'For months,
the political pattern kept changing

'until pro-Red
Premier Lumumba was seized

'by the forces
of strongman Colonel Mobutu.'

After watching Mike DeJohn
and Eddie Machen,

I would rate myself number two.

I'm out to break
Floyd Patterson's record

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

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 Banks
in four rounds and I did.

I knocked out Don Warner

and I just annihilated
George Logan in four rounds.

'Close your mouth
and keep it closed.'

- That's impossible.
- Keep it closed.

I'm the greatest
and 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.

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,

bringing off another great upset
in 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.

When little Cassius Clay
stopped Sonny Liston,

the man who annihilated
Floyd Patterson twice.

He was gonna kill me!

But he hit harder than George.

His reach is longer,
he's a better boxer

and I'm better now than when you saw
that kid running from Sonny Liston.

I'm experienced now, professional.

Jaw's been broke, been knocked down
a couple of times, I'm bad!

Been chopping trees,
I done something new.

- I wrestled with an alligator.

That's right,
I have wrestled with an alligator!

I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed
lightning, thrown thunder in jail!

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

Injured a stone!
Hospitalised a brick!

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

Bad, fast!

Fast! Fast! Last night,
cut the light off in my bedroom,

hit the switch and was in the bed
before the room was dark!

- Incredible.
- Fast!

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

All of you! I know you got him picked
but the man's in trouble!

I'm gonna show you how great I am!

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 made him the mummy!"

'With his ego he could tell
himself he would dominate Foreman,

'make a fool of him, that Foreman
would never lay a glove on him.'

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

he knew that he had not done 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 won
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?
There's nothing to be scared of.

Scared of what?

How many fellas in here
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.

No pick? I just wanna know.
You got George...

The time may have come
to say goodbye 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.

Told 'em I don't have
nothing but a prayer.

Well, chump, all I need is a prayer
because if that reaches 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 always say "Muhammad, you're not
the same man you were 10 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 on your head

is a phoney
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 stolen 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 also taught the
little boys how to box in the evening

so he asked 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 is trying
to get Ali to a neutral corner.

Ali yelling at Liston to get up...

- Anchor punch.
- Which fight?

I call it the anchor punch.

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

People couldn't see it,

it was so fast Sports Illustrated
got a slow-motion camera,

they clocked the punch and the punch
flew at 4/100ths of a second.

You can break a second
down to 100 pieces.

When people win a ski race
they say one and 16/100ths,

one and 32/100ths of a second,

so you break a second into 100 pieces
so, you know...that's quick,

they got a machine that goes,
like, fr-r-t, real quick, fr-r-t,

and it counts real quick, real quick.

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

from the time the punch started
to where it landed

was 4/100ths of a second,
an eye blink, like a camera flash.

That's 4/100ths of a second.

When I hit Sonny Liston
all those people blinked,

so they didn't see it.

- I swear!

If you watch the film close,
keep your eyes real close...

- Keep looking.

I'm getting ready to hit him.

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

Ali was a beautiful...specimen,

a fighting machine.

He was handsome,
he was articulate, he was funny,

charismatic.

And was whuppin' ass too.

'Deposed champion
Cassius Clay, at court in Houston,

'is found guilty of violating
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.

'Very few Black athletes had ever
talked the way Muhammad Ali talked

'without fear of something
happening to their careers.'

'..as a Moslem minister
made him exempt...'

'He was already very unpopular
with mainstream Americans

'because he had joined
the Nation of Islam,

'which was perceived as
a radical Black separatist group.'

On top of that,
when he was called for induction

he refused to take the step forward.

He absolutely infuriated America.

Muhammad Ali said,
"No Viet Cong ever called me nigger."

The king is going home
to get his throne.

From root to fruit,
that's where everything started at.

This is God's act
and you're part of it.

This is no Hollywood set,
this is real.

Hollywood set up these scenes,

have somebody in the movies
playing his life.

We don't pick up a script.

We get up in the morning,

sometimes we feel good,
sometimes bad,

but we go through it with feeling.

'Muhammad Ali's a prophet, he gonna
be a fisherman for Elijah Muhammad.

'This is only a stop, look and
listen sign he's doing, fighting.'

We been fightin' ever since we met.

We beat Uncle Sam, come out
of the garage and beat number two.

First man ever did it. Rest of 'em
they put out of the country.

'This is God's act,
we just actors in it.

'If Jesus was here
everybody'd want his autograph

'and they'd be filming him.

'This is a sport,
that's why you walking, talk to him.'

I think Muhammad is a prophet.
How you gonna beat God's son?

Anybody who loves poor people
and little people gotta be a prophet.

He was champion of the world,
had a table full of food.

Had a house for his mother, one for
him and he told 'em to shove it.

If he couldn't love his god,
what do you think he is...mister?

'Ali trained for the Foreman
fight at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania.

'He trained very hard
for that fight,

'and had very good sparring partners.

'Larry Holmes was one of them.

'I was struck with how well
he actually handled Ali

'in their sparring sessions.

'He dominated Ali.
That wasn't uncommon.

'Ali would often not show his best
stuff with sparring partners,

'but would work on his weaknesses.

'He'd go against the ropes
and let people pummel him,

'very heavy hitters,
he'd let them bang away at him.

'As if he was training his body to
receive these messages of punishment

'and absorb them faster than other
fighters could absorb them.'

'This is in Africa because
they came up with $10 million.'

$5 million for George Foreman,

$5 million for me.

England was trying to get it.
A promoter said America was trying,

but none could surpass
the $5 million mark.

The dream is becoming a reality.

'Don King
went to George Foreman

'and got him to sign an agreement

'saying that if King could deliver
$5 million, Foreman would fight Ali.

'Then King went to Ali
and made the same deal,

'so Don King now had both fighters,

'their signatures
on a piece of paper.

'What he didn't have
was $10 million.'

..a festival to complement
this great sporting event,

the greatest sporting event
in history.

- Of all time!
- All time, as the champ says.

Greatest event of all time!

Bigger than Evel Knievel and
the Kentucky Derby on the same day.

The president of Zaire was willing
to put $10 million

of his country's own very scarce,
hard-earned currency on the line,

not for any
short-term economic reason

but because he felt
that the fight would be good

in terms of promoting Zaire and also
in terms of promoting himself,

and as Ali said at the time,

countries go to war
to get their names on the map

and wars cost
a lot more than $10 million.

Some of the most dynamic
performers from Afro-America

will appear at the stadium in
Kinshasa on the 20th, 21st and 22nd,

with this theatrical release.

It will be James Brown,
soul brother number one...

- Is he playing?
- Yes, James Brown will be there.

We will have BB King, The Spinners...

This is the first assembly in history
where the top-notch Blacks of America

and the people of Africa had
something together, all on a level,

we're all meeting and learning more
about each other,

the first assembly among American
Black men and Africans in history

and it's a big honour.

Plus I gotta whup George!

'Got to whup George!'

We're gonna rumble in the jungle!

Come on, come on.

Speak up, boy. Go ahead.

- Good boy.

Get down.

- Quiet.
- George?

Is this fight against Ali
the toughest of your career?

Could be, could be. I doubt it.

This is Muhammad Ali, September 10th
at New York City airport,

en route to Zaire to reclaim
the heavyweight title of the world.

Champ, what would you like to say
to the children of the world?

I'd like to say, mainly where they
understand English in America,

to...live a clean life,
stay off the dope.

It's tearing the country up.

Also, if they wanna be like me,
I'm going to whup George Foreman,

and when they see this
I will have beaten him.

Tell them to quit eating
so much candy,

I have three rotten teeth
and I had to have one of 'em pulled,

I can't chew my food like I should.

Eat natural foods
because we must whup Mr Tooth Decay.

I got one right there and one there.

Ali told us he's going to use part
of his money to build a hospital.

Do you intend to use part of your
money for something, a project?

He may think
he may have to be in the hospital.

I want the man!

When I get to Africa we gonna
get it on because we don't get along!

I don't like him, he talks too much.

- Beg your pardon?
- You would continue boxing

- even if you lose?
- I beg your pardon?

- You don't think about losing?

No. But thank you.
Nice talking to you.

Flying over the Sahara desert.

An African airline with all African
stewardesses, all African pilots.

This is the first free feeling
I had in a long time.

Ain't this something, flying in
an airplane with Black pilots?

All Black crew? This is strange
to the American Negro.

We never dreamed of this!

Every time we watch TV they show us
Tarzan and the natives and jungles,

they never told us that Africans
were more intelligent than we are.

They speak English,
French and African.

We can't even speak English good.

Ain't this beautiful? I'm free!

Fantastic!

I'm free.

# Now, I want everybody

# To repeat after me

# If you don't know who you are
and where your place in life is

# Just say to yourself, I am!

# Somebody!

# I am!

# Somebody!

# I may be poor

# But I am somebody #

'It was a great joy

'to see that the championship
was going to happen in Africa.

'People were so happy.

'At last the world was
paying attention to our continent.

'Yes, we knew Muhammad Ali
as a boxer,

'but more importantly
for his political stance.

'When we saw that America was at war
with a Third World country, Vietnam,

'and that one of the children
of the United States said

'"Me? You want me to go
and fight against the Viet Cong?"

'"Why should I fight against them?
They haven't hurt me."

'And for us, it was extraordinary to
see that in the America of that time

'someone could take such a position.

'He may have lost his title,
he may have lost millions of dollars

'but he gained
the esteem of millions of Africans.'

Ali! Ali! Ali!

What is your population?

- 22 million.
- 22 million?

- 22 million.
- How many George Foreman fans here?

- We don't know, we don't know.

- How many Muhammad Ali?
- So many we cannot count them.

'George Foreman?
We had heard he was a world champion.

'We thought he was white, then
we realised he was black, like Ali.

'But still, for us,
Foreman represented America.

'He arrived with a dog,
a German shepherd,

'which immediately offended Africans

'since the Belgians
had used them as police dogs.'

Ali said you're
the out-of-towner here.

Africa is the cradle of civilisation,
everybody's home is Africa.

OK, fine.
So, they're leaving tomorrow...

Typhoid. How do you spell typhoid?
Is that all that we're giving?

Who do you want to be
your beneficiary in case of anything?

'You need
a ticket to get on the plane.'

Let me see some hands of the 51
who don't have airline tickets.

Hi! You know who we are, don't you?

I'm Lola Love, I'm with the dancers
of the James Brown show, revue.

Zai-ere, or Zare,
or whatever, you know?

Yeah, when are gonna get to Zee-air?

- Who?
- Mobutu land.

We're gonna fly in zee-air
till we get to Zaire.

That's right!

# Sittin' in a railway station

# My suitcase in my hand

# Going back where I came from

# I've had more than I can stand

# Marchin' in beside my dreams

# Pack my things
and live those dreams

# I was up but then I've been down

# Ain't gonna hang around

# I'm coming home

# Uh-huh, yes, I am

# More than I can stand, my daughter

# Tell someone to meet me

# I'm comin' home

# Why don't you, mercy me

# Ooh-hoo, let me tell ya

# Came to this old town

# Some fortune and some fame

# Never got the chance
to prove myself

# Tryin' to play every game

# Abusin' people just ain't my thing

# I won't dangle from any string

# Peace movement don't care about now
turning inside out

# I'm coming home, home, yeah

# It's mighty long

# I got it, you know too

# Hey, I know what I'm gonna do

# Tell someone to meet me

# Oh, come on

# Yes, I am, yeah!

# Tell someone to meet me

# I got it, look here! #

The plane is not coming in at six,
it's now coming in between 10 and 11,

so you don't have to have those
trucks up to the airport that early.

- Where's James Brown...?
- James Brown is on his way.

BB King... They ain't nowhere around!

Six, fifth and fourth are done.
Elevators are working.

There's no air conditioning at all?

80%'s out. The circuits are in
but it doesn't work.

What do you mean, 80%?
What floor is out?

I have sixth, fifth and fourth.

I understand, but what about...

It's individual
air conditioning controls...

What apartments
have air conditioning?

How many beds
can we move people into tonight?

- Four. Four rooms.
- Just eight people?

Yeah.

# Everything gonna be all right

# Cos home's
where the heart's at, yeah

# And it's a natural fact

# What you sayin' tell me, won't you?

# Yeah, hey hey

# Gotta make a start today

# Gotta do it in my way

# Gonna see Momma again

# Gonna see my old, old friend

# Africa!

# Africa!

# Africa!

# Ohh, Africa! #

Hello, bubba!

How you doin'?

Ready to dance? I got ants
in my pants, I gotta dance.

'The fight was held in Zaire,
the former Belgian Congo.

'Kinshasa was the capital
on the banks of the Congo,

'this was just before
the rainy season.'

Up to the north
was the flickering of storms,

and it was important to the promoters

that this fight get in
before the storms occurred,

because once the rainy season comes
you can't do anything.

The Congo had such a wonderful name,
Conradian and all that.

To call it Zaire
didn't have quite the majesty,

but there it was, the Congo.

'Mobutu was everywhere.

'He was the equivalent of Stalin.'

'You saw his picture everywhere.'

Part of the vanity of dictators,
with the exception of Mussolini,

who was half ugly
and half attractive,

most dictators are unbelievably ugly
or plain - Franco, Hitler...

'Mobutu looked the archetype,
the epitome of a closet sadist.

'Sort of guy, if you meet him
in a bar, you think, "Oh, my God!

'"Who are the poor women
who are associated with this fella?"

'And since Mobutu was
an extraordinarily practical man,

'down under the stadium,
which seated 100,000 people,

'were detention pens
and rooms and chambers

'where you could imprison as many
as a couple of thousand people.

'Before the fight came, the criminal
rate in Zaire began to go up.'

A few white foreigners
had been killed, driving their cars.

And Mobutu decided that this would be
a disaster in terms of publicity,

so on a given day he had a thousand
of the leading criminals in Kinshasa

rounded up and put in this stadium,
down in the detention pens.

'And then the legend has it, and I
suspect the legend may even be true,

'that he had 100
taken at random and killed them.

'And the reason was
a particularly simple one

'from Mobutu's point of view.'

Career criminals have connections who
protect them when they're in trouble,

and by making this kill
of 100 out of 1,000 arbitrarily,

Mobutu was saying "Your connections
are worth nothing. I am Jehovah.

'"I will blast you out of existence
if you fool around with me."'

'He made his point, Kinshasa was
one of the safest cities in Africa,

'in all the world, while the foreign
press was there for the fight.'

'To me, the drum was the communicator
since the beginning of time,

'I'm sure it was
the first message ever sent.

'The beat today
and the beats centuries ago

'are the only thing
that's kept us together.'

We had this thing, when we hurt,
we sung for trial and tribulation,

and for relief, we sung songs to God

and this music that you hear today
is the same songs

that have been made popular around
the world without any volition.

Oh!

'So anybody who knows anything

'about the rhythm and the blues
as they're so-called,

'should know about Africa.'

# When I first met you, baby

# Baby, you were just

# Sweet sixteen

# When I first met you, baby

# Baby, you was just sweet sixteen

# Just off your homeland, baby

# Oh, the sweetest thing
I'd ever seen #

The music I listen to, in most white
people's houses, I don't hear this,

because your culture wouldn't...

Your woman doesn't leave you
and slip away like our women,

because you had money
to keep your woman.

Your songs are like, "And the train
comes around that mountain,

"In the Folsom Prison,
in the Folsom Prison".

You know, "Y'all come, y'all come."

Chinese got diddly music,
"Pleen ting tang tong ting."

I don't want that and he understands.
Everybody's got their culture.

So we're not saying we hate you
or we're never talking to you again

and doing business, we don't do that.

We're saying
that we want to be independent.

# Baby, I wonder

# Yes, I wonder

# Baby, I wonder

# Oh, I wonder what in the world
is gonna happen to me #

'The great place
to visit in Kinshasa

'was a compound
about 20 miles up the Congo.

'A place called Enseli,
a presidential palace.

'That was where we saw Foreman,
who seemed incredible.'

I'd seen him fight before,
I saw him destroy Frazier

and the thing I always remembered
was that the beaten fighter,

even a man as powerful
and big as Frazier,

and he was very much favoured
to win that,

suddenly becomes the size of a pygmy.

They just diminish in size,

and Foreman suddenly became
this gigantic figure.

'And he had a trainer, Dick Sadler,
tiny by comparison,

'and Sadler would hang on to this
heavy bag while Foreman would hit it.

'Sadler would have been
picked off his feet.'

'Foreman hitting the bag

'is one of the more prodigious sights
I've had in my life.

'Of all the people I've seen hit
heavy bags, including Sonny Liston,

'no one hit it the way Foreman did.'

At the end of 15 minutes
of pounding the heavy bag,

there'd be a hole,
not a hole but a huge dent,

the size of half a small watermelon
in that tremendous bag,

and Foreman used to use
the biggest heavy bag around.

'What would be interesting is Ali,
who would train after Foreman,

'would pass this large hall
where the training took place

'and he never looked at Foreman
hitting the heavy bag.

'He just walked right by
as if Foreman didn't exist.

'If you were gonna fight the man

'you didn't want to see him
hitting that heavy bag.'

I'm a speed demon!
I'm a brain fighter!

I'm scientific! I'm artistic!

I plan my strategy!

He's the bull, I'm the matador!

He's scared to death.

He's scared to death!

He wish he could
get out of the whole thing!

He wish he could get out of the whole
thing! The man is frightened!

He's meetin' his master,
his teacher, his idol!

- Time!
- Is that all?

When I talk and work I'm in shape,
it's all I do.

'Ali announced
he was gonna dance.

'He spoke about it all the time.

'Every interview
in that period he'd say

'"How is Foreman going to get
near to me? I'm going to dance!

'"I'm going to dance and dance! He'll
look foolish trying to find me.'

"And as he gropes his way forward

"in this storm of blindness
at the speed of my dancing

"I will strike him with my jab!

"Poo! Poo! Poo!"
he would go and so forth.

We heard this over and over
and Foreman heard it too.

'Foreman was working now on
what's called cutting off the ring.

'This essentially just means

'cornering your opponent
against the ropes or in a corner.

'It's an art, a balletic art,
you have to have very good footwork.

'Foreman's footwork,
he was a big man,

'but his footwork was better
than anyone had expected.

'He worked with very fast fighters,

'smaller than himself,
who certainly could dance

'and he worked on cornering them.

'And the combination
of watching the heavy bag

'and watching Foreman
cut off the ring

'made most fight writers,
myself included,

'pessimistic about Ali's chances.'

The guy threw up his elbows
to protect himself from Foreman

and Foreman walked into his elbow.

That's how he got cut in the eye?

What else can happen?

I saw the man's cut
and this man cannot fight.

This man cannot fight
for a world championship...

- You're not a doctor.
- I don't give a damn. I know what...

The Zaireans kicked us out
and they did not want us around,

and they want the fight to go on,
that's all there is to it.

He won't fight with that eye,
he's not dumb.

He's not that dumb?

That's all you want is a fight.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

I respectfully ask are the fighters
remaining here because they want to

or has the government
requested they remain?

Mr Sadler told me
to convey to the press

that it is just an accident.

They will be contacting
the promoters of the fight

and it is possible
that we may have to delay the fight

and he will let the press know
as soon as possible.

Did they have to stitch Foreman?

They had to stitch him.
Holy shit, man.

So how long is the delay?

It'll take a day to get
any intelligence, this just happened.

Then we can make a decision.

How does George feel?

Like anybody, he's only human.
How would any individual feel?

Does he want it postponed?

Who? Why should he?

- Should he go ahead with it?
- Why should he make any decision?

Who knows what another man thinks?

How could I truthfully tell you
what you would think?

A man may have mixed emotions,
I couldn't speak for George,

I can only speak for Dick Sadler,
not for somebody else.

I'm not that intelligent,

I don't have that knowledge, that
ability to speak another man's mind.

He never discussed it to me,

and a person's mind
change from time to time.

- The decision is yours...
- It is mine to make

and I haven't made any...
I don't have any decisions to make.

Let's get this show
on the road.

This meeting is called to order.
Here, here.

The delay won't have
any effect on the fight at all.

There hasn't been...
there will not be a delay.

The fight will be rescheduled

but when it happens it'll be
actually intended for that time.

Fate intended it for another time.
There is no delay.

How does
Ali feel about it?

If there ever has been
any disappointments in sports,

setbacks or rainy days
that stopped a ball game, anything,

this is the worst of all time.

'Muhammad went through
a bad couple of hours

'and wanted to move the whole fight
back to the United States,

'then he said "Bring Joe Frazier
over and I'll fight him again

'"and instead of each of us
getting $5 million,

'"I'll take $3 million
and Joe can take $1 million."

'Then he realised
nothing could be done about it

'except stay in Zaire an extra
six weeks and make the best of it.'

Now I gotta wait. He'll get his
whupping but I just have to wait.

Boy, I was ready!
I was gonna upset the world again!

The whole world was gonna
crawl and bow the next morning!

I was gonna defeat that big
indestructible George Foreman,

gonna rip him up!

I'm gonna get him
for a sparring partner.

My dream's all messed up
for six more weeks.

The man's in trouble,
the man is scared.

- He's in my country to start with!

He's in my country.
You wanna see some of my country?

Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye!
Ali, boma ye!

Can you picture 100,000?
Can you picture 100,000?

How you say it?
Ali, boma ye, Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye!

When I hear them brothers
howling like that, whoo!

I get my soul and spirit,

100,000 African brothers
hollering "Ali, boma ye!"

And I'm gonna... Ooh!

I'm tired, can't take it no more,
let me get out of here.

I wanna... I'm going to my room,
I'll talk to you later.

I said I'm gone!

# What you give me

# When I miss you, baby!

# Oh, man!

# Baby, you understand?

# I'll be good!

# In a cold sweat

# Ow!

# Turn it back #

'Black acts in America
have not learned

'that once their record
is off the charts they're finished.'

I heard a speech by Jesse Jackson,
saying we must recognise

that we're only useful
as long as we're necessary.

So they don't realise that your
strength comes from your community.

And you have to deal
from your strength.

In dealing from your strength
you got somebody

so if somebody
wants to hurt James Brown,

somebody gonna raise a voice
and say "why?"

You got soldiers,
somebody that's concerned.

But as an individual, no matter
how big you get, you still a nigger.

You don't care how much money
you get. You are still a nigger.

When you become unnecessary.

# Listen

# Extend your love

# Can I get a drum?

# Can I get a little taste? #

Do unto others as you would have them
to do unto you.

Would you ask somebody to lynch you

and tell you where to go and how
to look, then refuse to pay you?

Would you ask somebody
to take advantage of your woman

and you can't even speak to his?

Would you like to pay taxes for
something that you never received?

Do unto others as you would have
somebody do unto you.

And I don't have to use
the word "FM" backwards.

We left Africa in shackles,
fetters and chains.

We're coming back
in an aura of splendour and glory.

The champions are here, champions of
the sports world and the music world,

so put 'em together and we got
one champion that's so intermingled

that we're fused into one entity.

The brother said something there!
Yeah!

Don King put this together.

It was not a colour put it together,
you understand?

I'd like to call him the Messiah.

'This fight
came into existence

'because of Don King's
desire to break out of the pack.

'He was either going to become an
enormously prominent man, at least,

'or go back to obscurity again
if it failed.'

Oh, I'm so happy
to see you, my brothers.

This is the Minister of Finance
of Zaire.

Yes, I have met
the Minister of Finance. How are you?

I appreciate your talent
and expertise.

This is what it's all about.
I welcome you with love.

We must deal with it as such,
but with love, not with hostility.

You know, just but with love.

Bravo, Mr King!

My brother!

'King had
this huge air of welcome.

'Rarely has anyone ever been welcomed
the way King could do it.'

'A joy came off him.'

I knew his reputation,
how he'd been in jail,

how he was thoroughly untrustworthy

but nonetheless
he made you feel good.

Don't leave! I need your strength!

He was startling looking.

Writers found different ways
to describe this uprush of hair.

Some would say that he'd stuck
his thumb into an electric socket.

Falling through an elevator shaft.

'The fight was postponed.

'Don King turned up and it seemed
maybe the fight wouldn't happen.'

Nothing as big as this
ever runs smoothly,

anything worthwhile
is worth fighting for.

If you think
about what Shakespeare said,

"the sweet uses of adversity,

"ugly and venomous like a toad yet
wears a precious jewel in his head."

"Ugly and venomous like a toad
yet wears a precious jewel."

How many fight promoters have tried
even one line of Shakespeare?

I can relate to the denial
they are confronted with,

the rat-infested hovels, sub-standard
tenements, overcrowded tenements.

I've been a part of it.
I know about roaches and rats.

When he started talkin' to me

I can understand him
and he can understand me.

So, when I do this here
he can understand.

Now he will believe in me

because he feels
that I have shared with him

the same anguish and anxiety,
the same pain that he has felt.

It's a big difference.

What would happen
if you took a small part

of the vast sums of money
being made from the fight

and put it into something that was...

that would help a number of people
rather than a few?

This is my dream and desire,

and I feel that I would need...
white counterparts to do this here.

I would say let me engender a large
amount of money, if it's possible,

and then don't just let the money
sit there and wither away and die

but put it into the sun so it could
germinate, blossom and grow.

'He's a remarkable man.

'Don King is one of
the brightest people I've ever met,

'he's one of the most
charismatic people I've ever met,

'he's one of the hardest working
people I've ever met.'

He is also totally amoral

and I can't think of a man who has
done more to demoralise fighters,

exploit from fighters and ruin
fighters' careers than Don King.

But you have to give him his due

for what he did to make Muhammad Ali
versus George Foreman in Zaire.

And nobody does anything for nothing.

You understand that?

Fight or no fight,
what business are we in?

- Music!
- I was starting to wonder.

I felt like
we've been in the fight business.

# My body

# My body

# Shake your body

# Shake your body

# Shake your body

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# Pick 'em up!

# We're gonna take you high

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# We're gonna have a funky good time

# Pick 'em up!

# We're gonna take you high, yeah! #

I'm gonna play me
some soul music, man.

The Spinners...to James Brown.

- # Make me high
- # Get me high

- # Make me high
- # Get me high

- # A natural high
- # Groovy high... #

Ali! Ali!

# Downright high

- # Everybody high
- # Legal high

# Need to get high

- # Down high... #
- I'm ready.

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad!

- # Bad!
- # Bad! #

Sucker, you ain't nothin'!

You're too ugly!

You don't represent
us coloured folks.

These Africans make all of us ugly.

Sucker, look at you!

You out, sucker.

Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye!

That mean kill him!

When I walk
down the street kids follow me

screaming "George Foreman, bumba yu"

er, "boma ye", yeah.

And that hasn't...
I don't think that's so nice.

I'd like, if they have anything
to say about me they could say

"George Foreman loves Africa"
or "George Foreman loves being here"

not "George Foreman, kill him,"
I don't like that.

Boma ye!
Boma ye!

George Foreman.
Boma ye! Boma ye!

- There he is!
- Boma ye!

Sucker, you wasn't nothing!

Even they understand English.

'We were all for Muhammad Ali.

'Foreman? We didn't know him.

'Foreman said "Why?

'"I'm black,
blacker than Muhammad Ali.

'"Why all this bias?"

'Yes, Muhammad Ali, he was lighter,

'but he was a real person,
he was genuine.

'Muhammad Ali could have been
even lighter-skinned

'but for us
he was defending the good cause,

'for Africans and the whole world.'

Watch this, seven punches.

I'm gonna fight for the prestige,

not for me
but to uplift my little brothers

who are sleeping
on concrete floors today in America.

Black people living on welfare,
who can't eat,

Black people who don't know no
knowledge of themselves or no future.

I wanna win my title and walk down
the alleys with the wine-heads,

walk with the dope addicts,
the prostitutes.

I could help people, show 'em films,
take this documentary,

and help uplift my people
in Louisville, Kentucky;

Indianapolis, Indiana;
Cincinnati, Ohio;

go through Tennessee, Florida
and Mississippi

and show Black Africans who didn't
know this was their country,

"You look like your brothers
in Alabama, in Georgia.

"They never knew you was over here."

God is blessing me
and it was an accident

to help get to all these people

and show them films I haven't seen!
I'm well and I haven't seem them!

Now I can get all these films, you
governments can let me take pictures

and I can take
all this back to America!

But - it's good to be a winner,
all I've got to do is whup Foreman.

I realise how unfortunate
and uncomfortable it is

for you guys to have travelled so far

and expecting so much

and getting so little.

'George Foreman
was a phenomenon.

'He was almost like a physical guru.

'He almost never spoke
but it was always arresting.

'You never quite knew what he meant,
it might be deep or non-responsive.

'He was Negritude.
He was this huge Black force.'

Because of this I had expected
Muhammad Ali to be here today.

I was gonna hit him in his mouth
to give you some entertainment.

Now when I go in the ring,
you see what kind of mind I got now?

Oh! Oh!

I just got to pound him.

I'm not gonna even realise...

I might look at his face
and say, "How'd I do that?"

Allah, God, I'm his tool. God got
in me on purpose for my people.

God has made this man
look like a little kid.

His so-called right hand ain't
nothing now, I don't even feel 'em!

I walk right in and take my shots
because I have God in my mind.

I'm thinking of my people being free
and I can help with just one fight.

He looks little in comparison
to what I'm getting from it!

But if I think about just me...

George Foreman knocked out
Joe Frazier like he was God.

He knocked out Ken Norton.

And the white press,
the power structure

rank me to get tired in five or six,

then I go in like Norton
and the rest of them and get scared.

But my God controls the universe.

'I was interested
in people called "féticheurs".

'They are witches, soothsayers,

'and in Western Africa
almost everybody has one.

'They go to a witch doctor
the way we would go to a dentist.'

Muhammad Ali had been
to Mobutu's féticheur.

And...

He had said that...

The féticheur had said
that a woman with trembling hands

would somehow get to Foreman.

A succubus.

'And that impressed me enormously.'

'The heavyweight
championship produces an excitement

'that's unlike
almost any other spectacle.

'It's almost physically unendurable

'to wait for that bell
to ring for the first round.

'In 1974 in Zaire, the fight started
at four in the morning,

'in order that it could be shown
on TV in America

'at a reasonable hour like 10.'

Boma ye! Boma ye!

'Before the fight,
I saw a scene that was incomparable.

'Ali's dressing room
was like a morgue.'

It was like The Last Supper.

And at a certain point Ali said,

"Why is everyone...

"so unhappy?

"What is the matter with all of you?"

The sense was that we were watching
a man who was going out to be...

going out to the gallows.

They all believed he was gonna get
defeated and they were terrified.

They thought that with his pride

he would take one of the world's
worst beatings ever

and he wouldn't give up.

And he was gonna be destroyed.
Killed or maimed, they knew not what.

But they were deeply frightened,

as if they were taking whatever fear
Ali might have had and absorbing it.

After a while he looked at Bundini

and said,
"We're gonna dance tonight."

They said, "You're gonna dance!"

Muhammad Ali was so funny
repeating this.

"What am I gonna do?!"
They said, "Dance!"

He said, "Yes!
And that man's gonna be bewildered!

"I'm gonna dance and dance!"

And they said, "You're gonna dance!"
I swear they were all crying.

And he built them up to a degree

so that for him
they became half-happy.

Here comes the
Ali people out of the dressing room

and all of the questions
will be answered.

The awesome power of George Foreman

against the varied boxing skills
of Muhammad Ali.

It's age against youth.

The experience of Muhammad Ali

against the youth and brute force
and blinding speed.

You can hear the band strike up
in the background

as Ali moves to the ring.

This is what Muhammad Ali lives for,
this is the man's life.

This may be an historic event,

Muhammad Ali coming into
the boxing ring for the last time.

Should Muhammad Ali retire,

this will be, what you're seeing now,
a very historic event.

Here comes the heavyweight champion
of the world, George Foreman,

jogging out!

George Foreman
decked out in his red robes,

coming in with his people.

'No one in the press
ever saw Mobutu

'and he didn't come to the fight.

'He watched the fight
on closed circuit.

'It was the only one in Zaire.

'He was terribly afraid
of assassination.

'This stadium
was a true arena for gladiators.

'The floor you could not see beneath
the floor was covered with blood.

'That blood had been washed away
but the effect was still there.'

There was talk
about the possibility of rain,

I don't think the weather could be
any more beautiful than it is.

Ali is getting the people to chant!

"Ali, boma ye,"
that means "Ali, kill him."

'The atmosphere before
the bell rang for that first round

'was as intense
as any I ever recall.'

As they stare, Muhammad
Ali talking to George Foreman.

Really staring at each other.

Foreman looking serious,
Ali definitely talking.

Look at the stare on Foreman.
Look at Ali give him the word.

The stage is set, we're just about
ready to begin round one.

The championship is at stake

and $5 million will be paid
to both fighters.

Ali ready, Foreman ready,
we're waiting for the bell.

Here we go,
Ali quickly across the ring.

Round one, Ali bouncing around,
shifting left to right.

George moves slow,
Ali gets the first punch in,

a light right-hand taken
on the forehead by the champion.

Foreman moving slow, stalking.

Ali looks like he's ready to go here.

He's not staying away,
he's going after his man.

Foreman cautious in the first round,
looking to drop that left hook.

Foreman's locked his man
to the far corner.

There's that left upper-cut
into the body of Muhammad Ali.

Ali tries to hang on
to the head of George Foreman.

Foreman dances...
Ali with a right-hand lead!

Has Foreman slightly confused
with that right-hand lead,

which I haven't seen
too many times before.

A right-hand lead, where you throw
your right without countering,

you throw it first, like a jab.

That has to travel that extra
distance across the shoulders.

'Professionals rarely use this
because it's so dangerous to throw

'since you are open to a left hook.

'Since fighters work in milliseconds

'they can see a right coming
much faster than a jab.'

Nobody had thrown a right-hand lead
at Foreman in two years,

and none of his sparring partners,
for $50 a day,

was going to start
throwing right-hand leads at him

because it's a great insult
to a top professional.

'It suggests he's slow enough
that you can hit him with it.'

'Instead Ali figured out Foreman's
not expecting a right-hand lead.

'"I'm gonna hit him with a right hand
and knock him out."

'Ali threw 12 right hand leads, he
hadn't told anybody he was going to.'

He may have debated whether to
up until the last moment.

But he didn't knock Foreman down
or knock him out.

Instead, Foreman went crazy.

That punch
did no damage. That one did!

Two wild right hands
taken on the head of Ali!

A real strong right hand
just underneath the heart.

Ali is taking some punishment now!

Eight seconds left in the round.

Bell rang.

Ali went back to the corner...

Finally the nightmare
he'd been awaiting in the ring

had finally come to visit him.

'He was in the ring
with a man he could not dominate,

'who was stronger than him,
who was not afraid of him,

'who'd try to knock him out,
and who punched harder than Ali,

'and this man was determined
and unstoppable.

'Ali had a look on his face
that I'll never forget.

'It was the only time
I ever saw fear in Ali's eyes.'

Ali looked as if
he looked into himself and said,

"All right, this is the moment.

"This is what
you've been waiting for.

"This is...that hour.

"Do you have the guts?"
And he kind of nodded,

like, "Really got
to get it together, boy.

"You are gonna get it together...
you WILL get it together."

He nodded some more, as if he were
looking into the eyes of his maker,

and then turned to the crowd
and went "Ali, boma ye!"

and 100,000 people
all yelled back "Ali, boma ye!"

And this huge reverberation
of the crowd came back into the ring.

'Ali picked it up as if
"these are my people,

'"this is what I'm here for.

'"The time has come, I'm gonna find
a way to master this man."'

Ali tries
to tie him up.

No real damage done in that exchange.

'Foreman, like everyone,
had assumed that Ali would dance,

'and so Ali now went to the ropes
and went into the Rope-a-Dope.

'And a lot of people thought
that moment the fight was over.

'Especially on TV, it looked like
Foreman was killing a very weak Ali.'

You don't go to the ropes.

And there he was, leaning way back.

'I wrote about it, like a man
leaning out of his window

'trying to see
if there's something on his roof.'

And, you know, taking it.

Here were these great broadsides

and it looked like
he was being set up for the kill.

It happened so quickly
and so abruptly,

that I said, I shouted to Norman,
"The fix is in."

'He's supposed to go down
in the first or second.

'Ropes is halfway house
to the floor.'

'It just looked as though
he had to cave in.'

..some awkward but
very powerful hooks with both hands.

'They became so basic that
they were like two kids fighting.'

'For that round and the next round
and the next round

'Ali lay against the ropes,
and he kept talking to Foreman.

'It was extraordinary.

'You had to be close to see it.'

'And Foreman was throwing
these prodigious punches

'and Ali swung
like a man in the rigging.'

He'd go all the way back,
he'd slide out like that.

Occasionally, he'd get hit and he'd
say "George, you disappoint me.

"You don't hit as hard
as I thought you would, George,

"you're not breaking popcorn!"

'And Foreman's insane with rage,

'wanging at him and wanging at him,

'powerful, powerful, powerful.

'And middle of the fifth round
Foreman had punched himself out.

'It had taken three rounds.'

Ali picks it up,
40 seconds left in round five.

First good combination by Ali
lands on the head of Foreman.

Foreman with that right hook.

Ali scores a hook!

Quick jab with the right
backs up Foreman!

Backs him up in his tracks!

Foreman tries the hook!
Ali goes to the right!

Foreman gets knocked to the left!

Foreman hit again!

Foreman has been hit
three or four times!

Ali came off the ropes
and hit him a right

and you can see the sweat pour off
like a fountain off Foreman's face

and you suddenly realised
there was design in this madness.

So I turned to Norman,
he was somewhat puzzled,

but I said,
"The succubus has got him!",

referring to this woman
with the trembling hands

that the witch doctors had said
would touch Foreman and destroy him.

..Ali's tactics,
to let the man punch himself out.

30 seconds left in round eight.

Very even fight.

Ali a sneaky right hand.

Another sneaky right hand.

Works over the shoulder of Foreman.

There's the combination!

Two...three...

Four...five...

Foreman gets up to the knee at eight!

That's it! The fight is stopped!

Muhammad Ali with
a dramatic eighth round knockout!

He knocks out...George Foreman!

He's done it! Muhammad Ali
has done it! Muhammad Ali has...

Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali...

'Muhammad Ali,
he was like a sleeping elephant.

'You can do whatever you want
around a sleeping elephant,

'but when he wakes up...
he tramples everything.'

Muhammad Ali, boma ye.

Boma ye. Muhammad Ali,
boma ye George Foreman.

He did it.

'He's champion again,
we couldn't believe it.

'It was such a classic performance
and so beautiful

'that at the moment
Ali hit the knockout punch,

'Foreman began to go,
Ali followed him around,

'Ali had his right cocked
for one more punch

'but he never threw it,

'as though he didn't want to ruin the
aesthetic of this man going down.'

One has mixed emotions
when you see the end of a fight.

'I always feel sympathy
for the man losing it,

'particularly when you see
a titanic, formidable figure

'suddenly on the ground.'

'Now,
when we see George on TV,

'and know that after that knockout

'he went through two years
of the deepest depression,

'he almost didn't come out of it.

'To see the man who's come out of it,

'the way he reconstructed
his personality,

'it's hard to find anyone in America
more affable than George Foreman.

'Foreman has become
a fabulous person in American life.'

Just as the fight finished,

the monsoons, the African rains,
came, and they came so hard

that the waters were about
three feet deep in the dressing rooms

where we'd just been an hour ago,
I'd never seen such a downpour.

And we rode back
through the African night

from the boxing ring into Kinshasa

and there were crowds on the roads
standing in the pouring rain

leaping up and down because
news had got around that Ali had won.

'He stayed up all night
from what I heard,

'and in the morning he spoke to
African groups who'd come to see him,

'and they more than revered him,
he was a god.

'And he spoke to them
very simply and beautifully,

'and he said,
"Afro-Americans, in America,

'"we're not as good as you are.

'"Some of us are richer than you are,

'"but you have a dignity
in your poverty that we don't have.

'"We are spoiled in America,

'"we have lost what you still have
in Africa and you must keep that."

'And I thought, on top of everything
else he's a political leader

'and he's gonna be
a great political leader.'

I have a lot of things to do
in the Black neighbourhoods,

we have a lot of problems
we have to solve among ourselves.

Prostitution, dope, gang fights.

Knowledge of self. Black people
have no knowledge of themselves.

We have been made
just like white people mentally.

White people have made us
so much like them

it's hard to teach them
about themselves,

it's hard to teach them to unite
and marry and be with their own.

Black people
are now like white people,

we have to re-brainwash 'em now,

teach them about themselves
and their history and language,

to do something for themselves

and quit begging white people
for things they should do themselves.

I never heard Ali say
he would never fight again.

If he had said it,
and usually he told the truth,

I wouldn't have believed it.

He was born to fight,
born for the ring and loved it,

he truly loved fighting.

And...as happens with people who love
a thing too much, it destroys them.

It was Oscar Wilde that said
you destroy the thing you love.

It's the other way round,
what you love destroys you.

'He came back,
he had 22 fights.

'Some were most honourable,
some very difficult.

'Some were comedies and farces.

'He hurt himself in those 22 fights
after the fight in Africa.'

'There is a tendency
to look at Muhammad and say

'he's wounded, he's ill.

'There are no intellectual deficits,
it's a motor skills problem

'and he doesn't try
to hide his condition.

'He goes out and lets
the whole world see it.

'He doesn't feel sorry for himself

'and there's really no reason for
anybody else to feel sorry for him.

'He loves being Muhammad Ali,

'he truly believes
that he's doing God's work

'and he's as happy with each day
as anybody I know.'

'Today's young generation,
they don't know anything.'

Something happened last year,
they know nothing about it.

So there are these great great
stories, great historic events,

and I'm not talking
about 1850s stuff,

they don't know who Malcolm X is,
they don't know who JFK is,

Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson,
you can go down the line.

And it's scary.

'They're missing a lot if they don't
know the legacy of Muhammad Ali,

'because no matter
what era you live in,

'you see very few true heroes.'

Ali, boma ye!

Ali, boma ye! Ali, boma ye!
Ali, boma ye!

Back up, sucker, back up.

Come get me, sucker, I'm dancin'!

I'm dancin'! Follow me, chump!

I'm not there, I'm here!

Sucker, you ain't got nothing!

# In every heart

# There is a drum that beats

# Steady and strong

# It does not know defeat

# I feel its power

# And know for certain
the true belief

# In every soul

# There is a memory

# Of standing tall

# The proudest we could be

# I cannot fall

# For I recall

# We were born in majesty

# And when the long night
has been fought and won

# We'll stand in the sun

# And we will raise our hands

# We will touch the sky

# Together we will dance
in robes of gold

# And we will leave
the world remembering

# When we were kings

# When we were kings

# Now is the time

# Here is the mountaintop

# When one man climbs
the rest are lifted up

# When memories stay

# We're closer, yeah

# To our higher destiny

# And when we reach up
to claim the throne

# Every man will know

# We will raise our hands

# We will touch the sky

# Together we will dance
in robes of gold

# And we will leave
the world remembering

# When we were kings

# When we were kings

# Ooh

# When we were kings

# Yeah

# When we were kings

# Float like a butterfly

# Sting like a bee

# Float like a butterfly

# I remember... #

Years after the fight in Zaire,
perhaps ten years after,

I'd run into Ali on occasion after
that, but I remember this meeting.

Esquire was giving a party
for various people

who had distinguished themselves
in Esquire that year.

Ali, for whatever he'd done,

I was there probably because I had
a good story in Esquire that year,

maybe 25 of us, honoured guests,

I was there with my wife
and we saw Ali

and we were talking with him

and he couldn't have been nicer.

I remember I was 62 then,
cos he said, "How old are you now?"

I said "62," he said "Oh," same as
when we were jogging that night,

"Oh, I hope I'm as young as you are
when I'm 62," he went on like that.

I got so pleased and so vain that,
you know, I'm like a dog.

What did I have to do?
I had to go urinate, and I did.

I went away and once I was gone
he turned to my wife,

who's much younger than I am,
and he looked at her hard and said,

"You still with that old man?"

And for me that's always been...
That's Ali.

You love him even when
you turn your back on him.

I heard him once talking to the
Harvard senior class commencement.

He gave this extraordinary speech,
you know he was dyslexic,

and he would look
at a paper and say,

"What does this word mean?"
I'd say, "Appendicitis."

He'd say, "How d'you get a word
like appendicitis? It's so long."

Here he was delivering a lecture,

senior class day with these
1,000, 2,000 Harvard graduates,

and...he had these little cards
in front of him.

He gave this wonderful speech
about he hadn't had the opportunity

but they had and they should use that
to make the world a better place.

It was moving and funny, and a great
roar of appreciation at the end.

Then someone shouted out,
"Give us a poem!"

And everybody quieted down.

Now, the shortest poem according
to Bartlett's Quotations is called

"On the Antiquity of Microbes"

and the poem is "Adam had 'em."

Pretty short.

But Muhammad Ali's poem was

"Me, we."

Two words.

I wrote Bartlett's Quotations
and I said, "Look, that's shorter."

It stands for something more
than the poem itself.

"Me, we." What a fighter he was.
And what a man.

# Refugee cat... Ali, boma ye

# Yes, yes... Rumble in the jungle

# Come on!

# Root to the fruit
more bass than Bootsy Collins

# You versus me
that's like Ali versus Foreman

# God's act, stand back and watch

# Devil's time-out
can't be timed with no Swatch watch

# Who I am, the Black Abraham

# Zunga zunga zang
yellow man, Vietnam

# Add an extra bar
as I spar with literature

# Taking kingdoms from Tsars

# Winning more wars than the Moors

# Hey, what's the deal?
I seen the Devil spar with Allah

# Mathematics was the key
to set my whole race free

# You might debate we,
a refugee no harm hurt me

# Dying, thirsty from the struggle
to my own hustle bubble

# On the low, woe is me
to show the Free Bob right

# The righteous Asiatic thinker

# While Satan rob light

# Civilised like the Molly

# Burgundy, wildly rocking

# Seen the fifth when Ali clocked him

# John Forte will keep you locked in

# People all around
you got to recognise and witness

# The Mister who swift enough
to knock you out with mic fitness

# Hands blistered
from holding the mic tight

# Some say it's fight night

# Well, throw the R after the F
cos I'm gonna take away your breath

# The bell rings
and it's just a daily operation

# Yo, you saw my lubrication
you can see this occupation

# (The winner)
You know we're here from Q-borough

# L-Booie and Clef the trainers
Prazwell promote the throw

# We used to bite the bullets
with the pigskin cases

# Now we perfect slang
like a gang of street masons

# Scribe check make connects
true pyramid architects

# Replace the last name with the X

# The man's got a God complex

# But take the text
change the picture

# Watch Muhammad play the messenger
like holy Moslem scripture

# Take orders from only God
only one when it's jihad

# See Ali appears in Zaire
to reconnect 400 years

# But we're the people
dark but equal

# Give love to such things

# For the man who made the fam'
remember when we were kings

# Block's on fire

# Flames getting higher

# Robbin' blue collar

# Killin' for a dollar

# Youths get tired

# We're dealin' with them liars

# From Brooklyn to Zaire

# We need a ghetto messiah

# Send me an angel
in the morning, baby

# Send me an angel
in the morning, darling

# Send me Muhammad
in the morning, baby

# Send me an angel
in the morning, darling

# Once the pen hits the pad
it's danger

# To this I'll be no stranger

# Step inside the ring
and I'll derange you

# I'm hearing no comments
everyone looks despondent

# Dejected, rejected
similar to Liston catching licks

# Beat it, Sonny, my man
is still the greatest in history

# To hell with Frazier,
yapping about that negative shit

# Now, listen, you can try
and escape if you want to

# But ask yourself
who the hell you gonna run to?

# Like Sade Abu
you got a punch that I can sleep to

# Fugees, Tribe, Busta Rhymes
forever coming through

# You sing Amazing Grace
over two dollar plates

# One roll, snake-eyes,
like Jake the Snake

# Many lies, put up for stakes,
wash our sins at the Great Lakes

# You and I cannot see eye-to-eye
so therefore we can't relate

# I'm here
when I make myself crystal clear

# You fled to Cape Fear
when I aced you up in Zaire

# Tussle with a lasso
in the Royal Rumble

# Separate boys from men
in the concrete jungle

# I remember when Cassius Clay
flipped the script

# Taking trips to Zimbabwe

# Africans started calling the God
Ali, boma ye!

# It be the God stricken,
God nutrition, lightly stricken

# Blow that make you feel
like you was poison bitten

# Ha! Yo, I'm 'bout to blister
you and your sister

# Predicting every ass whipping
before my fights, my nigga

# This be your last warning
once you walk past the doorman

# Ali and Foreman gonna lock ass
until the morning

# Marvellous finances
provided by Joseph Mobutu

# Special guests of honour
like the Archbishop Desmond Tutu

# We watched the Rumble In The Jungle

# To see who be the targeted uncle
to be the first to fall and fumble

# Nuff blows they getting thrown
like solid milestones

# Internally shaking up niggas
imbalance your chromosomes

# With the force
of a thousand warriors

# When I bust your ass
identify me as the lord victorious

# Blocks on fire

# Flames getting higher

# Robbing blue collar

# Killing for a dollar

# Youths get tired

# We're dealing with them liars

# From Brooklyn to Zaire

# We need a ghetto Messiah #