Courtesy
Muhammad Ali sneaks up on Larry Holmes as television host Merv Griffin interviews Holmes about the upcoming championship fight with Ali at Caesars Palace in 1980.
Sunday, Sept. 7, 1980 | midnight
Muhammad Ali sits slouched in a chair in his Caesars Palace suite. For the moment he seems quiet, a little reflective as he speaks with intensity to a man crouched at his elbow occasionally scribbling notes on a pad.
One of several Ali assistants in the room answers a knock at the door and ushers in two more reporters and a photographer who wait quietly for their turn.
It is mid-morning and while most Las Vegas Strip guests are either just climbing from their beds, or, thinking about going to bed, Ali has been awake for hours. It is still weeks before his upcoming title fight with Larry Holmes, but Ali sounds as though his enthusiasm for this encounter he can almost taste has been running at 80,000 RPMs for months.
On this particular morning there has been road work and then a breakfast at the hotel coffee shop. He left Las Vegas the morning after this conversation and will return Tuesday.
Ali was in Las Vegas to hype his fight with Larry Holmes. It is a duty Ali never seems to shirk. And anyone with a willingness or opportunity to listen to his seemingly off-the-cuff and in-exhaustible explanations of how Holmes will be dispatched has to leave impressed that Ali could have made a fortune selling encyclopedias and aluminum siding.
'Holmes is easy'
Listen for a moment:
"So my attitude is Holmes is easy. He's my sparring partner. He can't whup me. He's pork chops. He don't think like me. He can't talk like me. So who are these people who don't believe I can beat him?"
"Are they world famous? Are they super stars? Are they the most recognized person in the world? Have them made $20 million? $50 million?"
A casual, perhaps timid listener, might be inclined to shrug and mumble, well, I was just curious.
But wait a minute. Ali has only been running at idle in this conversation. He is picking up momentum.
Ali is clearly unimpressed with the spartan quality of life in Las Vegas. This is a city he suggests is better suited to training for orgies rather than heavyweight title fights.
The dethroned champ, who had his World Boxing Council title taken from him because he did not defend it against Holmes, shakes his head sadly. "When a man comes to Las Vegas a man can forget himself … I see the spirit of gambling, the spirit of sex … the spirit of party."
These are not distractions a man is faced with in countries such as Morocco and Egypt, he explains. And he concedes some philosophies would conclude this is all part of the good life. But not Muhammad Ali.
Facing the devil
"These are temptations lying in wait for a heavyweight champion. When you come to Las Vegas, you're face to face with the devil himself. You can build your strength up and eat right and train right and you can blow the whole damn fight with one night with a prostitute, uh, woman. I tell people no, I can't do this. I tell them I'm in training. But they don't see that. They just come to see the fight."
Ali makes it clear, however, that he is not one to be swayed by "earthly temptations."
Jabbing at the air for emphasis, he says, "It's more difficult for an ordinary man than it is for me. A man who don't believe in nothing, who don't have nothing makes it hard for these men."
All assumes a rather charitable attitude toward people who say he has little chance against Holmes' youth and power and who hint that the champ who hasn't fought in two years is in this merely for the $10 million that he will get. How, he asks, could a thinking person suggest such a thing?
"They really don't believe I have a chance."
Lapsing into a rambling monologue, he continues, "but some people see further than others. Some people can see further than the eyes can see. Some people can hear more than the ears can hear."
Positive Attitude
Clearly, Ali implies, he is one of these people.
"We all live in our own world of limitations and what keeps us from believing is that we are impressed by our limitations. It's attitude. Do you see any doubt in me? I'm positive. Positive."
After Holmes is behind him, Ali says he will set his sights on Mike Weaver's World Boxing Association heavyweight title.
"If this was just for the money, I wouldn't do it. I want to be the first black man to go out clean. I'd be crazy to do this just for the money. I know I can whip these two men."
As he talks he throws punches at the air, illustrating how he will makes short work of his two foes.
About his age, which is 38, he confesses, "naturally it slows you down a little. But it don't bother me. As Cassius Clay, I was so super, I was so fast it didn't look real. Even though I've slowed down, on a scale of 10 I'm about an eight and" – he makes a show of groping for the proper comparison – "Holmes is a six."
More times sought
Ali says it again. "We are able to acquire what our beliefs allow us to acquire," and he is clearly out to acquire to more heavyweight titles.
"Why I'm in better shaper, I feel better than I did when I fought Leon Spinks."
He also argues that he has been most impressive in fights in which he was the underdog.
"Check all the fights I lost. I was the favorite. The first Norton fight. People say who's Norton. The first Spinks fight. People say it wasn't no match. And now, the attitude is he can't do it. He's too old. He's too fat. Holmes is undefeated, a lot of knockouts. Oh man, it's gonna be a miracle.
"I got something to train for."
As Ali maps his future, he will retire after a Weaver fight.
That's when he plans to devote his energy and resources to what he has unveiled as his World Organization.
Spreading the message
He envisions it as an association that will feed the poor, build leprosy colonies in Africa and generally spread a worldwide message of hope and help for the afflicted and handicapped.
He ticks off a list of political and show business notables he says are "with me."
Structural aspects of the organization are being developed now.
"I'm gonna go all over the world like Billy Graham. I'm the only man that can do it."
And no one in the room on this particular morning demonstrates any interest in disagreeing.
Or perhaps they are so accustomed to the bombast of Muhammad Ali that a pledge to save the world and comfort the ill and the poor seems like no more than a natural next step for this three-time heavyweight champ who is striving with passion toward still another title.
