By Kevin Kincade

CUT THE GLOVES OFF!!!-------What?!-------MY EYES ARE BURNING!!  I CAN’T SEE!!  SOMETHING’S IN MY EYES!  CUT THE GLOVES OFF, I WANT TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT THERE’S DIRTY WORK’S AFOOT!!------What, are you crazy?!  SIT DOWN!!!

Those may not be the exact words; but that was the scene some forty-three years ago in the old Miami Beach Convention Hall after something went terribly wrong in the fourth round in the biggest fight of a young man’s life.  As with any World Championship bout, months of promotion had been invested; but in this specific case, the challenger had been hounding the champion for well over a year, drumming up public interest in this clash of muscle and mouth. 

It was irrelevant that virtually no one gave him a chance to actually beat the champion.  This was his chance to prove that he was as great as he claimed.  This was his chance to back up all of his boasts and show the world that he was more than just a pretty face; and it was all about to come to an end right before his burning eyes.  Of course, this young man in the midst of a full fledged panic-attack was none other than the now-beloved Muhammad Ali.

It’s really pretty amazing how one moment in time can change the course of history, or, in this case, one minute; specifically the sixty seconds between Round 4 and Round 5 in Clay-Liston I.  Boxing history, as we know it, would have been invariably changed if not for the calm, cool collectiveness of one Angelo Dundee.  Hell, who knows?  If Clay had quit in between rounds, there very possibly could have been some ripple-effects with social ramifications in the non-boxing world in the following decade, given the impact the man himself has had on us. 

Whether you like him or not, whether you saw him fight or not, whether you feel his accomplishments are more myth than reality, Muhammad Ali made an indelible impact on the closing decades of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st.  He was bigger than boxing and larger than life.  You don’t really think any other former heavyweight champion would have received the resounding ovation Ali did at the twenty-sixth Olympiad in Atlanta do you?  The echoes of his dancing footsteps are that loud.

Let’s delve into the world of hypotheticals and say that Clay, unrestrained, clamps down on the tape binding his gloves to  his wrists with his teeth and begins tearing it off, causing the referee to presume he is forfeiting the match and thereby disqualifies Cassius or signals the end of the contest on a TKO and awards Sonny Liston the victory in his second title defense.  What happens?  Is there an investigation into the origin of the substance in Clay’s eyes?  Is there a mandated rematch?  Has “destiny” only been delayed?

More than likely, no on all counts. 

There was already a very strong rumor that Clay had joined the “Black Muslims”, as the Nation of Islam was called in the White press.  He had been seen associating with known Nation-member, Malcolm X, who was considered a dangerous individual; a Black leader who, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., advocated violence if necessary.  Cassius had time and again refused to comment on his supposed affiliation with the Nation, which raised suspicions of such an accusation’s validity: if he didn’t deny it, there must be some truth to it. 

This may seem like no big deal now, given that younger fans have no barometer as to just how serious a threat being a member of The Nation of Islam was to Clay’s career at that time.  To put things into perspective, here in 2007, such a rumor would be akin to murmurings of a top contender having ties to Al Qaeda, which, needless to say, would be a PR nightmare.  That is how afraid people were of the Nation of Islam and all connected with it back in 1964.

In all likelihood, if Clay quit on his stool after the fourth round, his cries of “foul” would have fallen on deaf ears once the news leaked out that he was indeed a Muslim and a member of Elijah Muhammad’s highly suspicious society.  A further consequence would be that he would, in all likelihood, be blackballed from another title-shot.  Anyone who doesn’t believe politics doesn’t play a role in who gets a title shot either hasn’t been following boxing for long or is living in a dream-world and is certifiably detached from reality. 

If Muhammad Ali gets stripped of his title and has his boxing license revoked for refusing induction into the armed forces in 1967, Cassius X, who quit on his stool, is forced to the Oort Cloud of the Boxing Solar System; just beyond Pluto.

The name “Muhammad Ali” is something else that would more than likely have become forfeit if Clay doesn’t answer the bell for Round 5.  Elijah Muhammad didn’t just hand out names to any new recruit.  Malcolm X, who had been the most prominent spokesperson for the Nation of Islam for years, and who was an avid follower of the teachings of Elijah Muhammad when he was released from prison in 1952, still had not had a new name bestowed upon him after twelve years of faithful allegiance and service. 

While it is true that there was a bit of a rift forming between Malcolm and Muhammad by 1964, the fact is the “honorable one” did not just hand out original names at the drop of a hat. 

When Elijah Muhammad renamed Cassius X “Muhammad Ali”, Cassius was the most recognizable man in all of sports as the World Heavyweight Champion and the man who had just upset one of the most feared Champions in history.  And Clay had predicted he would do so as he had for nearly all of his previous matches. 

This kid stood out in the public due to his boisterous ways and beaming confidence; his poetry, predictions, and dancing feet clearly set him apart.  He hadn’t even been a recognized member of the Nation for a year when he got his “original name.”  Why so soon?  Good Press.

Every time this young man opened his mouth, which he did incessantly, the press would be there to jot down every word; and the Nation of Islam would receive free publicity.  If Clay had been allowed to quit in between the fourth and the fifth rounds of his 1964 clash with Liston, he would have been just another fighter among many.  Sure, he still would have been colorful and very talented; but if he’d quit against Liston, more than likely, he would even be seen by the press as without heart; and, therefore, not of enough significance to garner the special attentions of Elijah Muhammad.  And we, quite possibly, would have never heard the name, “Muhammad Ali.”  Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Another tangent to consider was Ali’s reclassification from 1-Y to 1-A and his subsequent armed forces induction refusal.  Who a man is inside is ever in flux for we change as we grow; but the essential character is always there.  So, it’s safe to presume that if Muhammad Ali was opposed to the Vietnam War and had the courage to act on his beliefs, Cassius X would have done the same, regardless of whether he had Championship gold around his waist or not.  What would be different would have been the consequences or how the events unfolded afterwards. 

As the champ, he had the money to pay the lawyers for the appeals until, finally, the Supreme Court overruled the initial conviction in 1971 and justified his stance.  Even if he had to earn some more cash by speaking on college campuses, it was his recognition as champ that allowed him the popularity to secure those speaking engagements; and I’m not even mentioning “Champ Burgers” and “Big Buck White”. 

As a contender who would have been fighting for significantly smaller purses than what he enjoyed as champ, would he have been able to keep his battle against the U.S. government afloat for four years?  Or, more importantly, without the popularity he had gained during his exile as Muhammad Ali by 1971, would the Supreme Court have been so inclined as to overturn his conviction if he were seen as a mouthy, trouble-making “Black Muslim” who had shown himself a “coward” in the ring and was now showing himself a “coward” by refusing to serve his country? 

It’s something worth thinking about.

Of course there are hundreds, if not thousands of other scenarios in the “World of What If”; but seeing as how the self-professed and now widely accepted “Greatest of All Time” just celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday, I felt it was only appropriate to recognize the little man with the Q-tip behind his ear, who on that February night so many years ago kept his cool and steered a scared young man back onto the path of greatness by standing him up before the referee noticed the commotion, pointed him to ring center, and yelled one word of instruction for Round 5 into his ear:  “RUN!” 

Here’s to you, Angelo.  We might not have had “him” without you.

Questions or Comments:  kevin.kincade@citcomm.com