Oct. 28, 1964 - Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight champion, arrived in Boston today and held a news conference. He will defend his 8‐month‐old title against Sonny Liston on Nov. 16 at the Boston Garden.
“When the bell rings you’ll see action that night, and in your heart you’ll know I’m right,” rhymed Ali, with a nod to Barry Goldwater.
Estelle’s, a restaurant in the predominantly Negro Roxbury section, was filled with laughter and applause. The champion thrived on it.
“I had a dream — not like Martin Luther King — but I had a dream last night,” the 22‐year-old champion said. “I was in the ring with Liston, and I was fighting the whole world. There were thousands with him. I’d hit one, and there’d be thousands more.”
“The only people for me,” he continued, “are little children in the ghettos of Cairo, Miami, Egypt, and Georgia, and old women and Beatle fans.”
He stopped, his face searching through the lights, cameras, and spaghetti‐like television cables.
“You know, there are a lot of sides on what I’m saying,” he informed the conference. “I’m not as dumb as I look.”
He then referred to unspecified foul plots to rob him of his crown. The people, the referee, the judges, and the press would be against him the night of the fight, Ali asserted.
These remarks angered Tom Rawson, a member of the State Boxing Commission. Rawson blinked rapidly behind his glasses then assured the champion that everything would be honest.
“If you have any suspicions, let us know and we’ll turn it over to the state police,” Rawson said.
“Thanks,” said Ali.
Wearing a sport shirt, the champion sat behind a long luncheon table with members of his entourage. They included his wife Sonji (“The best cook in the world. I’m not only married to her; I’m married to the whole world”) and his brother Rahman Ali, who started fighting as Rudy Clay.
Also on hand was Stepin Fetchit (right), the old stereotype Negro movie comedian. He wore a rubber skull cap and confided that he was teaching Ali “the ankle punch” with which he said he had helped make Jack Johnson champion almost 50 years ago. Fetchit, born Lincoln Perry in 1902, was six years old when Johnson became champion.
Mrs. Ali, an attractive woman with long, gleaming black hair, never smiled during the conference and appeared to be bored.
Ali predicted he would beat Liston within nine rounds, and “if he makes me sore, I’ll cut it to four.” A bit of new comedy material concerned Ali’s affiliation with a company manufacturing small “Sonny Liston sit‐down stools.”
Liston lost the title Feb. 25 when he failed to answer the bell for the seventh round. He said he had hurt his shoulder. According to Ali, the reason was fatigue and fear.
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