Prior to their Heavyweight unification bout, Ernie Terrell sings a song taunting/insulting Ali

Oh my god at that photo, his face looks shifted.
I love seeing that after reading the lyrics.

If that ain’t karma I don’t know what is.

 

Terrell could actually sing better than he could fight. He should have went into show business.

 

I saw this in "Facing Ali" documentary. I always felt Terrell was intimidated by Ali and tried to keep up with him psychologically (calling him Clay and performing this song on national TV lol). Ali had him shook in that interview (w/ Cossell) where he called Terrell an "Uncle Tom" to his face. Ali was so damn confident when he fought the likes of Lison/Frazier/Foreman, there was no way Terrell could ever get to Ali.

I think one of the reasons Terrell couldn't do a thing was because everyone feared the black Muslims. Chuvalo talked about this in the documentary. Ali and Terrell were supposed to fight in '66 but Terrell pulled out of the fight and Ali fought Chuvalo instead. Terrell said he pulled out because he was told that there would be no purse guarantees. According to Chuvalo, Terrell's manager at the time was Bernie Glickman who had ties with the mob (Tony Accardo, Frankie Carbo). This was no secret either. Terrell was denied a boxing license in NY the same year because of his ties with the mob.

When Ali-Terrell was scheduled for the first time, Glickman went to Ali's manager Herbert Muhammad and told him that if Ali didn't throw the fight against Terrell, he'd end up in a cement box. Louis Farrakhan also talked about this and apparently the death threat was real. Glickman was then beaten to a pulp and put on a hospital bed for good. I can only imagine the kind of power NOI had if they didn't even fear the mob. Pulling out of a fight because your opponent's crew beat the **** out of your manager. That's some scary ****.

 

I'm surprised Ali never said that he did then proceed to call him a clown or something

 

Yeah, the guy holds a tune better than this HW

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@TheEliteMaster100 THX, never saw that photo YIKES!

 

Yeah...somebody got their features changed alright.

 

Quite a few old guards from NOI stated that his how he got his name. NO one, not even Malcolm was anything other than a "X" Louis was too for years an "X" As I heard it, was they claimed there were hundreds of millions of muslims worldwide that would align themselves to any athlete who shares in their religion. So if the Mob tried to do him in...then they'd have to deal with religious-(globally) people who think dying while fighting is a path to martyrdom. LOL!!!

To which is why he was minor name as Clay, but became so world renowned due to his last name (ALI), Muhammad once boasted that he could talk to the Kings of Arab nations, while Jimmy Carter couldn't get them on the phone! We saw proof of this when he died, Mullahs & Princes showed up.
Another reason I give this clout is because Many of those in Kinshasa couldn't speak English, but they shared in his belief. So they packed that stadium to see a fellow believer, not that they had seen him fight b4. I was told that is how he got a name no one else had (I think he was asked to take a dive against Liston-which brought that about.)