You're an idiot. He legally changed his name. Not the NOI, they gave him that name to use. Just like your parents giving you Alex to use, you don't like it, you change it. Muhammad Ali chose to use such a name, he wanted Cassius X in tribute to his mentor at that time, but the NOI "gave" him that name. All in all, it's just a name change. Just like when Marvin Hagler added Marvelous to his name. This just implies his connection to his religion, which is traditional to ISLAM. So, Alexvoce you're just being a silly stubborn idiot by not recognizing a name change. What you're doing is a childish form of protesting. Why don't you hold your breath until your skin turns blue? That might work about as effectively. It's nearly as bad as that guy on general forum insisting that Manny Pacquiao be called by his middle name Dapidran. It's just brutish, poor behavior by a person that has no class.
To answer the question; Ali was just being Ali. He was personal with Joe, and Joe took it to heart that Ali would "crawl". Then the "words/insults" came out and Joe being Joe couldn't handle the insults. This crawling, that initially was something to happen between friends (like a simple bet) turned sour because Joe couldn't handle the name calling. Eventually Joe took this crawling to heart and really wanted to see it happen. Ali was fed up with Joe by that time because he was sure that Joe was a smart enough guy to understand what was going on. Ali also could have been insulted from the visit that Gypsy Joe and Smokin' Joe did after Ali's first bout of insults. They visited Ali at his place (at the time) and Joe got angry, demanding that Ali was out of order and should apologize. Then he accused Ali of hiding behind his religion. Which Ali said, "We're done here" and walked inside the house Ali and crew staying at in Philly. There he left an extremely angry Joe on the front porch, fuming that Ali was taken by the Muslims (which at that time he was) and hiding behind them for protection. Later on: Joe got his revenge, but almost died in the hospital after the FOTC. He almost killed himself exerting all the rage he had exacted towards Ali. He exhausted every last bit of strength and will to defeat Ali.
Wait,,,,,,,,,,he wanted to change his name to Cassius X first. Then,,,,, when did he decide Cassius was his slave name.??? Just a question, not trying to be mean-spirited.
No prob! You're one of my favorites on here. Love the stuff you're putting up. For a researcher like me, you're a gold mine. To answer the question; After Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston he wanted to change his name to Cassius X, to be similar to his mentor Malcolm X. Malcolm's reasoning for choosing X over that of something else? Please read the following: "The Muslim's 'X' symbolized the true African family name that he never could know. For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears."(Autobiography pg.229) Cassius liked this and in a bout of flattery chose Cassius X, however, Elijah Muhammad had a "better name" and gave Muhammad Ali to him instead. The NOI and Elijah generally said that, "You don't want a slave name, here's something better". Malcolm didn't get rid of his first name because that was inherent to him (from his parents), the last name of Little bothered him because that name had whiteness tacked to it. Muhammad Ali changed his whole name because he (or most likely someone else) discovered that he was in fact named after a British (I think) slave-owning white man that "raped the Clay's into existence". Sonny Liston's lineage comes from the same result, a British "gentleman" with the surname of Liston eventually sexed up one of his slaves and a few generations later Charles "Sonny" Liston was born (just don't ask me when). Generally, at that time Ali was interested in moving into radical new territory. Just the people around him, telling him all those "things" were filling his head with ideas. I bet if he had his way, he'd be Cassius X till he figured otherwise.
Thanks Briscoe,,,,,,,,,,,, Also,,thanks for the nice words,,,,, You do have to give Muhammad Ali alot of credit, he was one of the first people to change their name,,,,,,,,after he became more famous. Marketing wise,,,,,,,a disaster.
why don't we call you alex dickhead or alex ass****ed or alex braindead or something like that. the guys name is ali. simple. fact. not clay. but let me ask you an honest question.. would you have the guts to call him clay in his face. not nowadays but when he was still fighting ??
alexvoce AKA alexbraindead.. probably internethero.. i would have a lot of respect for him if he called ali clay in his face when ali was still fighting.. noticed it on another site as well some people are real brave.. sitting behind their pc savely and anonymous
Mate, you cant converse on this subject otherwise you get accused of trolling. Its alright for others to rip the **** out of Ali but your not allowed to reply,
For whatever it's worth, when Joe shook hands with Muhammad after Manila, he was ironically standing upright while Ali was kneeling on the floor looking and reaching back over his shoulder and up. That was the closest we were ever going to come to the visual being discussed here. (Frazier's sportsmanship in the ring following the cessation of action deserves to be acknowledged.)