Ali and Louis freindship

Hey guys, I'm going to give you a summary of two pages out of this book about the relations of Louis and Ali:

In the late 60's, before Ali would say the nasty things about Louis, Joe would tell reporters: "Clay has a million dollars' worth of confidence and a dime's worth of courage," Louis went on. "He can't punch. He can't hurt you, and I don't think he takes a good punch. He's lucky there are no good fighters around. I'd rate him with Johnny Paycheck, Abe Simon, and Buddy Baer.... I would have whipped him. He doesn't know a thing about fighting on the ropes, which is where he would be with me. I would go in to outpunch him rather than try to outbox him. I'd press him, bang him around, claw him, clobber him with all I got, cut down his speed, belt him around the ribs I'd punish the body, where the pain comes real bad. Clay would have welts on his body. He would ache. His mouth would shut tight against the pain, and there would be tears burning his eyes."

"Clay will earn the public's hatred because of his connections with the Black Muslims....The things they preach are just the opposite of what we believe. The heavyweight champion should be the champion of all people. He has responsibilities to all people."

Ali's childhood hero was Joe Louis. The household he lived in praised Louis. It hurt a lot for Ali to hear the criticisms. In turn he would call Louis an Uncle Tom and claim he would "never end up like Joe Louis."

During the 70's the relationship shifted. Louis was getting weaker. He finally "recognized Ali's skills as a fighter, reckoning that he would still beat him, but not as easily as he had disposed of Johnny Paycheck. In the mid-seventies, Ali invited him to his training camp and offered him a gift of thirty thousand dollars."

When Louis died, Ali would say "Everybody loved Joe....From black folks to redneck Mississippi *******s, they loved him. They're all crying. That shows you. Howard Hughes dies, with all his billions, not a tear. Joe Louis, everybody cried."


From "King of the World" Page 228-229

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The pics are from google, I just wanted to add some flavor lol


The book asks to remind you that Louis was in bad shape at the time of the quote. He was at the low point of his life. It was just before he had become the greeter at Ceasers. I don't think it changes Louis' mind about his feelings towards the fight, I just think it explains his "out of character bluntness" so to speak.

The book also points out to Sonny Listons extensive kindness towards Louis. Joe would often walk up to Sonny in Vegas, and Liston would give him $500 at a time, and Joe would gamble it, and usually lose it. Sometimes Louis would ask Liston for money multiple times a day. One time Louis came up to Liston while he was in pretty bad mood, and Liston told him "Not this time Joe, enough." Louis just turned around and started walking away slowly, and Liston couldn't see his hero like that, so he sent his friend to go bring Louis back, and Liston gave him another $500. Actually, it was through Listons connection that Louis got the job as the greeter.

 

yea and 500 wasnt chump change back then either!