It’s a shame we couldn’t see what their relationship would have been after they filmed computer fight. Marciano died shortly after filming. They even talked of doing speeches together. From most accounts of those that were there said they gained a mutual Respect for each other after
The Rock was a real mensch. If he were a total knucklehead he still would have been a great fighter. But in interviews he comes across as a real respectful, thoughtful and articulate guy. And he didn't have to be. He was a bad ass who could have carved his path thru life based on intimidation and accompishment. Just my thoughts....
I have seen this before. Rock was quite old fashioned. Ali rightfully refused the draft. I also don't understand why they keep referring to him as Cassius Clay.
You have to remember that Ali was still very young at the time and had a reputation for doing things for shock value, so even people, who respected his ability such as Joe Louis and Marciano weren’t going to quickly embrace his name change or conversion to Islam. Also, a lot oldtimers in the fight game thought Ali was attracting the wrong type of attention for both boxing and himself by putting as much focus on his religion as he did. There used to be a video on YouTube with Marciano being interviewed and going into a little bit more detail on why he thought Ali should’ve been more discrete about his religion and political views while being the world champ and he subtly hinted that Ali would face retaliation from some of the behind the scenes politicians in boxing, which Ali later did.
I agree. I'm only 34 but I imagine young Ali was seen almost like a Kanye West figure in the 60s. The name change was probably viewed as blatant attention seeking behavior and most respectable people refused to indulge in his games. That turned out to not be the case, but that could have been the way it was seen at the time.
I think quite a few carried on calling him clay. Some because they probably forgot and some, as War01 mentioned, as a way of getting at him via insult Henry Cooper kept doing it but not sure he'd do that out of malice.
