brilliance, the charisma of this man born cassius clay, became muhammad ali, became a living legend. thanks to our guests who have helped us through ♪ i am the greatest. >> he knew it before the world did. >> i will be the youngest heavyweight champion in history. >> knew it when he was cassius clay. >> i'm fast, i'm pretty and can't possibly be beat. >> magnetic, charismatic, brash. >> i'm cocky, some say i need a good whooping. > and unpredict he brought spectacle and theater to the ring. >> float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. >> then changed his name. >> cassius clay was ni slave name. >> became a muslim.

>> unless he would join the communist party. >> became muhammad ali. >> i want to be known all over the world as that man. >> see how he became the self-proclaimed greatest. >> he was so good, so bright. >> he was just plain crazy. >> in this hour, his historic fights in the ringing. > joe frazier versus momentum ali. >> muhammad took him out of there. >> against the draft. >> there is a difference in fighting and going to war in vietnam. >> against a crippling disease. >> the syndrome was caused by too many blows to the head. >> and then against america's enemies. >> couldn't just sit home and watch people. >> hollywood has its version of his story. >> i never stopped being the champ. >> here is how it really unfolded. the greatness behind the greatest, muhammad ali.

>> ladies and gentlemen. >> this is headliners & legends with lester holt. >> he has been called by many the greatest athlete of the 20th century. if you aren't old enough to remember muhammad ali's era, it is almost impossible to convey just what a force he was. but his one-two combination of being a hero both in the ring and out made him a truly legendary figure. in this hour, how ali vanquished opponents, spoke truths, people didn't always want to hear, and always seemed to be ahead of his time. ♪ >> who do you all think the champ is? >> ali. >> the whole world tunes in when the name of muhammad ali is on the building. >> he was one-of-a-kind.

>> an american hero. if you're going to measure what america has been during his adult lifetime, he's the perfect person to do it for you. >> i am the greatest. >> you're going to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. >> rumble, young man, rumble. >> ah. >> i'm young, i'm handsome. i'm fast. i'm pretty. and can't possibly be beat. >> every time you turned around, you heard this voice and the greatest cassius clay, i'm going do this, i'm going to do that. look how pretty i am. >> let me see you close your mouth and keep it closed. >> you know that's impossible. i'm the greatest. if you geet smart, i'll knock you out. >> i'm not only a fighter, um a poet, i'm a prophet, i'm the resurrector. >> this was one of the most

vocal entertaining people to ever come along on the american scene, regardless of being in sports or music or entertainment or politics. >> i'm the savior of the boxing world. if it wasn't for me, the game would be dead. >> i guess the only thing you could say about his personality when you first met him back in those days was you didn't take him seriously. he was the kid next door but lauder. >> all i want to do is fight. people do say i'm cocky. some say i need a good whooping. some say i talk too much. anything i say i'mtology back up. >> if you had told me then this would become the most recognizable face in the entire world, i wouldn't believe it. >> muhammad ali was born in 1942 in louisville kentucky. he started boxing at 12. he went on to win the golden gloonz suddenly he stepped center stage new jersey rome at the 1960 olympics.

>> in rome courtside ceremonies bring to a close the 17th modern olympiad. >> dwight eisenhower was the president of the united states. we were really still in the 1950s despite the fact that the year was 1960. also, athletes were quiet and humble. and here was this young attractive, braggadocious young man. >> to prove that i'm great. if you keep talking jibe, i'm going to cut it to five. >> he was so good, so bright, lit up, charisma. so the media was as happy as heck. >> what do you like about boxing? what appeals to you? >> well, not to be bragging, i'm not the kind that really likes to brag, but -- >> i noticed. >> i like boxing because if it wasn't for boxing, i wouldn't be here. i could fight you tomorrow and draw a crowd of 10,000 people

because of my talking and ability. >> he began to get a lot of the publicity and that was through his relentless and very creative self-promotion. one story that sticks out in my mind involves a photographer named flip shuttlee who went down to photographuhammad for "sports illustrated." flip finished taking his pictures. they were chatting and he mentioned to muhammad that he did most of his an photography for life" magazine. >> if you made it into the pages of "life" magazine, you had made it big-time. flip said, well, i do a lot of underwater photographer and cassius's eyes lit up and flip said, what it is? and cassius said, well, i can't tell you. finally with great prodding, cassius told flip, as a big secret that the reason he was so fast was that he trained underwater, that each morning he would get up in secret, go down

to a swimming pool and throw punches underwater. and that built up his strength. shuttlee said, well that's fantastic. you've got let me photograph this for "life." it was great publicity and what was notable about that was it was a total nonsense story, cassius had never thrown a punch underwater in his life and he didn't even know how to swim. >> what you be. >> what you be saying? he came along as a fighter. with a very different approach, making it obviously kind of a show business game. and he had a great sense of humor about himself. >> let me finish. let me talk. i'm the greatest. he's not a talker. >> this was enormously liberating for people to see an threat act this way, a public figure act this way in particular because he was a black man and he acted this way. >> i will be 21 january 17th. i predict that by the end of

1963, i will be the youngest heavyweight champion in many history. and the only reason i won't be is because this fellow, sonny listen to, would be ducking and dodging me. >> heavyweight champion sonny listen to already being impaired with all time greats jack dempsey and joe louis goes into training to dispense with the louisville lip. listen to is an 8-1 favorite. many experts think that's giving clay the bust of the doubt. >> listen to was a destroyer of the flesh . if he was around today, he would eat up every heavyweight. he would have eaten tyson up and knocked him out. in fact, i seen him hit a guy way jab, knocked his teeth out. true story. >> i son sonny listen to a few days:00. >> annie oakley. he's too ugly to be the world's champ. the world's champ should be pretty like me. >> this was a guy who had been to jail several times for armed robbery for beating up a cop.

he was managed by the mob. his three previous fights had all resulted in first round knockouts. >> forget it. they're looking at my kid bouncing kid they figure, oh, my god, he's going to get killed. but they didn't realize the transition from '60 to '64. this kid became a man. he loved to train. loved to spar. he could spar like you and i take a hot shower. >> my new year's resolution is to knock out that big ugly bear, shake up the whole world in 1964 and talk no more. >> will you please do us one favor and look right into the camera and wish sonny listen to a very, very happy new year. >> yeah, i wish him a happy new year because he's going to need happiness because i'm going to beat him so bad, he's going to think he robbed a bank. >> we did a lot of homework on listen to. i brought muhammad to a lot of

his fights. one fight in particular, listen to knocked this guy out and he comes out and sees us sitting there, puts his arm around muhammad and says i'm going to beat you like i'm your daddy. >> what percentage of the fans coming to see you fight listen to, what percentage will be coming to see you and what percentage will be coming to see you? >> 100% will be coming to see me. but 99% coming to see me get beat because i talk too much. but i got these. >> they represent your thinking? >> these represent dynamite. ♪ >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock,

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when cassius clay fought sonny liston for the heavyweight championship, the weigh-in was absolute chaos. part of it was to build himself up psychologically before a fight. >> i ain't scared of nobody. it going to take a good man to whip me. you look at me. i'm loaded with confidence. i can't be beat. 22 professional fights and i'm pretty as the girls. >> guys like liston, tough guys are afraid of crazy guys. he thought my guy was nuts. that was the edge we had into we fooled a lot of people. >> i'm ready to go to war. i've been talking and talking and predicting. > it must be remembered the one thing about ali was he was a showman. and he realized that in order to make money as a boxer, he had to make people interested in the

fights. >> the press basically despised liston because he was mean and surly and uncooperative with them. they liked cassius clay because because he was great copy. ♪ >> but there was a disturbing undercurrent, and cassius clay's popularity to the press was about to plummet. >> in the early 1960s, several years before the sonny liston fight, cassius clay started going to nation of islam meetings. >> he wasn't really letting anybody know. i think there was an agreement that he would not say that he was a muslim until after the fight. >> promoters were very disturbed by this. they couldn't have cared less about whatever religion he espoused or whatever. what they cared about was nobody

was going to come to this fight and it would make it even tougher to sell tickets they thought. >> all of a sudden you have a whole bunch of black muslims as they were known to the establishment media surrounding cassius clay and the most visible among them is malcolm x. >> his relationship with malcolm x was a friend. matter of fact, ali had invited him to miami. >> malcolm x was attracted to ali. he liked him as a person. he thought that if he could bring ali into the fold as a muslim, what an enormous thing it would be for black people and what a big thumbing of the nose it would be to the white establishment if that could happen. >> people understood that cassius clay was not going to renounce what he believed in. so the promoter told malcolm look, this fight is in danger of being canceled. there's a lot of folks down here

in florida who don't like what's going on. and you've got to get out of here or cassius might not have the opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship at all. finally, malcolm agreed to leave, but he said he would be coming back for the fight. >> 15 rounds for the heavyweight championship of the world. the challenger from louisville, kentucky, wearing white trunks with red stripes, weighing 210.5 pounds, the former olympic light heavyweight champion, cassius play. . >> i remember vividly the night of the fight listening to it on the radio. >> man. >> get through the first round. please let him get through the first round. >> jabbing all over. right-hand. the best punch of the fight so far.

>> muhammad nailed him in the first round with a good right-hand. outboxed him. the guy went crazy trying to get him. >> he was faster. hit much harder than sonny expected. there was one moment in the third round when he was really beating liston's up. sonny's face was starting to look like he had been put through a meat grinder. >> he pusted him up with a good right-hand on the cheekbone. that's when i think either they had put some alcohol on the shoulder of liston. >> and clay's eyes began to burn. he went back to his corner and what people believe now in retrospect was that one of liston's cornermen put some sort of solution on sonny's gloves so it would get into clay's eyes and temporarily blind him >> he wants to get up and tell the referee there's dirty works a foot. the referee comes in the corner. i said get out. then he got up and the referee went back to the neutral corner.

i said run. his eyes cleared up about halfway through the round. took a horrible licking. in that round, he took a bad licking, body licking but his condition was so great, he overcame it. then when his eyes started clearing up, he started doing a number on liston again. >> sonny liston was beaten badly, refused to come off his stool and answer the bell and cassius clay leaped up in the air, came over, leaned over and where we were sitting and said, you and you and you, i fooled you. it's my destiny. i'm the champ. i'm the greatest. >> i don't have a mark on my face. i upset sonny liston and just turned 22 years old. i must be the greatest.

♪

after winning the championship, clay explained to the press that he has embraced the religion of islam and that he wished to be called by his new muslim name, muhammad ali. >> he announced that he had joined the nation of islam, and that made him very, very unpopular. >> i don't think he could have gotten a worst response unless he said he joined the communist party. >> because they viewed islam at that time like they view it now as something that is radical, something that is bad. something that is different than plain stream america. >> it was in a time of really serious political upheaval, the voting rights act and the civil rights act were still new. i think one of them hadn't even been enacted yet. so a lot of change was happening at that time. >> the nation of islam had a doctrine that is very different from orthodox islam, which is what muhammad embraces today. the nation of islam was founded by a man named elijah muhammed.

>> it's said that black people were superior to white people. they didn't believe in after light. the white man is having his heaven now. you're having your hell now. what you need to do is change that. >> it came out of a need to bring black people out of the gutters of america. and to try to make them independent and to stand on their own and to give them dignity. >> once he decided to join the nation of islam and say this is what i am, you're going to having to accept me on my terms, no black athlete had ever said to the white public or the black public for that matter, you have to accept me on my terms. >> shortly after the first sonny liston fight, cassius clay started signing autographs cassius x. the x was to designate the african name that had been lost. and then elijah muhammed

announced he was giving him a new name. >> when ali changed his a name and b adopted a black muslim faith right after the sonny liston fight in '64, there was a tremendous aversion, not only to him and to the faith, but to elijah muhammed and herbert muhammad and the basic caucasian populace didn't accept it in the beginning. in fact, it was another reason to dislike ali. >> why do you insys on being called muhammad ali now. >> that's the name given to me by my teacher. cassius clay was my slave name. i'm no longer a slave. >> what does it mean. >> worthy of all praises and ali means most high. >> do you intend to fight under that name? >> yes, sir, i want to be called by that name. i want to be known all over the

world as that name. >> he took basically many of the same characteristics he had as cassius clay, but now he had a different framework in which to cast his persalit because he now had this religion and ts set of politics. >> everything good and of authority was made white. we look at jesus, we see a white with blonde hair and blue eyes. we look at all the angels we see white with blonde and blue eyes. if there's a heaven in the sky and the colored folks die and go to heaven, where are the colored angel? they must be in the kitchen preparing the mill it can and honey. >> islam came along at a time when for certain young black people you had a certain set of answers to questions that seed better, more honest and more militant. >> the media and really america in general was not willing to accept the name muhammad ali for

a long time. >> cassius. >> you know my new name. why you calling me that? >> former heavyweight champion floyd patterson was also reluctant to call ali by his new name. >> it was a slap at his adopted name and it was a slap at his religion. >> we had signed papers, i know i did and they told me mr. clay did, how do you -- >> you have floyd patterson, the soft spoken ncaa member. he believes in integration. it's yes, sir, no, sir. he knows his place. >> my only interest in fighting him is not for the money. it's to take the championship away and to put it back to where it belongs. all america, not just the black muslims. >> this infuriates muhammad ali who for starters says hey, if

you don't think i'm in america, look and see who i'm paying taxes to. >> he don't like my religion or the religion of islam. if it was left up to me, i'd fight him tonight. >> you want to fight him now? >> yes, sir, i want him bad. >> when he fought patterson, he said, what's my name, sucker? >> ali went into that fight really with the idea of humiliating floyd patterson. he did that. in the first round he didn't throw a punch. he just glided around the ring and made patterson look sort of silly. then he jabbed him silly for most of the fight. in the 12th round, the referee stopped the fight because pat irson was taking too much of a beating. >> ali's next fight would be fought against a backdrop of vietnam when this tribute to muhammad ali continues.

i'm todd piro. here's what's happening. boxing champion muhammad ali has

died at the age after 74. he had been hospitalized for treatment of a rispier to issue. >> the bodies of four soldiers were recovered friday. they were killed when their truck was swept away by floodwaters. >> the man shot by a secret service agent two weeks ago at the white house said he went there to shoot people. he's charged with using a firearm to interfere with a federal officer which can carry a 20-year sentence. now back to our program. this is headliners & legends. once again, lester holt. >> by the mid-1960s, the boxer who had debuted as cassius clay is at odds with the american mainstream. he has joined the nation of islam and changed his name to something distinctly foreign sounding. muhammad ali. but the pretty prince of boxing is about to jab the

establishment big-time when citings his religious beliefs is he refuses to be drafted into the u.s. army to fight for his country in vietnam, a decision that would nearly ko his ring career. ♪ >> last week, more americans died in south vietnam than in any previous week of the war. >> there was in the 1960s a war going on in vietnam. and most americans really didn't want to go over and fight it. a lot of them felt the war should be fought. very few people actually wanted to go there. and the result is that people were being drafted. now, in order to be eligible for the armed services, you had to pass a physical examination. you also had to pass an iq test. when ali first took the iq test, he flunked it.

then as the war escalated, it became harder and harder to get people into the army. the government lowered the score that was necessary for induction. >> i just can't understand how they could reclassify me as 1 a when they were the one who's said the government officials were the one who's said that i was 1 y and that i wasn't qualified. it was their decision. now all of a sudden, i'm 1 a without any test, without notifying me or checking to see if i'm any wiser than i was the last time or any worser. >> he was such a magnet for black people to gather around and to surround and to follow, they had to get him out of here. they had-to-do something. >> whites can come together and discuss the common cause but whenever a few of us coming to, the world is shook up. >> they definitely thought of muhammad as a threat just like they thought of martin luther king as a threat. >> this was a guy who was heavyweight champion of the world. he thought had he put the draft

behind him. and all of a sudden, reporters show up at his house and they say, hey, you've just been drafted. >> what does the muslim religion say about serving in the armed forces. >> the islamic religion, everyone knows i'm a muslim. the religion means peace. >> had he very strong feelings about the vietnam war. it wasn't about the vietnam war. it was about war. muhammad ali was a genuine conscientious objector. >> there were a number of very prominent black americans like joe louis and jackie robinson who were very critical. >> he's hurt ig think the morale of a lot of young negro soldiers over in vietnam and the tragedy to me is that cassius has made millions of dollars off of the american public and now he's not willing to show his appreciation to a country that is giving him, in my view, a fantastic

opportunity hurts a great number of people. >> the government took the position that ali's belief was not a religious belief because it did not recognize the nation of islam as a religion. >> heavyweight champion cassius clay at a federal court in houston is found guilty of violating the u.s. selective service laws by refuse to inducted. he is sentenced to five years in prison and finded $10,000. the maximum penalty for the offense which is a felony. the sentence was appealed by clay's lawyers. play contended his status as a black muslim minister made him exempt from the draft. released on bail, he faces a possible 18-month wait for an appeal decision. >> immediately, without any kind you have trial, without due process of any form, he was stripped of his championship. he was precluded from fighting in all 50 states.

his passport was taken away so he couldn't leave the country. >> he really could not earn a living like had he planned and actually was accustomed to within the last six years. >> he had to make money and the only way he could make money was going around college campuses giving talks. >> those were the days where somebody of ali's statue could get $1,000 or $2,000 for a speaking engagement. >> there is one hell of a lot of difference in fighting in the ring and going to war in vietnam. my intention is to box to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. >> when ali refused to be drafted in '67, he became a real hero i think for a lot of young people, particularly a lot of young black people. with the rise of black power, it was just his congratulator sense of militancy, urgency, greater

sense of really revolution. >> we met with ali in june of 1967 to try to see if we could figure out a way to help him deal with his political/legal problems in going against the will of the united states and refusing to fight in vietnam. nine top negro athletes meet with cassius clay to discuss his anti-draft stand. they include bill russell, lew alcindor, and former pro footballer jimmy brown. says brown after the meeting the champ is sincere in his religious beliefs. he believes in his religion and his stand is based wholly on that. clay's refusal cost him his title and he faces a possible five-year prison sentence. he claims exemption as a minister of the black muslim faith. >> he could have accommodated the desires of the country and continued his professional

career. but he chose to stick by his convictions on that issue and i have a lot of the respect for him for that. >> it was just enormously important that he didn't fed, that he didn't make a deal, that he stood up for his beliefs so that it was important to me for black people and white people to understand that a black person could stand up for his or her beliefs and willing to pay the price for that. >> i think it was such an injustice what they did. they didn't realize this kid was for real. his religion was for real. >> muhammad gave up the prime of his career, but for what he believed in, it was not that big of a price. he never ever has any regrets for what he's done. >> it took three years for his case to wind its way through the courts until finally the united states supreme court unanimously overturned the conviction.

♪ >> joe frazier versus muhammad ali. i would say that if this ever came off, it would be the biggest fight in the history of the whole planet earth up until now. i don't want to hear no more about joe frazier because il totally destroy him. he was an illusion champion. he was a clown. he got the crown because at draft took my title. ♪

♪ funky beat, funky funky beat >> float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. whoa. >> it's just nice being back. right now i'm only concentrating on conditioning after a 3 1/2 year layoff and six-week notice to meet the number one contender is almost a miracle thing to do. >> there were two factors in the buildup lead together first ali/frazier fight that made it different than any other fight and also made it very emotional in people's minds. one was the money because people in this country just simply money fascinates them and nobody had ever gotten that kind of money. this was spectacular. >> the fight march 8th, 1971 was called "the fight." and it was a comeback for ali. he had will two fights in his

comeback after 3 1/2ese of being defrocked for failing to come forward for the draft in houston. and he was now a hero to those people who were against vietnam he's conflict. conversely, joe frazier was adopted by the hard hats let's call them, but those people in favor of our participation in the vietnamese conflict. >> this is the first time in the history of boxing that two undefeated world heavyweight champions meet for so possession of the world titling. > this fight was really too soon for him. rather than rely on his legs and his physical skills, he leaned against the ropes. taunted frazier. hoped frazier would punch himself out. >> i don't know how he survived 11 rounds. remarkable man. he hauls had this thing about sucking it up and coming back. he came back. right up until that will 15th round where he got nailed with that sucker left hook.

>> he actually lost it. and i was devastated. just devastated because you know, you don't expect him to lose. you think he isn't going to lose. when he lost, i just didn't understand it. >> you know what? he was fine after the fight, just i was a little concerned about the swelling of the jaw. took him to the hospital. they wanted him to stay overnight. wouldn't stay. came out and talked to the media. >> did that really hurt. >> you no, that was a big surprise. the body punishment wasn't nothing. because i was in such good shape here, but the punch -- >> ali believed that he would fight frazier again and get his title back but not so because a third character came into the picture. george foreman. >> well, the highlight of the foremans was we were the good guy, foreman was the bad guy.

they loved momentum. >> and he asked this guy, how do you say in len gala, kill him? and the guy said bomiya. he turned to the people he would go ali, boomiya. of course, they knew what he was talking about. they loved it. and they go ali boomiya. and it drove foreman nuts. ali turned africa against him. by the time george came to the fight, he wanted to kill ali which is just the way ali had it pretty much planned. >> muhammad went right out and took charge. muhammad took foreman's best shots. >> the prevailing view was that muhammad ali is past his prime. he understood that he couldn't dance all night. so what he did was he went to the ropes and of course, it's become known since then as the rope-a-dope. he leaned back against the ropes so his head for the most part was out of range of foreman's punches. >> i thought he was the dope on the rope really. it worried the devil out of me.

a lot of times he was in my corner and you couldn't see but i was smacking him on the butt. get out of there. get out of there. >> foreman hit ali with punches that would have forced any other fighter to crumble. >> he let foreman empty his tank. foreman ran out of gas. muhammad took him out of there. sensational. >> ali. ♪ you're not gonna watch it! ♪

♪ no, you're not gonna watch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. ♪ he became such a mainstream hero that dc comics put a special edition with ali fighting superman. it's a story about ali helping superman fight off this alien invasion. part of the plot of the story is

he has to fight in the ring. he beats superman in the ring. here is this great white cultural hero and ali beats him in the ring. incredible. you're talking about mainstream acceptance. ♪ ♪ this here's the story of cassius clay who changed his name to muhammad ali ♪ ♪ he knows how to talk and he knows how to fight and all these contenders were beat out of sight ♪ ♪ sing muhammad, muhammad >> it was adulation for a black person who had stood up against the war, who was considered to be unpatriotic and who you know, was calling white people out about racism. >> so it came to pass that muhammad ali and joe frazier fought again. i mean, you couldn't have kept them from fighting again with a gun, a whip and a chair. this was destiny.

>> the fight had huge implications in terms of the war between these men. and they really weren't fight forth heavyweight championship of the world in manila. it was something much more important than that. >> had there been no joe frazier in his life, we would not have seen the best of ali. >> in a bruising and brutal fight it ended with joe frazier sitting in his corner account loser and muhammad ali lying on the floor the winner. ali is still the heavyweight champion of the world. >> he's walking very slowly being supported on either side. it's the only time i had to strain to hear ali. call you in the night, listen to me. listen to me. he leans over in a very hoarse voice. he almost cross-examination. that's the closest thing you'll ever see to death. >> i'm so tired, i don't want to do nothing. i want to rest for one week. my hips are sore. >> i was hoping that he would never fight again after that. after winning the fight for the third time.

that was enough. ali continued to fight for a number of reasons. partly it was the money. partly it was ego. he loved the spotlight. he also fought because that was what he defined himself by. >> i always felt that ali should have retired earlier than he did, and it really bothered me to see him taking the risks that he did. >> how many more times can you keep doing this. >> this is the last fight. i said it twice before. i didn't mean it. but this time i do. >> had he parkinson's when he was fighting. i didn't know it. the doctors didn't know it. near the end of his career, he couldn't talk. and i said give them hell. sit up. i figured he was slouching but he had parkinson's. it was affecting his speech. people couldn't hear him like talk in a whisper. so i got on his case for that and i feel bad about that. >> in muhammad's case, the syndrome was caused by too many

blows to the ahehead. but there are no intellectual deficits. >> muhammad ali! >> i think there is also a tough of martyrdom that this man whom we knew because of his mouth as much as his skills in the ring called the louisville lip has been silenced by an afliction. >> representing the family you might say. >> i think that laila ali went into the ring as a boxer as much to win the attention and affection of her father as anything else. problem was, ali didn't really a, respond to it and b, approve of it. it was against all the tene of his faith besides his concern that she be hurt. >> i don't have much to say

right now other than i feel good and i'm ready for more. i think come september 11th and there was a tremendous change in the attitude of americans particularly when it came to viewing the islamic faith. >> really hurting me the name islam's involved. and muslim is involved. and causing trouble and starting all the hate anise lam is not a killer religion. islam means peace. >> muhammad ali in order not only to deflect criticism but to try to put it in perspective that this act of terrorism was

not part of the religion that he knew. they don't make heros like they used to. if they don't make heroes like they used to, maybe it's time to revisit some who were. muhammad ali whether it was for his skills in the ring as a sports figure or his standing up to a war, the street na meese conflict, whatever it is, muhammad ali is one of those heroes who appeals to people. so maybe one of the reasons of the movie is to capture that when there are no other heros of that magnitude today. >> i saw ali an the olympics. i didn't think of him as a man who was ill. i thought of him as a man who had survived. >> but look who gets it next. the greatest. ♪ >> oh, my!

>> the phenomena of muhammad ali can be explains that here was a guy that came along at a certain historical moment. came along as this gregarious, nice looking, extremely talented athlete who in an age when america has convulsed by politics, he went to the is taken and became political, too. here's a guy who stood up against his country and survived to tell the tale. that's the stuff of myth. >> as muhammad ali's steps grew scloe slower and his voice grew quieter, the accolades never stopped coming. he continued to be recognized for his remarkable achievements.

in 2005 at a white house ceremony, the man who had been vilified for refusing to join the army during the vietnam war was presented with the presidential medal of freedom. the greatest of all time bestowed with the nation's highest civilian honor. i'm lester holt. thanks for watching.

>> we are covering the death of the champ announced tonight surrounded by his family in arizona. it the end of the journey for muhammad ali, death came at the age of 74 for a man who as we've been saying, could not go anywhere in the world in his adult lifetime without people knowing his name. he called himself the greatest. and his work, his deeds eventually made that title come true. he called himself the king of the world. and eventually his work in the ring and his largeness as a human made that title come true. born cassius clay, known to the world as muhammad ali. what an american journey for the man who was easily the most famous man in the world for decades at a