his first nineteen professional fights, clay earned the chance to challenge heavyweight champion sonny liston. liston was formiddable with a left hook simply described as lethal. twice, he'taken down former champ floyd patterson in one round, and his next opponent, the young, eager and loquacious cassius clay, wasn't expe to be much of a match. cassius clay, wasn't expe to be much of a match. but there was at least one person who was certain liston would suffer defeat. "you tell this to your camera, your tv man, your radio man, and you right there and the world, if sonny liston whups me, i'll kiss his feet in the ring, crawl out of the ring on my knees, tell him he's the greatest and catch the next jet out of the country. that's what i think about sonny liston!" in the weeks leading up to the fight clay continually taunted calling him a "big, ugly bear" too slow to keep up with clay's nimbleness, a style he famously likened to a combination between a bee and a butterfly. "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee ahhhhh, rumble young man, rumble! ahhhh!" but clay's cocky attitude did little

went out there and embarrassed sonny liston. that was the type of guy he was. you had to love him for that. >> stephen: your dad was a boxer. you trained with bruce lee. >> yeah. >> stephen: do you think you could have gone five rounds with muhammad ali? you've got the reach, tale of the tape is on your side. >> wouldn't want to do that. he was my brother and my friend. wilt wanted to box him. >> stephen: wilt chamberlain did? >> yeah, wilt thought he...he was dreaming. he woke up and was dreaming he was going to buh but that's where ego will get you. >> stephen: is there anything that people don't know about your friend that they should be thinking about right now? >> his understanding of what integrity was all about was remarkable and it's an example for us to repeat for our kids and grandkids because it was the real deal. >> stephen: kareem abdul jabbar, everybody. we'll be right back with james corden. t-mobile's coverage is unstoppable. and with extended range lte it reaches farther than ever. from the powder to the pavement, skylines, coastlines, out in t

i don't have a mark on my face and i upset sonny liston and i just turned 22 years old. i must be the greatest. i told the world. i shook up the world, i shook up the world, i shook up the world! >> stephen: that type of outrageous bragging paved the way for so many other people of color. ali paid a high price for his beliefs. he was stripped of his title and banned from boxing after he refused to fight in vietnam. his ban was eventually overturned by the supreme court, and ali went on to win the world heavyweight title three times and fought in some of the most famous boxing matches of all time: the "rumble in the jungle," the "thrilla in manila," and the less successful "adequate in connecticut." ( laughter ) and he didn't just change boxing, he changed trash talk. he turned it into performance art. "i float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." "i murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. i'm so mean, i make medicine sick." he said, "joe frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head." that's cold. the champ