Nov. 16, 1962 - Following his devastating four-round victory over Archie Moore at the Los Angeles Sports Arena last night, cocky 20-year-old heavyweight Cassius Clay swaggered to his dressing room, slapping backs of fans. “Ain’t I beautiful?” Clay hollered to a feminine admirer. Clay told newsmen the fight proved “you can’t put a good old man against a great young man.” He repeated his boast that he would knock out champion Sonny Liston in eight rounds. “But the way he’s been talking lately,” added Cassius, “I may have to change that to six.” Clay said he thought he had Moore in the third and was not trying to save the coup de grâce for the fourth, the round in which he had predicted he would knock out Moore. “I was trying to end it as soon as I could,” Clay said. “I felt vicious because of the way the crowd booed me.” The crowd had cheered Moore as lustily as they had jeered at Clay before the fight. After the fight, old Archie was near tears in his dressing room. “He was better than I thought,” Arch said. “If he stays away and boxes, I think he has a good chance against Liston.”
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