Jan. 13, 1965 - In fine voice (“Can’t you remember my name? It’s Muhammad Ali”), the man who won the heavyweight championship as Cassius Clay was in New York today for the ceremonial signing of a radio rights contract between the Mutual Broadcasting System and Intercontinental Sports for his as yet unscheduled rematch with Sonny Liston.
“Little old me, a country boy raised in the sticks, actually sitting here in this 25-story skyscraper in New York City — it’s hard to believe,” said the champion.
The contract was basically the same as the one for the scheduled Nov. 16 fight in Boston between Liston and Ali. Seventy-two hours before the match, Ali was operated on for a hernia. At the time, a bit uncharitably, Liston said: “When he opens his mouth so much, a lot of that wind gets in, and that’s what caused the hernia.”
Since then, Liston has been in trouble with the Denver police, the World Boxing Association has sanctioned a “title fight” between Eddie Machen and Ernie Terrell, and Floyd Patterson, the former champion, and George Chuvalo, a Canadian who knocked out Doug Jones, have been booked to fight next month at Madison Square Garden.
Ali had something to say about each.
On Liston: “I’d like to fight him if he’d just stay out of jail. I guess he likes the city to pay the rent.”
On Jones: “He was good meat, but he got beat.”
On Chuvalo: “I hope he beats Patterson ‘cause he’d be a bigger draw to fight me. He talks a lot, like me.”
On Patterson: “A bum. I wouldn’t want to talk about him and make him seem too big.”
On Machen: “A disgrace.”
On Terrell: “No color. They’re all names, just names.”
On Muhammad Ali: “You have a heavyweight champion who may be disliked and misunderstood in some places, but you have a champion who will be there, who won’t get into one inch of trouble, who will break no laws, who will be there at the fight, clean and ready. Only death will stop me.”
The fight is expected to take place in Boston, perhaps in the late spring. Ali says he could be ready to fight at seven weeks’ notice. If Liston is jailed on current drunken driving charges, however, further plans will have to be made.
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