Moulding Clay or Tomorrow's Champion (diary entry)

            Today's "Learn from the Fight" took us through some of the earliest fight footage available of the man who would become Muhammad Ali and declare his nickname to be "The Greatest".  He would also be called "The People's Champion" and "The Louisville Lip". Being the most well-known boxer and sports personality of the 20th century, it is quite hard to condense and summarise the early life of Cassius Marcellus Clay Jnr. Nevertheless, we did our best and worked them around three fights. Rather appropriately it seems, the only other boxer who we watched fight in the amateurs was Sugar Ray Robinson who was Clay/Ali's greatest boxing influence. Cassisus Marcellus Clay Jnr was born on 17th January 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to Cassius Marcellus Clay Snr and Odessa Lee Clay (nee O'Grady). He had one sibling, a younger brother by two years Christened Rudolph Valentino Clay. Rudy, as he was generally called, would follow in his brother's footsteps in both becoming a professional boxer four years after Cassius and then in becoming a Muslim and taking the name Rahman Ali. Two years after Muhammad Ali's death his family announced that DNA evidence linked him through Odessa's line to Archer Alexander, a former slave who covertly aided the Unionists in the American Civil War, had his biography recored in William Greenleaf Eliot's "The Story of Archer Alexander, from Slavery to Freedom"and for this was chosen to model for Thomas Ball's Emancipation Statue. Clay Snr. was named after the famous the slave abolitionist and Republican Cassius Marcellus Clay. With strong sentiment towards the progress of Civil Rights in the family, Clay was further affected by two negative episodes during his childhood. Growing up in the segregated southern US states, he was once refused a drink of water in a store due to the colour of his skin. Then, in 1955, he heard the news Emmett Till's murder. Till was a 14 year-old African-American boy who was abducted and mutilated before being lynched and thrown in the river. He had travelled from Chicago to visit his uncle in Mississippi. Whilst there he had entered a grocery store and offended the white woman who ran the shop by whistling. Later the woman's husband and his half-brother had gone armed to Till's uncle's home and forcibly abducted the boy. When his bloated corpse was discovered, Emmett's mother demanded an open casket funeral. Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral and it became a strong catalyst for the Civil Rights movement. Whilst various magazines and activists demanded justice, an all-white jury found the boy's murderers not guilty. This travesty of justice was compounded by the men then using the protection of double jeopardy to sell their murder confession for $4,000 to "Look" magazine a year later. In letter to his daughter, Hanna, Ali said,"Nothing would ever shake me up (more) than the story of Emmett Till." At the time he and a friend took out their frustrations by vandalising a local rail yard. Clay Snr. was a Methodist but supported his wife's decision to raise their sons as Baptists. Clay was dyslexic and struggled with reading and writing at school. The famous story of his first day of Boxing begins with police officer, Joe E. Martin. Clay encountered Martin, angered that his bike had been stolen. He told the police officer that he wanted to "whup" the thief. Martin, who was also a boxing coach who trained several golden gloves champions, suggested that Clay first learn how to box. Initially the enraged 12 year-old refused the offer but Martin had planted a seed in his mind. The seed began to sprout when Clay watched a local television show about amateur boxers called "Tomorrow's Champions". Despite starting with Martin, Clay credits Fred Stoner to be the trainer who taught him everything he knew. He said Stoner helped mould his style, stamina and his entire system for fighting. He would be in Clay's corner at the beginning of his career and during the same year, 1960, Stoner would be the first African-American to be named on the Kentucky Boxing Commission. Clay's debut in 1954 was a split decision win over a local, Ronnie O'Keefe. He went on to win six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles. He fought the vast majority of his amateur career as a light-heavyweight. Amongst his many victories it is noted that he lost a three-round decision to future professional boxer and fellow student of Joe E. Martin, Jimmy Ellis in 1957. Ellis had actually been inspired to start boxing when he saw a local friend, Donnie Hall, lose to Clay on the "Tomorrow's Champions". Clay won the decision in a rematch later that year. Cassius Clay stood at 6'3" and had 78" reach.

Cassius Clay versus Jimmy Jones - Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions Heavyweight Final 1960  

Early in 1960 he competed in the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in the heavyweight division. He knocked John Wilson out in round 1 of the first match before knocking out Henry Harris Jr. in round 3, outpointing Bill Nielsen in the quarter-finals and Al Jenkins in the semi-finals. His final opponent in the tournament was Jimmy Jones.

Theradtric "Jimmy" Jones was born 17th March 1940. He was born in Marianna, AR, but moved to Gary, IN, at an early age. We don't have much data on him but to be in this particular tournament, let alone get to the semi-finals he would have had a strong amateur record.

Straight away the footage showed Clay's impressive footwork. The trademark shuffle was immediately on display. He continuously shuffled and moved in from different angles, relying on his reflexes to slip and roll away from Jones's shots before unleashing his own barrage of punches. The bout went to Clay winning him the entire tournament.

Cassius Clay versus Gary Jawish - New York Intercity Golden Gloves Heavyweight Final 1960 

We saw brief footage of Clay defeating New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions winner, Gary Jawish, in the heavyweight final of the Intercity Golden Gloves. Clay was apparently winning the fight from the first round. If the previous footage showcased Clay's footwork, this one showed his hand speed. Jawish just looked lumbering and unable to handle the bunches of punches coming his way. Reading this particular fight differently and displaying his remarkable ability to adapt to different fighters, Clay stopped his opponent in the third round by striking at from as many available angles as possible.

The action began in round 3 with Clay measuring with his jab to land a straight right. Clearly the more mobile, agile and in better condition, Clay moved out and then in range to the stationary (and probably stunned Jawish). His advance was paired with a lead uppercut that again hit its target. For some reason, Gary decided to press forward and is caught by a jab/straight right combination. Attempting to whether the storm and impose his bulk on the lighter opponent, Jawish pressed again but was forced back this time. Displaying what looked like textbook superior ring IQ, Clay then repeated his backwards/forwards pattern. However, this time he performed a technique that would have brought a smile to the face of Benny Leonard. He feints with a jab and then switches it to a powerful and rarely seen overhand left. It is this punch that knocks the bewildered and outmatched Jawish into the ropes, convincing the referee to end the fight. Clay's win helped give Chicago the victory over New York.

Cassius Clay versus Allen Hudson - Finals, US Olympic Light-Heavyweight Trials,

The Cow Palace, San Francisco, USA  Final 20.05.1960

Qualifying for the Olympic trials but this time competing in the light-heavyweight bracket, Clay knocked out Henry Hooper in round 3 and outpointed Fred Lewis before meeting Allen Hudson in the finals.

Allen J. "Junebug" Hudson (aka Al Hudson) was born on 17th June 1936 and was a Long Island, New York resident. He served in the 3rd Army in the 1950s and took to boxing. A fellow veteran and contemporary boxer of his, Tommy Gallagher, who would go on to open his own gym in New York in 1965 and win the Ring 8, Veteran Boxers Association of New York’s 2010 Trainer of the Year, remembered Hudson to be a very brave fighter who would face you head on and had a good jab and left hook. Presumably beginning in the lighter divisions, he made his way up to light-heavyweight in February 1956 when he won gold at the 30th Annual Golden Gloves tournament at Madison Square Garden, New York. His knockout of Jay Goggin with a powerful right made the newsreel hight-lights. Just over a year later in March it was noted that his win in the semi-finals of the All-Army Tournament won him the fight of the tournament. Here his famed left hook gained more praise when he knocked down 6th Army officer Curly Lee in the second round and did well to take two very hard shots off Lee in the third.

Late April 1959 saw Hudson win by second round knockout of James Jones in the western regional in Madison, Wisconsin. This victory qualified him to represent the USA now in the heavyweight division in the Pan-American Games. By comparison, Cassius Clay would fail to qualify after losing his third match of the tournament to Amos Johnson. Johnson would retire with a 63-2 amateur record.  That year he won gold for the heavyweight division by unanimous decision over Argentina’s, Eduardo Corletti. Despite this win and a few others by the Americans, Argentina took the overall gold for Boxing at the Games.

Hudson, like Cassius Clay, decided to drop a weight division for the Olympic trials. He came to this decision at the request from an army friend who was also set to compete at the tournament. The friend felt he had a chance in the heavyweight division would could not beat Hudson. Allen decided to cut weight so that they had a chance for two army soldiers to compete at the Olympics. Hudson was aware of Clay who was already attracting a lot of attention in Chicago with his flamboyant style inside and outside the ring. However, Clay's decision loss to Amos Johnson at the US Pan-American trials convinced Hudson he could handle him.

Years later Muhammad Ali would credit Allen Hudson for developing in-fight psychology. Although probably quiet and disciplined outside the ring when Clay was still being boastful and brash, when in the ring Hudson became a different man. We might speculate this was in line with the way he switched on during battle. Up to this point, it seems, Clay's flamboyance only extended to his dancing out-boxer skills. Ali later said,“I picked up the art of talking to my opponent during the Olympic Trials after I fought Allen Hudson, who talked to me during the whole fight.”

The only stats I have for Allen Hudson is his height of 6'4".

The highlights of the fight first showed Hudson take action. He missed with two jabs as Clay displayed his trademark range skills. This demonstrated by Clay's straight reaching its target. However, it lacked power and Hudson's return didn't. His own right was a body blow. Clay responded with a jab that connected and another more measuring shot. Again, controlling range seems to be a huge part of Clay's fighting style at least during the early part of his career. Hudson was next to act and caught his opponent with a left hook that touched the surface. Clay timed his opening perfectly and tattooed Hudson's head with a series of lefts and rights. After retreating out of range, Clay was now on the receiving end of a forward offensive. Allen caught him with a left to the head and clinched.

Perhaps this was a key point where Hudson sought to undermine Clay psychologically as the two wrestled in the clinch. Just as he entered the clinch so he left it by landing a shot on Cassius. It was a right body punch. Clay took stock taking charge of the range again with his pawing jab. However, he underestimated Hudson's thinking as the Pan-American champion saw his own opportunity and landed his trademark left hook. Clearly taken by surprise, Clay found himself on the seat of his shorts as the referee began to count. Ruffled but not stunned, Clay was up at two but was forced to take a standing eight.

According to Hudson's son, his father was ahead on points at this stage of the fight. This was something his uncle told him. Whatever the reason, the remaining footage shows an undeniable change in Clay's approach to the fight from this point on. After evading a jab from his opponent, Clay's footwork was swift and he caught Hudson with a leg-shaking overhand right. Smelling blood, Clay pressed in with another right to the head as Allen was toppled. He landed by the corner ropes on his knees but gamely grabbed the middle rope to get back to his feet as the referee stepped in to wave the fight off. Clearly groggy, Hudson ignored the referee's actions and stumbled towards his opponent. Cassius seemed happy to oblige with another hard right to the head. This time a more forceful referee stepped in to stop the fight and raise Clay's hand in victory. Meanwhile, with his legs no longer able to support him, Hudson stumbled to the canvas.

Despite clearly knocked out of the fight twice, Hudson felt the bout had been stopped prematurely and rose to his feet to protest the decision. His corner man stepped in to stop his man from further embarrassing himself.

Later, Ali would say of the fight and Hudson: “(Junebug) was a bad, fast left hooker.He was knocking out everybody with left hooks.He was 23 years old.I was 18.I was too fast for him.My left jab was too fast for him and my footwork was too fast for him and he just couldn’t stay on his feet.”

Al Hudson would rise the rank of sergeant before leaving the army probably a couple of years later. He pursued professional boxing briefly and there are only six bouts recorded on BoxRec that haven't been completely verified. He seems to have quit by 1965. Contemporaries said that he lost a lot of his magic when he became a pro and his son, born over a decade later, said he didn't talk much about his boxing life. He met and married Betty around the time he gave up, settling in the Glen Clove community which they loved. Betty Hudson was an extremely progressive and ambitious personality who ran a beauty salon. At one point, she was the only African-American woman to own a business in Glen Clove. Unlike his most famous rival, Junebug Hudson would serve in Vietnam. He also returned home safely. His main job was that of a railroad worker and became a foreman. He was determined his son have a good education and Allen Hudson III would go to become a local celebrity and the assistant principle to Glen Clove High School. Allen Junebug Hudson never capitalised on being the first man to knock down Muhammad Ali despite the fact that footage of his loss to "The Greatest" regularly appeared on documentaries of the fighter's life. He died on 13th September 1996, aged 60, and had a military funeral with full honours.

Back in 1960, Cassius Clay now advanced to the Summer Olympics light-heavyweight division. Besides his points about in-fight psychology that Ali said he learnt from fighting Hudson, this particular fight is offered as evidence that Muhammad did possess some powerful punches. Even at his most brash, Ali would say he wasn't a very hard puncher but those rights in the Olympic finals were no love taps.

Cassius Clay versus Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, Finals, Light-Heavyweight,  Summer Olympics, Rome, Italy 1960 

Zbigniew "Zigzy" Pietrzykowski was born on 4th October 1934 in Bestwinka, Poland. This was not his first Olympics. He had won a bronze at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, competing in the light-middleweight division and losing on points to the Hungarian Laszlo Papp in the semi-finals. His lengthy amateur career winning five medals at the European Amateur Boxing Championships, in  a bronze at light-middleweight and three golds at middleweight, Polish light-middleweight champion from 1954-1956, Polish middleweight champion in 1957 and Polish light heavyweight in 1959. Zigzy was a southpaw fighter with a strong defensive and counter-punch style. He had a solid right jab that he paired with a stinging straight left.

According to The Guardian, "Clay’s opening fight, against the Belgian Yvon Becaus, was stopped by the referee in the second round. He then beat the Russian Gennadiy Shatkov, who had won middleweight gold medal at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, in a unanimous points decision."

Round 1

The first thing noted from the footage that sets Zigzy apart is his southpaw stance. Few boxers, even if they were naturally left-handed, opted for this awkward stance. I noticed use of the pullback, a classic "no-no" in boxing of the time but something that Clay would go on to prove effective in his professional career. The Polish boxer used some circular footwork and worked his right-hand jab. Again, Clay demonstrated his great use of range as each jab and straight-arm hook was short. For every single jab thrown by Zigzy, Cassius threw several faster lead-hand punches. As he drove Pietrzykowski into the ropes, Zigzy came back with a combination that forced Clay to cover and move out.

Clay moved around with Robinson style body jabs, working to get Pietrzykowski to drop his guard. After the referee interjected, possibly to comment on low blow, Zigzy was first to resume the fight and caught Clay with a right to the head. Cassius rounded on him and pressed the fight, taking an uncharacteristically aggressive approach. Zigzy desperately responded with hard looping rights. He then escaped out of the corner with Clay in pursuit. Zigzy tried to capitalise on Clay missing with an overhand right that was set up with a double-jab but he also failed to land and two ended up in a clinch.

Zigzy continued on the back-foot and Clay continued to pursue whilst also dancing in and out of range as his opponent threw long range hooks and stiff jabs. Clay began leading with his right, a typical technique used by orthodox fighters against southpaws. After taking a light right from Poland's fighter, Clay began demonstrating his excellent reflexes in avoiding the next series of punches. Zigzy's footwork although technically clean and good looked ponderous against Cassius's nimble back-and-forth attacks. Similarly Pietrzykowski's punches were not just missing now, he actually unbalanced himself when his big left caught only air.

Keeping his head the Polish fighter began returning fire a bit more effectively at mid-range as Clay dare some inside rallies. This resulted in some decent body-shot exchanges and Clay missed a few head shots of his own. It became an interesting demonstration of two counter-punchers employing different styles. However, Clay was clearly pressing the fight more and Pietrzykowski circled more off the back-foot. Reminiscent of Sugar Ray Robinson, the American fighter worked his body jab and Zigzy attempted and missed upstairs. The Polish representative forced Clay to cover with a series of body hooks. a brief clinch was broken before Clay came forward again. Round 1 was scored evenly although Clay had learned from valuable lessons.

Round 2

Zigzy scored first with a jab/straight/rear uppercut combination. Some good counter-punching won more points for the southpaw. After an impressive, if frustrating display, of back and forth evasion work on both sides, Clay began to score with his right hand leads. At this point he began snatching an increasing number of points, landing with left hook as well as his jab and that lead right. Zigzy's retaliations began hitting air.

Round 3

The final round saw Clay come out looking fresh and as if he was now warmed up to his strategies. He began piling up points with his jab and then varied his attacks with that lead right. Zigzy continued firing back with his counters but now looked out of sync with his opponent's fast hit and run tactics. Finally, he pressed hard and drove Clay back to the ropes, burrowing in with body shots before landing an overhand. Clay moved out of the corner and a clinch was separated by the referee. Zigzy needed to pull out the stops as he was behind on points. However, he now looked tired. The previous onslaught looking like it had been something of a final push. Clay, by contrast, looked relaxed and threw punches from a low guard. A series of punches detonated without reply on Zigzy's head sending him into the ropes and forcing him to shell up under the pressure. As Clay seemingly moved in for the the kill Zigzy provided a surprising reply combination. Still, it only momentarily sent his opponent back. Clay returned to snatch head shots and Pietrzykowski rolled low to avoid them, a move that earned him a warning from the referee for crouching. As Poland's hope wearily attempted to weave, the ever-confident American light-heavyweight gave his trademark shuffle. He circled his swaying and exhausted looking opponent, scoring almost at will. Zigzy tried to explode a few times from his crouch with a big looping right but they were off by a mile.

Cassius Clay walked away with gold for America, earning him amateur boxing's most prestigious title. Italy dominated boxing overall with the most medals and that included the gold taken in the welterweight division by the current four-Italian amateur champion and future Hall of Famer, Giovanni "Nino" Benvenuti. Despite Clay putting on an entertaining and impressive display of Boxing, Nino would also claim the Val Barker trophy for his own unique style. This trophy is awarded to the most "outstanding boxer of the Olympics" and effectively a best pound-for-pound award, and had been in existence since the 1936 Summer Olympics. Nino's own professional career would not be insignificant. The next year he would end his amateur career at 120-0 and go on to become a world champion in two weight divisions, earning numerous other accolades along the way including Fighter of the Year and appearing in top 50 pound-for-pound rankings of all time.

Zigzy would fight for a third time at the Olympics, taking bronze in 1964 in Tokyo after losing in the semi-final to Aleksei Kiselyov of the Soviet Union in the light-heavyweight division. His fifth European Amateur Boxing Championship medal and fourth gold medal was also won in 1963 in Moscow in the light-heavyweight division. He also won this division as Polish champion from 1960 to 1965. His amateur career ended with 350 bouts,  winning 334 of them, drawing two and losing 14. He died on 19th May 2014 aged 79.

Muhammad Ali would say that following the Olympics he experienced another harsh reality check on the state of civil rights in the USA. He said that he wore his Olympic medal everywhere. Already a celebrity in Louisville before he had left for Rome, he enjoyed the extra attention his win gave him. However, this was soured very quickly when he was refused service in a "whites only" restaurant. Attempting to add injury to this insult a white biker gang attacked Clay and his companions. They got out of the incident unscathed but in a moment, he would later reenact in his first own biopic "The Greatest", Clay said he threw the gold medal into the Ohio river. It appears this entire story was a fabrication, as revealed by his longtime friend and the man behind a lot of his poetry, Bundini Brown as well as his biographer Thomas Hauser and later even Ali himself. Ali would admit that he had simply lost the medal. He would be given a replacement at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Cassius Clay's amateur career has never been definitively logged. Thomas Hauser's respected biography of him has it at 100 wins and five losses. However, BoxRec reports on their page dedicated to him:

There have been various amateur records accredited to Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali: 100-5, 118-5, 127-5, 134-7, 137-7, 137-3, and 99-8 are among the claims. The partial record below shows 8 defeats along with 37 of his wins. Ali is confirmed to have had over 80 wins so the most likely record is 99-8 or somewhere there about. Kehler: His amateur record was reported to be 48-8 in the March 29, 1959, edition of "The Courier-Journal" (Louisville, KY).

Mike Goodpaster's article for The Gruelling Truth website states that amongst his losses, Clay was stopped once when he was 15. This was a technical knockout and Clay wasn't knocked to the canvas. The only man to knock him down during his amateur career was Allen Junebug Hudson at the Olympic Trials.

A board of sponsors was assembled to take on the 18 year-old rising star for his professional career.

Background research credits:

"The Army Boxer that Knocked Down Muhammad Ali" - Mike Goodpaster

"Muhammad Ali" page - BoxRec

"Muhammad Ali - His Life and Times" - Thomas Hauser