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Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Dead at 74. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 04, 2016 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KELLIE MALONEY, BOXING PROMOTER (via telephone): He stopped training. He got his driver to take him back to the home, and he wrote out a six-figure check so this home could survive and these people would not be put out in the cold in the street or be left without any care.

I mean, that's an amazing man. You know, and he didn't want any publicity for that. And it's only come to light now since he died. The American journalists felt free to be able to tell this to the world.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: And you mentioned what he did with his gold medal from the 1960 Olympics in Rome. It's disputed to some extent, but I think it's become part of the legend that he was so disillusioned with the way he'd been treated that he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River. Of course, he never saw it again.

He was at the 1996 Olympics presented with another gold medal. And of course, that was the last time many of us saw him in such a public capacity, lighting the caldron at the Atlanta Olympics here not too far from this studio.

Kelly Maloney, thanks very much for your incite and for joining us here on the show as we remember the legendary Muhammad Ali.

CNN ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: 5:01 on the U.S. East coast. Let's welcome over viewers in the United States and around the world. Our special coverage of the death of Muhammad Ali. I'm George Howell.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: And I'm Robyn Curnow. The legendary 74-year-old boxer died just a few hours ago at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Muhammad Ali battled Parkinson's disease for more than three decades. Now the world is remembering the joy, the character, the fighting spirit that only the man called "The Greatest" could bring in and outside the ring.

HOWELL: It's such a huge loss to sport, but not only to sport, to so many people around the world for so many different reasons. Let's bring in our own Don Riddell to talk about Muhammad Ali.

You know, when we talk about Mr. Ali, I just think back to the context of that time. It's a time when the many African Americans were coming out segregation, coming out of a time where many were considered second class citizens.

But here was a person who stood firmly, who was very proud. And he would say things like "I am the greatest," or "Look at me. I'm pretty." And these were things that seemed so counter to what was expected of African Americans, but he stood there and believed in it in the ring, he believed in it in his life, and he fought for it.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes. Can you imagine how inspirational that would have been? And you're absolutely right to highlight the manner in which he did it. I mean, he was emphatic. He was absolutely --

HOWELL: It was his DNA.

RIDDELL: -- so confident, and he didn't care what anybody thought.

And it wasn't just brash and arrogant and perhaps a bit distasteful. I think in the early days, a lot of people really didn't know what to make of it.

HOWELL: Right, right.

RIDDELL: But the media really didn't know what to make of it, because they didn't see anything like this before.

But in time, we came to see it not only as just a part of his personality, but it was so entertaining. It was so theatrical. He wasn't quick in the ring with his fists and his movement. He was so quick-witted, too.

He was a poet. He was a rapper. And the way you would see him, you know, get stuck into his opponents and perform for the media, it was very, very entertaining.

And he really stood for what he believed in. And he was much more than a boxer. He was much more than an athlete.

Many people consider him to be the greatest boxer of all time. Many people consider him to be the greatest athlete of the 20th Century, and he's been recognized as such in his (inaudible).

Arguably, he was the most famous face on the planet. Can you imagine that coming from the background he had and the troubles he faced growing up?

By the age of 22, he was the world champion. And then to have it taken away from him. He was stripped to his title. He might have had to go to the jail for avoiding the draft and just refusing point-blank to go and fight in Vietnam. And then to come back from that, get his license back, train up again, become the world champion again, just an incredible role model for so many different people, you know, standing up for religious freedom, racial justice. Just a terrific civil rights campaigner. Just a great ambassador for the human race beyond belief.

CURNOW: He was a fighter on just so many levels. Talk to us also about him changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and his conversion to Islam.

RIDDELL: Yes, well, he always had problem with Cassius Clay. I mean, he said it was his slave name. He didn't feel as though that was his real name. So, as you say, he joined the Nation of Islam and converted and became a Muslim and became Muhammad Ali, a name and identity that he was incredibly proud of.

There's an anecdote more recently about when he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

CURNOW: Absolutely. What a story.

RIDDELL: And so you see all these stars on the ground, and everybody takes their pictures and, you know, essentially, walks on them whether they mean to or not.

HOWELL: Right.

RIDDELL: And he said, well, you can put my name there, but it won't go on the ground. And if you go there, you'll see his name is the only start that's on the wall, so you can't walk on it. You can't walk on the name Muhammad.

And this is -- here this is when he was, you know, inducted. And, you know, who else would have thought of taking that kind of stance. You know, you might just be grateful and honored to be invited to partake in such a thing. But, you know, he said these are my terms and my conditions.

CURNOW: Symbolism of his --

(CROSSTALK)

RIDDELL: -- and I'll happily be a part of it, but, you know, this is how it's going to be done.

And, you know, he really stood up for what he believed in. I mentioned earlier, the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, saying that, you know, his greatest legacy is when you see other athletes standing up for what believe in, too, and it started with Muhammad Ali.

HOWELL: I had never heard that story --

RIDDELL: Yes.

HOWELL: -- that you just shared. Powerful.

RIDDELL: Yes.

CURNOW: Don, thanks so much. Stay with us.

Well, "The Greatest" is one, and we know that members of Muhammad Ali's family had gathered at the hospital in Phoenix, Arizona to be with him in his final hours. That's where we find our Dan Simon outside the hospital.

Hi there, Dan. What more do we know?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, we know that he was brought here yesterday evening, Thursday, with some kind of respiratory illness, which is common when you have advanced Parkinson's disease. We don't really know the final details in terms of what happened in that hospital room. We know that he was surrounded by family and then succumbed to his illness Friday night here in Phoenix.

In terms of what happens tomorrow, we know that there's going to be a briefing for the media where we're going to hear some details about funeral arrangements. We know it's going to be taking place in Louisville, Kentucky, in Muhammad Ali's hometown.

At this point, the family, as you can imagine, has requested privacy, but hopefully we'll be learning more details in terms of what really happened in those final hours as the -- as, you know, tomorrow when we get that media briefing. George and Robyn?

CURNOW: Do we know anything more about funeral arrangements?

SIMON: Other than that it's going to be taking place in Louisville, Kentucky, we haven't gotten those plans as of now.

We should tell you, you know, Phoenix, Arizona, really played an important part in Muhammad Ali's life. I mean, this is where he spent the last several years. He loved this community, and the community loved him back. It wasn't uncommon to see him go to restaurants over the past few years. We -- of course, he was frail and he had been in and out of the hospital, but this really had become his home.

You'll hear a lot about Louisville, Kentucky in the coming days, of course, and that's where the funeral is going to be. But in terms of his later years, it was really all about his friends and his family and Phoenix. And we'll be hearing a lot more about that in the coming days.

CURNOW: And it's obviously still very early in the morning, this news breaking just in the last four or five hours. People will be waking up Saturday morning to the news that this man, larger-than-life personality has gone.

Do we know that if there are going to be any commemorations? Have people been coming to the hospital? Have they been leaving flowers? What do people who do know been saying and doing?

SIMON: Right now the hospital is very quiet. There are a couple media crews here, and that's about it. Earlier tonight, we did see some well-wishers come by, people expressing their sorry, people lighting candles in front of the hospital. I would not be surprised to see something of a makeshift memorial crop up, you know, with flowers and cards and things of that nature.

He did live just a couple miles away from here. So he lived in a gated community. So we know people have been -- have been going by that area as well just to have a look at things, as you can imagine. People are curious as they -- as they learned about his death. And so I think tomorrow here at the hospital certainly more people will be coming by as well. Robyn and George?

CURNOW: Simon, thanks so much.

HOWELL: Ali had a life that was bigger than life, and he had a wit to match. CNN's Wolf Blitzer gives us a look at the champ.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI: This is the legend of Muhammad Ali. The greatest fighter there ever will be.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): He proclaimed himself "The Greatest," and millions of fans around the world agree.

ALI: Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

BLITZER: Those phrases became Ali's motto. His wit and charisma outside the ring was also make him one of the world's best-known personalities.

ALI: It's going to take a dead man to whoop me. You look at me. I'm loaded with confidence. I can't be beat. I've had 180 amateur fights, 22 professional fights, and I'm pretty as a girl.

BLITZER: But his persona began to emerge long before he captured his first heavyweight championship. He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky during an ugly era of racial segregation in America.

At 12 years old, Ali's world would change forever when a local police officer introduced him to boxing. It became an outlet for his rage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cassius Clay of Chicago challenges Gary Joyce.

BLITZER: It also offered Ali an opportunity to develop his remarkable talent. Just six years later, Ali would bring hem a gold medal from the 1960 summer Olympics games in Rome.

He turned pro at the age of just 18. And at 22, he stunned the boxing world, defeating a fighter the experts thought was invincible, Sonny Liston.

ALI: I shook up the world. I shook up the world.

BLITZER: Ali had arrived, and Liston would never be the same. To prove the point, Ali put Liston away a second time in a rematch the following year.

The '60s were glory days for Ali, but the Civil Rights era would also become a controversial and polarizing period in his life. He renounced his given name and joined the volatile black separatist Nation of Islam.

Almost as quickly as he had arrived, Ali's heavyweight title was gone, revoked after he claimed conscientious objector status and refused to serve in the Vietnam War.

At the peak boxing age of 25, Ali also gave up millions of dollars in endorsements and faced five years in prison, all in defiance of a war he called "despicable and unjust."

ALI: 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.

BLITZER: Ali began a three-and-a-half-year exile from championship fights until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction on a technicality.

ALI: Everybody that watches and trains says no contest. You better not fight like that with Ali.

BLITZER: But the world would soon learn that even superman has his off days. Ali was barely back in the ring when his undefeated professional record came to an end. He lost to Joe Frazier in a 1971 match dubbed "the fight of the century. " It was the first of three fights with Smokin' Joe.

ALI: Joe's going to come out smokin', but I ain't gonna be jokin'. I'll be peckin' and a pokin' pouring water on his smokin'. This might shock and amaze you, but this time I retired Joe Frazier.

BLITZER: And retire him he did. The famous "thrilla in Manila" fight ended after Frazier's trainer stopped the fight following the fourteenth round, giving Ali a technical knockout. Ali was a roll again.

But his greatest athletic comeback was in Kinshasa in what was then Zaire.

ALI: Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean, I make medicine sick.

BLITZER: Ali knocked out the heavily-favored young champion, George Foreman. It was called "the rumble in the jungle." His last fight in 1981 would mark the beginning of another battle that Ali admitted was his toughest, the diagnosis that he was afflicted with Parkinson's disease.

After two decades of redesigning the heavyweight division, Ali was forced to retire. His lifetime record, 56 victories, just 5 defeats. But he never retreated from living a very public life.

In 1996, Ali provided one of the most poignant moments in sports history. With three billion people watching, he lit the Olympic flame at the summer games in Atlanta, his hands trembling but never waving.

Ali remained the consummate showman. As his condition grew progressively worse, Ali struggled each day to whisper a word. His hands and legs shook, and his voice quivered.

ALI: I am the greatest.

BLITZER: Yet his spirit was never shaken, and he never slowed down from serving as an ambassador for peace and a mediator in world conflicts. In 2005, Ali was presented with a presidential Medal of Freedom award,

the nation's highest civilian honor.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you say the greatest of all time is in the room, everyone knows who you mean.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: And tributes for the champ continue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel about getting the honor tonight?

ALI: Long overdue.

BLITZER: Ali was one of the most gifted and unique personalities in sports history. The world may never see the likes of him again.

In the final chapter, few would argue that Ali needed the crowds as much as they needed him. Not for mere validation, but because each saw in the other the best in themselves.

ALI: Ali's got a left. Ali's got a right. If he hits you once, you'll sleep for the night. And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts 10, hope and pray that you never meet me again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: You're watching CNN. Welcome back to our breaking news coverage.

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74. He passed away hours ago in Phoenix, Arizona, and tributes to "The Greatest" have been pouring in from around the world.

As impressive as Ali's punches were in the ring, his trash talking was legendary. It was, indeed. Here are some of his best moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUHAMMAD ALI, PROFESSIONAL BOXER: I don't like fighters who talk too much.

I must be the greatest. I own the world.

Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Oh, rumble, young man, rumble.

I'm the greatest fighter in the ring today. That's my label.

And this might shock and amaze you, but I will destroy Joe Frazier.

I'm so bad. You know what I've been doing? Last week I went out to the jungle. I wrestled with an alligator. I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed lightning and threw thunder in jail. I'm bad, man. Can I dance? Is the Pope a Catholic?

The man to beat me hasn't been born yet.

I'm the greatest. I'm knocking out all the bums, and if you get too smart, I'll knock you out.

Last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say he's fat.

ALI: Look at me know. Don't tell me that ain't a perfect specimen of a man. Look at that body, slim, trim and on my toes.

I don't get hit. I'm the fastest thing on two feet, man. Are you crazy? I'm tired of talking.

I'm not only a fighter. I'm poet. I'm a prophet. I'm the resurrector. I'm the savior of the boxing world. If it wasn't for me, the game would be dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Wow.

HOWELL: At his peak, Muhammad Ali was one of the best all-around athletes in history in the world, but his health declined with age as he struggled with Parkinson's disease for decades.

Our CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now live. Elizabeth, let's talk about Muhammad Ali's health, how we watched him over the decades decline with this disease.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Unfortunately, George, that is the way that this disease works. Parkinson's is called a progressive disease, meaning that it just gets worse with time.

In the beginning, there are drugs patients can take that really, really help, and that was the case with him as well. But over time, those medicines stopped working very well.

And, you know, Parkinson's affects the muscles, and so we've all seen that as someone has the tremors or shakes that are associated with Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, it also affects muscles that we can't see, which also affects the breathing problems, which apparently, Muhammad Ali had at the end of his life.

It's -- what's important about Muhammad Ali and Parkinson's is that he became the face of Parkinson's very early on. I mean, this was back in the mid '80s before people really talked so much about the diseases and medical challenges that they were facing. And he faced it, and talked about it, and he faced it with such elegance.

HOWELL: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. CURNOW: Boxing promoter, Don King, had a long history with Muhammad

Ali. Back in 1974, he promoted the heavyweight championship fight between Ali and George Foreman that became known as "the rumble in the jungle."

HOWELL: He also promoted Ali's 1975 fight with Joe Frazier in Manila. Don King spoke with our colleague, Don Riddell, earlier about what Muhammad Ali means to him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON KING, BOXING PROMOTER (via telephone): I love Muhammad Ali. He was a friend for life.

And he had -- he will never die. His spirit will go on forever. And he represents what every athlete and sportsperson in life would try to do, an attitude of going out there and getting it done without any equivocation.

Success, what he was after, the goal that he was after, he was just fabulous. So was a - he's just a great, great human being and a champion of the people, the greatest of all times.

RIDDELL: When you first met him, what was it that attracted you to him as an athlete and as a boxer? What was it he had that the other guys just didn't?

KING: He had an attitude that he cared for people. And little kids and old people, you know, he would go out and do things without any type of -- trying to find any type of publicity or any kind of aggrandizement. He would do it because it's in his heart.

And he was a very jovial person, a person that was -- that's a (inaudible), you could deal with. He was one of the masses, you know what I mean. And he would fight for the masses for what's right and what's wrong, and he would stand up for what his beliefs are.

No one can say how truly great Muhammad Ali really was, because during the height of his career is when he ran into the encounter of being charged with draft evasion and wouldn't go to the war. But he was a conscientious objector, and he believed in that. And so therefore, he stood his ground on what he was.

And they took him through all type of trials and tribulations. But he rose to the occasion to prefer to go to jail than to break what he believed in. And that's why everybody loved him, friends and foe alike, because he stood up for what he believed in and he fought for the will of the people.

And so the Supreme Court of the United States vindicated him with that glorious decision that came in his behalf, and it was just like, wow. It was just like heaven on earth. For that young man, those four years that he lost at the heat of height of his career, they can never say how good he would have been, because he did all this greatness after being held out from practicing his trade at the height of his career. He sacrificed that. He had something to lose, and that's when you can

tell a person, when they have something that they will be able to lose when you put them to the test. And he stood the test of time. I love the man.

RIDDELL: And he was incredible when he came back after losing, as you say, three, four of the best years of his career.

Early on, Don, people didn't really know what to make of him. He was so brash, so bombastic. I mean, you look back at his press conferences now, and they're just absolutely amazing performances. And it was all off the cuff.

But in the early days he was quite polarizing and very controversial. What was it, do you think, that really turned the public opinion in his favor?

KING: Well, because he stood steadfast, tenacious, in his belief, and firm. He said what he meant, and he meant what he said. And this is what you can win the people with, you know, because when you've got everything to gain -- and he had everything to gain by just going along with this system, but he fought the system for righteousness. And in so doing he gained a fame and an affluence, but more importantly, the loyalty of the people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: You know, I spoke with Evander Holyfield, five-time heavyweight champion of the world, and he said that the thing about Muhammad Ali to him was that he put his life on the line in the ring, put his life on the line in real life, you know, with his beliefs. And that's what he -- that's what inspired Evander Holyfield.

And when we think about quotes, my favorite quote from Muhammad Ali is, "I'm so mean I make medicine sick." What about you guys?

CURNOW: Well, I think just, you know, the simple one, that even if you're not a boxing fan or you didn't really know much about his life, we all know, "Float like a butterfly and sing like a bee." It's poetry, isn't it?

RIDDELL: Yes, that's the quote that defined him. I've got several. Even if you dream of beating me, you better apologize to me when you wake up. That just summarizes cockiness.

And have we got time for this? "Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." Such an inspiration.

HOWELL: Powerful, powerful words.

CURNOW: And a fighter through and through.

HOWELL: Don, thank you. CURNOW: Thank you so much.

RIDDELL: All right.

HOWELL: Our news coverage continues with this CNN special.

CURNOW: Thanks for joining us.