Ali: A Life

by Jonathan Eig

Destiny is a function of chance and choice. Chance delivered young Cassius Clay to Joe Martin’s boxing gym, but choice would bring him back.

Clay’s next fight was against a big Hawaiian named Duke Sabedong. How big was Sabedong? “Six-foot-twenty,” Angelo Dundee joked. “Big, tall sucker.” It was Clay’s first bout in Las Vegas. “I’m not afraid of the fight; I’m afraid of the flight,” he said.