---

Scene 21

Dublin / a TV Studio / enter the presenter, Cathal O’Shannon

Cathal
Pugilist & poet, King of the Hype
With his rhetoric he makes the ring ring
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Just mentioning his name starts great debates
Is he super boxer or superstar
The most talk’d about human in the world
Where no mortal is more synonymous
With sport than who proclaims he’s the greatest
& maybe he is – certainly I will
Not be arguing with him about that –
Deliver him an All Irish welcome
Ladies… Gentlemen.. Muhammad Ali!

Enter Muhammad Ali

Cathal
Welcome to Dublin

Ali
It’s nice to be here

Cathal
You look fit, certainly, still training hard?

Ali
Well, yeah, since my last bout with Joe Frazier
I’ve fought a lot of fighters, I’ve just box’d
Jerry Quarry, I’m active & ready
A contender should stay in contention
The new tramp, oops, I mean champ, Joe Frazier
Been doin’ diddly squat, seven months rest
Between each fight, battling people even
You could beat, Cathal; no, I gotta keep
The fighting game alive, fibres of fate
Entwine with the spirit of Champions
& haunt them with a braying restlessness.

Cathal
Your Fight of the Century saw perform
Two champions – I notic’d Joe Frazier’s
Unquantifiable combination
Of youth, desire & ability true,
While for yourself all the public hatred
You had chaperon’d burst furiously,
When even your detractors show’d respect

Ali
Begrudgingly, yes

Cathal
You said you’d retire
If you lost, but of course you’ve kept going
Why so?

Ali
I thought about it once or twice
But then, one evening, when watching my wife
Give our baby milk thro’ tears & wailstrife
Whose hollerings could wake the frozen dead
Expecting milk the moment cries lunge forth
Ten years from now my baby’s gonna be
Just ten years old, needing money for school
Sweets, books & busfare; parties, games & clothes
My daughter, too, on her turning twenty
She gonna need a house, I won’t see her
Working in a diner, people will say
Look at Ali’s daughters – born in riches
But given beeswings like the rest of us
I’ve still got an mighty punch left in me
Next time we meet I’ll knock Joe Frazier out
& then I’ll face your Irish champion
& knock him out the same

{LAUGHTER}

Ali
I got a laugh

Cathal
You’re in Ireland

Ali
So if I can save up
Two million dollars, how much is that

Cathal
About eight hundred thousand pounds, I think

Ali
So, if I can save a million pounds
I can relax, can sleep at ease at night
For now it’s gonna take a lot of work
& one has gotta work hard – nobody
Gives you anything, right

Cathal
Right, so tell me
Upon your loss to Frazier, what passions
Envelop’d cognitive recollections

Ali
Well, you tell me, people who saw the fight
Will say I claim’d the laurels of most rounds
Especially those understanding boxing
& all its clever nuances unseen
By casual spectators of the sport
I know I lost two rounds, I’ll say as much –
In the eleventh he shook me real bad
& then, of course, that knockdown in fifteen,
But all the time, for every once he struck
I’d offer four firm blows of equal mein,
So terrible the whupping what he got
He spent a weary month in hospital
Pain’d by intensive treatment, while myself
I look’d the same but for a swollen jaw
Which faded soon, no features distorted
Unlike Joe – one judge was so outrageous
He cough’d up Frazier’d won eleven rounds
Any boxing fan across the planet
Would deem impossible I’d just won four

Cathal
So, you’re hoping to fight Frazier again

Ali
Of course I am, but first he gotta come
Out of his hidey hole, dya know he bought
Some plantation deep in Alabama,
& started rearing chickens, what a joke

Cathal
How do you rate his skills as a boxer

Ali
He slugs good, yes, but shames the boxer’s art
I’ve even got a better voice than him
He was in Ireland recently, singing
That right?

Cathal
He came here touring with his band
Joe Frazier & the Knock-outs was the name

Ali
I understand he only drew eighty
In twenty-thousand seater arenas

Cathal
He did a little better over here
& drew about a thousand

Ali
If I play’d
That same venue, it would capacitate
Now let us speak of mirth & stint all this
Who told Joe Frazier he could even sing
There is music to boxing, I grant this
But gladiator’s never played the harp

Cathal
But did you not the chords joytwang yourself
On Broadway

Ali
I was in a musical
Titl’d ‘Big Time Buck Wright’ – altho’ the play
Never made it, I was a great success
The New York critics said I was perfect
So yeah, I beat Joe Frazier singing too

Cathal
Could you prove it to the Irish people

Ali
Sure I can – it would be a great honour
This is a land of song, of Galway pipes
& Dublin ditties sang by pretty girls
If it’s alright to enter your circle
I have a poem set in music’s field

Cathal
What is it all about

Ali
A man’s true name
I’ve found mine own? its Muhammad Ali,
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Cocky, loquacious, fit for greatness born,
Fourth generational Kentucky slave
Root to the fruit, along paths of purpose
I trod, & knew I must discard the chains
Of given names ingrain’d with hard labour
As such was Cassius Marcellus Clay’s
Continuation of a day’s routine,
Of degradation, drudgery & death,
My cheeks deep-claw’d, flow’d tears of blood on each,
Whene’er I heard those cursed words, each time
A spike of horror in my mind! no more!
I have set myself free from tvile bondage
Possessing such a slave name doth entail,
Into the hinterlands of history
It has been cast, deep flung, with full disgust,
As from the vaults of heaven came the next
Unshackl’d from all racist crudetie,
Muhammad means ‘worthy of most praises,’
Whilst Ali means most high

Cathal
Quite beautiful
In sound & meaning, so can you tell us
Of Islamica what attracted first

Ali
Many perks, but salient among them
Is pride, some would say love, for given names;
The Chinese have Chang-Chong; & the Russians
Have Kruschev, Karpov, Korchnoi, Kasparov;
You have your Kennedys, Your O’Gradys;
The Jews have their Goldbergs, their Feigenbaums;
Africans Manbongo & Lamubo;
But American Blacks, tho’ thro’ their blood –
Do torrents of the Congo Falls hard flow –
Are nothing now but a whitewash’d negro
With names like Hawkins, Johnson, Smith & Clay…
Muhammad is a beautiful Black name
& I do say it proudly

Cathal
As you may
& few on Earth dare test your stern resolve
In any sphere, even the Supreme Court
Has bended to thy will, & set aside
The orders that tore you from your title

Ali
Let me tell you, Dermot, about my case
At first I was a thankless Antichrist
A draft-dodging antiwhite terrorist,
Helpless as fair won title stripp’d away
But nothing stops the ceaseless wheel of time
What hums with life soon crumples in the dust,
& something chang’d in America’s psyche,
Whose criminals now those who go to war,
Whose conscience is the ones who found my gloves
Classified conscientious objector
& I’ll soon fight again, we boxing sort
Must stay in port to make a patent pay

Cathal
Well, we cannot wait to hear your new song
Ladies, Gentlemen, Muhammad Ali,
Singing ‘Whats in a name’

Ali
Thank you Cathal

IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM

I found the freedom to do what I wanna do
The sum of patience & reason to think things thro
No longer under the rainclouds of painful confusion
That our society’s under
& so I start to suggest that you do the same
There’s so much freedom in losing you chosen name
& when you’re choosing your own hang it up in a frame
That the world will look up to & wonder

Listen to me, I’m Muhammad Ali
I’m Beloved of God
You wanna be free from this state fakery
Switch your old life off
I’m Beloved of God

---

Scene 22

The state legislature in Columbia, South Carolina / the national & the Confederate flag are hanging together

Governor West
Today’s a famous day, here in the south
South Carolina’s State Legislature’s
About to receive an oratory
For the first time from an African
American, since those halcyon days
Of Reconstruction, we all know our past
Of how the chains of bondage parted men,
But these are now the nineteen seventies
& things are very much chang’d & changing
As such, it is my fantastic honour
To invite one of Beaufort’s awesome sons
To the floor, to address our General
Assembly, Representatives, please stand
For Joseph Frazier, lately, deserving
Heavyweight Champion of all the world
Our universal, gallant dowsabel

Enter Joe Frazier wearing a grey suit with a soft blue stripe, a yellow shirt and a red‐tan and‐blue tie,to a 30 second standing ovation

Joe Frazier
Thank you Governor & good afternoon
Thank you for inviting me to address
You all today, my message is simple
Whether white or black, we are all from God
All races should be pulling together
Into a global whole & unity
& in the case of South Carolina
Catch up with the rest of America
In seven or eight years since first I left
Beaufort, a flooding wave of Civil Rights
Has wash’d the taint of slavery away
From many states all over this great land
But never reach’d Lake Keeowee’s beaches
To nourish the sabal palmetto tree
I feel it’s the time to save our people
& when I say such thing I mean both white
& black, to face the white man with his fate
To live in unity with the black man,
As equals too, we need to quit thinking
Who lives next door, who’s my little daughter
Playing with, who she sits next to in school,
& if the legislature will allow
I would like to build a playground back home
In Beaufort, & pay for it all myself
With one adamantine pre-requisite
The gates will be open to black children
& white children the same, & in their midst
One water fountain for them all to share
Already I have spent some of my fees
Gain’d from the fight with Muhammad Ali
On purchasing the Brewton Plantation
Down there in Beaufort, I don’t want to cut
The ties I have with home, I love my state

Audience member
& we love you Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier
Hah, thank-you
But what I’m trying to say is, by buying
A plantation, where generations back
My kinsfolk was enslav’d, & in my youth
I was nothing but a dumb sharecropper
I’d say, ‘Good morning, Boss,’ and he would say,
‘To the mule…’ at noon, I’d say, ‘Lunch time, Boss,’
& he’d say ‘One o’clock…’ in the evening,
I would say, ‘Good night, Boss,’ and he would say,
‘In the mornin,’ but now I’ve bought his home
& blown away all the infested webs
Full of the dead bug hides of former times
& in my handsome purchase want to show
How things have alter’d irrevocably,
& so, I urge the members of this house,
To please pursue the cause of Civil Rights
That burns ten thousand bonfires cross the rest
Of these fields of manifest destiny,
Where in the first birthing declaration
Of independence, it nobly stated
Ev’ry soul born equal, & lives free
So, let’s all pull together, & let’s make
South Carolina a nice place to live
Likewise New York & Philadelphia
& all the other nests of the eagle
Which we call the American, so we all
Can live together & play together
& pray together, change is possible
& I’m living proof of such a process
We can all do anything we want to
If we really put our heart, soul & mind
Into our noble object, look at me
When I first started on the boxing road
I had two jobs, a wife, couple of kids,
& still I had to train & train real hard
There were struggles & barriers of pain
But if you would position your right foot
In front of you, & then the left behind,
& lurch the back forward, you’ll soon find
You’re headin’ for the gardens of thy hopes

There is applause / the Governor steps up & stills the applause

Governor West
Thank you Mister Frazier, all of us here
Are so very proud of what you’ve achiev’d
Would like to show our appreciation
With this small gift, engrav’d in your honour

Governor West gives Joe Frazier a gold-wrapp’d silver and black jewellery box

Joe Frazier
{opening}
All righty – I appreciate that, thanks

Governor West
Congratulations, South Carolina
Adores you at this moment, aint that right

More applause – Frazier waves then exits

---

Scene 23

Pleasington, California / George Foreman is stood in the street chatting to two white girls, Sandy & Lucy

Lucy
This body you possess, Mr Foreman
Flows pectorially perfect, Sandy
Place your hands here with pressure’s lightsome flight
Touching this point, feeling tectonic force
Upheaving from Earth’s core into this heart
Which beats the smelt of blood as if the drums
Of war did thunder oer Montana’s plains

Sandy
{feeling Foreman’s chest}
Hmm – Hmm – why, that is a wonderful thing

Lucy
How often do you train, Mr Foreman

George Foreman
George, girls, call me George, why every day

Sandy
But not all day, tell us about your nights

Lucy
Do you have time for play before you sleep
For we love playful funtimes after dark

Sandy
Tonight the both of us have nothing on

Lucy
Would you like to see us with nothing on

Enter Officer Kendricks

Officer Kendricks
Excuse me ladies, is he troubling you

Lucy
Not at all officer

George Foreman
They came to me

Sandy
Its George Foreman, the boxer,

Lucy
We’re big fans

Sandy
So what are you gonna do officer,
Arrest him for being to good looking
I’d leave my white husband in an instant
For half an hour of passion with this man

Officer Kendricks
You’d better move along ladies, right now

Lucy
But

Officer Kendricks
I said move it

Lucy
See you later George

Officer Kendricks
Move it, move it, I’m watching you Foreman
My name is Officer Ty Kendricks, boy
& yours aint nothin’ in comparison
Famous boxer or not you’re a nigger
To me

George Foreman
& all the Confederacy
A century has pass’d since Gettysburg
Destroyd satanic tangents down which slaves
Driven by shameful, disgraceful mutants
Sir, this is now nineteen seventy two
& Civil Rights permit my right to claim
Your use of nigger as a deep offence
But.. I’ll forgive you for your ignorance
Education beats humilation

Officer Kendricks
What you call me boy, you want some of this
{Foreman squares off to him / Officer Kendricks spits}
I’m watching you

George Foreman
& I’m watching you leave

BLACK POWER

From civil rights by candlelight
In guru kinda places
To rubbing wax on cadillacs
To put them thro’ their paces
Gonna drive round town with my hood down
Saying fuck you to the racists

There’s black power running thro’ my beat
Feel the freedom in my feet
See me rising in the street
Black Power

Well here’s my fist & here’s a list
Of all my consternations
It’s been two strides forward one drag back
Since our emancipation
In brotherhood our mothers’ blood
Defines us as one nation

There’s black power running thro’ my beat
Feel the freedom in my feet
See me rising in the street
Black Power

Let it roll thro my soul
We are fast & we are strong
Gonna fight the past, gon right the wrong
Cos there’s black power running thro’ my vein
Lionesses stroke my mane
Watching white men on the wane
Black Power
Back power running thro’ my beat
Feel the freedom in my feet
Gon see us rising in the street

Exit Officer Kendricks, Lucy & Sandy / enter Don King

Don King
Powerful song from a powerful man

George Foreman
What

Don King
Allow me to introduce myself
My name is King, Don King, a businessman

George Foreman
So, what’s your business

Don King
Boxing promotion
I see an opportunity in thee
Whose supreme being fills me with intent
To send your essence thro’ the wider world
I’ve never seen such miracles of strength
Credibility crowning performance
Your foes disintegrating at your gaze

George Foreman
What are you saying

Don King
Joe Frazier

George Foreman
Frazier?!

Don King
He says he’ll fight you if the price is right

George Foreman
I aint ready for Joe

Don King
Sure you are,
Three hundred & seventy five thousand
Fills me with thy possible transcendence

George Foreman
How much?

Don King
Its by Jamaica guaranteed
Shewing a world beyond America
Where black men making money never hear
Their genius defam’d as crooked wiles

George Foreman
I still don’t know, Joe’s scary, that left hook
Which floor’d Ali with pristine precision
Still haunts my soul, I seen it sixty times
When as long as Frazier’s the heavyweight
Champion of the world, I got no chance

Don King
Son, undeliver your defeatism,
It is the boxer’s business to be more,
Not less, than man… with thee I dig deep faith
Joe Frazier boxes like an old blind man
Tapping his stick around for one good punch,
But with that reach of yours he won’t get close
For eagerly astounded I have been
By all your battles’ rich abilities

George Foreman
I guess when I lay my fists on these guys
It feels as if Archdruid I’ve became
Wielding a blade temper’d in dragonsbreath

Don King
Less Druid, more Adonis fully-form’d
Thou art as marvellous a specimen
As might be found in all our Human rolls
To never flinch at challengers the print
Of champions, Frazier picks no-hopers,
Beats with them ease, thus his force is dulling,
Straining the lack sharpness from his mind,
Yet what an abundant promise of wealth
Ticks in your heart, & you’ve got hunger too

George Foreman
Nevertheless his fighting’s infernal,
He’s never lost a bout, & beat Ali,
Whose ‘Greatest’ ego-tag unratified

Don King
That fight with Ali left Joe Frazier spent
As if he’d won the Kentucky Derby
Destin’d to never run so fast again
Sithen he has continued as a barge
Cruises canals of glass tranquillity,
While favourites can fall if they refuse
To scout ahead all fences in a race
Before it run – he’s never seen you fight,
Or if he has, fairly unfancies thee,
But I don’t, George, I think you’re fantastic

George Foreman
You really want me to fight Joe Frazier

Don King
I do, brother, the contract’s ready, form’d
& by the lord in Heaven preordain’d

George Foreman
OK – I’ll read it

Don King
The world is waiting
To crown its next heavyweight champion

George Foreman
I’ll let you know tonight what I’ll decide
Come meet me in that diner over there
At seven o’ clock

Don King
Sure, I will be there

George Foreman
O, & Mr King, thank you very much

Don King
You know it makes sense, lets make some money
& bend this exhibition to the bout

Exit Don King – Foreman starts to analyse the contract

---

Scene 24

Vernon / the Great Gorge Playboy Club: Joe Frazier is relaxing with a newspaper eating his breakfast / enter Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner
Morning Joe

Joe Frazier
Good morning Mr Heffner

Hugh Hefner
Do call me Hugh, so how is your breakfast

Joe Frazier
This sausages & bacon taste sublime

Hugh Hefner
Only the best at the Playboy Hotel
Twenty million dollar luxury
Salubrious among the Vernon hills,
The Sinatras, Harry Belafonte
Have play’d, Dean Martin, Duke Ellington too
Our entertainment’s Vegas, food gourmet,
Our famous pool’s fit for Olympians,
There’s twenty seven holes of sterling golf,
Jacuzzis & spas &…

Joe Frazier
Its magical, Hugh,
But a strange place to train, all these bunnies
Bouncing about my body & my brain
The very antithesis of Sparta

Hugh Hefner
To see our newly-form’d facilities
Put to the test by a man such as you
Redeems the validation of my dream
You are the world Champion after all
How long, & for free, would you care to stay
At the Great Gorge?

Joe Frazier
Well, I’ve been here a week
I’d like to reside another ten days
It would have been longer but for the snow
I need to run, you see, for stamina
Atlantic City’s where I’ll burn those miles

Hugh Hefner
Seems like you’re training harder for Foreman
Than Roy stander & Terry Daniels

Joe Frazier
Well I would say yeah, not because of Foreman,
But I’ve been out a little longer, dig
George is young & strong, he’s a big fella
Who’ll try out all the tricks in book & box
To take that title

Hugh Hefner
What about that size
He’ll tower over you as did Ali

Joe Frazier
Well, I got all the remedy for that
I’ll get underneath & keep myself low
As much as possible, while otherwise
I’ve got a new thing for him, you’ll see me
Hitting George with a host of jabs this time

Hugh Hefner
His reach is long, you don’t mind getting hit

Joe Frazier
I aint gonna fail like no Bay of Pigs
I do mind getting hit, but it’s a game
Y’know what I mean, if you go out there
You expect to get hit – I don’t worry
About tiring, I know can take it,
But only time does tell what will happen
& I’m getting myself together well,
But fear is absent from my agile thoughts
He swings too wide, I’ll teach him a lesson
Like all those other guys before my fists
He’s never felt the clipfull rough of hurt
& yeah, what he did to George Chuvalo
Ruffl’d a fly surprisement – but I got
Too much command of motion in that ring
To see no other outcome but a win

Hugh Hefner
& then you are ya gonna fight Muhammad
He’s still the first pretender to your crown

Joe Frazier
The Number One Contender, who’s he fought
Some bruis’d up boys I’ve already beaten
Ali was floor’d, while Foreman’s never lost
But when I slay him in a flash of sweat
Another tilt I’ll give to Ali, sure
& next time knock him out

Hugh Hefner
I’m sure you will

Hugh Hefner
Joe Frazier
That nigger makes me mad as murderers
He’s really only in it for the dough
Y’know, sometimes he calls me up at night
Spittin’ ‘we’re big & bad, why don’t we fight
& carping all the while about the purse
While preaching to the world I aint no good

Hugh Hefner
I guess you gotta wait til the four-square
To shut his puss

Joe Frazier
Yeah – I just don’t like him

Enter Kitty, a waitress, carrying a breakfast tray

Kitty
Here you are, Mr Frazier, your breakfast

Joe Frazier
Can I get another pot of coffee

Kitty
Of course, Mr Frazier

Hugh Hefner
Thank-you Kitty

Joe Frazier
Wait – & a couple more rounds of toast, please
With skippy peanut butter dollop’d on

Kitty
Why, anything for you, Mr Frazier
{Exit Kitty}
My girls think you’re cute

Joe Frazier
I’m a married man
Mr Heffner

Hugh Hefner
She’s a lucky woman
Amidst this siren sensuality
You’re still obsessed with boxing

Joe Frazier
That’s my bag
But as for Cassius Clay, give me five
Months off after Foreman, then I’ll fight him

Hugh Hefner
I hope such things transpire as you predict
For now I am a Frazier man, to see
Strength temper’d by tender humility
Cast in a lamp of powerful illume,
I’ll blink in wonder at thy mighty light,
But please excuse my lowly sycophance
There’s business to attend to, & my girls –
Enjoy your day, we can meet this evening
For dinner with my Bunnies, if you’ll wish

Joe Frazier
I’ll be there

Exit Hugh / enter Kitty

Kitty
Your coffee Mr Frazier

Frazier
Thanks Kitty

Kitty
You’re very welcome – enjoy

Exit Kitty / Frazier continues his breakfast

---

Scene 25

Las Vegas, the International Hotel – Elvis is singing a medley of patriotic songs; The Battle Hymn of the Republic / Dixie / All My Trials Lord

Elvis Presley
Ladies, Gentlemen, thank you very much,
Now tonight, in the audience, I’m told
There’s a very special human being
Who says he’s the greatest ever boxer
& I’ll have to agree – are you out there
Muhammad Ali, stand up, where are you

MA
I’m not the greatest – you are the greatest

Elvis Presley
Either way – welcome to Las Vegas, man

MA
It’s good to be here, but you’re the greatest
You are the King

Elvis Presley
Why don’t you come back stage when I’m finish’d

MA
Sure thing

Elvis Presley
Do you have a favourite song

MA
Yeah, man – I dig Don’t be Cruel

Elvis Presley
Alright boys

Elvis counts down & they play Don’t Be Cruel

---

Scene 26

Las Vegas, the International Hotel, backstage / Elvis is gather’d with his small, skinny entourage – enter Muhammad Ali with his big, beefy entourage

MA
Hey, that’s Elvis – he looks pretty good!’

Elvis Presley
Muhammad Ali, welcome my brother

MA & Elvis look at each other like good-looking women appraising how they look.

MA
Elvis Presley, aw man, thank-you so much
That was one heck of a foot-stomping show
Boy, you can dance, what an entertainer

Elvis Presley
Every night, man, every night

MA
You work hard

Elvis Presley
Too hard

MA
Same for me in the fighting game
No train, no pain, no gain, gotta be done

Elvis Presley
Hey, you wanna drink

MA
Water, please
You know what they say, water’s for winners

Elvis Presley
Sure thing
& your boys

MA
They’ll have the same

Elvis Presley
Joseph, attend to our guests will you, please
So, Ali, alright if I call you that

MA
Yeah

Elvis Presley
Well, I like to keep in shape you know
I’m into karate

MA
Karate

Elvis Presley
Yeah

Elvis takes a karate pose / MA squares off to him / suddenly Elvis sweeps MA’s feet & floors him / there is an awkward look between them then MA burst into laughter, as does the room

MA
Hey, man, where dya learn to pull that fast trick

Elvis Presley
There’s a real good dojo, downtown Vegas
I’m into it very deeply, & now
I’m thinkin’ of getting into boxing

MA
No way, you’re too pretty to do boxing
You stay singing & I’ll do the fighting

Joseph
{passing round cokes}
Here you go boys

Bundini Brown
Thank you very much

MA
I
Was such a fan of yours when I was young
Was maybe fifteen years old at the time
In ‘56, your epic breakthro’ year
When pelvic vibrations shook the quimmage
Of millions of burgeoning girls
Hanging off each defiant gyration
Phenomenal whirling dervish desires
While all the black boys lov’d to hear you sing
Their gospel music to a bluesman’s beat
Animalistical, miscegenous
Ensorcelling with such brazen voltage
I remember watching you on TV
& wanted to be just like you, other kids
In the neighborhood listen’d to Ray Charles,
James Brown, cats like that, but I was list’ning
To Elvis Aaron Presley, & admir’d
You so much & verily decided
If I was ever going to be famous
I’d do it just like you, & so I have
In my own way, being maharajas
Of vocational principalities,
We entertain our people, earn fealties
& loyalty & love from the masses

Elvis Presley
There are certain similarities, yeah

MA
Where you can so sing good, well I got speed
Where you got soul I got a knock-out punch
& for a white man you’re pretty pretty
& boy, we both can dance, we got the moves

Elvis Presley
Well, you have got your show, & I’ve got mine

MA
& let me tell you something else

Elvis – uou have your show & i have mine

Elvis Presley
Go on

MA
When you made a promise to your mama
That when you’d money made you’d buy a car
& house for her, & so you did

Elvis Presley
That’s right
She brought us up in swampfoot poverty
But all the time with love & song & smiles
Twas the least that I could do

MA
Exactly
I remember saying with my teenage heart
Flush’d with untramell’d enthusiasm,
‘When I get rich and famous I will but
My mama a nice car & then a house
& after my first pro fight, man, I did
I bought her a shiny pink cadillac
& after my second I bought my folks
A brand new house, just like Elvis Presley
Yeah, you’re the greatest

Elvis Presley
Let’s say we both are
&, well, especially you, thou art an
Art-enchanter, master lov’d by masters,
But listen, man, I knew you were coming
& I got you a gift made up

MA
You did

Elvis Presley
I did, yeah, Joseph

MA
Aw, man, if I’d known
We were doing gifts

Elvis Presley
Man, we’d never met
It’s fine, but I really wanted to show
My appreciation of what you do
& what you mean to all of us who say
Your name with veneration – open it

MA
What’s this

Elvis Presley
It’s a robe for the ring, unique
Hand-crafted to a sim’lar style of mine
Across the back, emblazon’d, can you see
Reads, ‘People’s Choice’ in rhinestones & jewels,

MA
Wow man, this don’t look cheap

Elvis Presley
It cost three grand

MA
Wuu – three thousand dollars for a jacket

Elvis Presley
It’s a robe, man,

MA
I don’t know what to say

Elvis Presley
Just promise me you’ll wear it in the ring
Therein shall be thy thank-you

MA
Of course – eh, can I ask you something

Elvis Presley
Sure

MA
Why did you have the People’s Choice inscrib’d

Elvis Presley
That’s your nickname, right,

MA
No, not exactly
They call me the People’s Champion

Elvis Presley
What

MA
The People’s Champion, not People’s choice

Elvis Presley
Aw man – look I’ll get it redone for you

MA
Naw man, it’s fine, I love it, it’s from you
Elvis Aaron Presley, my fair idol
Taking the time & money for to please
Little Cassius Clay, as I was then
Ah man, this is the sweetest thing ever
I’ll treasure it for always & beyond
The Choice or Champion, it matters not

Elvis Presley
You sure

MA
Of course man

Bell rings

Elvis Presley
Well, that’s me, show time
It was really good to meet you Ali

MA
& you Elvis

Elvis Presley
What you doing later

MA
I’m afraid that I’ve got an early night
I’m up at 4 AM for my training

Elvis Presley
That’s about when I’ll be going to bed
Rock & Roll is not an early riser

MA
I’m sure ! well you take care brother

Elvis Presley
& you

They shake hands

MA
Man you are pretty

Joseph
Hey, Elvis, let’s go

Elvis Presley
Goodbye man, see you around

MA
& soon
{exit Elvis}
You know I don’t admire nobody, but
He’s the sweetest, humblest and nicest man
You’d ever want to know, & now I do
Come on, let’s go & watch the second half
Bye boys

Joseph
Bye

Elvis associate
Man, when he swept Ali’s legs
I thought we were dead

Joseph
I know what you mean
That was the most peculiar moment
I’ve ever seen in all my backstage days

Elvis starts singing in the background – they begin twiddling their thumbs with the nonchalance of having heard the concert hundreds of times

---

Scene 27

Los Angeles / George Foreman is training for the Sunshine Showdown / a musical interlude / Foreman is Shadowboxing (hooks, jabs, uppercuts)/ at the Punch bag with Eddie Futch & Yank Durham / Skipping / Push-ups / Sparring / Enter Bryant Gumble & a cameraman

Bryant Gumble
This is Bryant Gumble, NBC News
George Foreman is here in Los Angeles
Publicizing his January fight
With Joe Frazier next year in Jamaica
He’s looking strong, an athlete in good shape,
So George, can we stop you for a minute
{George stops training}
George, how fares thoughts on your fight upcoming
With Frazier

George Foreman
Mine opportunity knocks
But this is not his opportunity
That’s my big advantage – he’s had his chance
& dines, now, with kings, queens & presidents
But with nineteen seventy three drawn nigh
That year might well be my mine, my time to shine,
That’s the opportunity, intend I
To take advantage of it, I aint had
Much television like this, I want this,
He’s tired of it, makes fame an every day
Occurrence, but not me, this is my time

Bryant Gumble
Does it upset you, does it bother you
When people belittle your skills, & say
You’ve fought with failures, skittl’d nobodies

George Foreman
No, not really, it depends whom utters
Are you saying that

Bryant Gumble
No

George Foreman
Well, alright then
I like to think that every time i fight
I go out to make all my opponents
Look like nothing, & I hope Joe Frazier
Goes down in likewise manner, like the rest

Bryant Gumble
Thanks George

George Foreman
You’re welcome

Foreman returns to training

Bryant Gumble
Foreman’s fresh & good –
Since Ali, Frazier has only fought twice
& both of those opponents nobodies
Unless he’s ready Joe’ll have quite a fight
Upon his hands in Jamaica, next year;
I’ve been Bryant Gumble, NBC news

Exit Bryant / Foreman stops training

George Foreman
I’m really gonna have to do it now
But how the hell am I gonna beat him

Eddie Futch
Well, he is a very clever boxer
& smart enough to win the world entire
Protecting the button he hides his chin
Behind fantastic defences, if chin
Feels unassailable, ignore it plain,
Use your height & hit him on his headtop

Yank Durham
I don’t think there’s nothing to worry on
He’s far too nonchalant, he’s gone too soft
Fancy clothes, cadillacs & chevrolets

Eddie Futch
One of them’s a thirty-four

George Foreman
I seen it

Yank Durham
A swimming pool shap’d like a boxing glove
By four hundred thousand dollars of home
Such trappings of success an ancient trap
When warriors prefer women & wine
& hearths & rugs instead of open fields,
Then they’ll soon miss the missile in the fray

George Foreman
But everything you’d never want to face
In boxing Frazier’s got

Eddie Futch
I’d do the same
But better – if he tries to move in close
Stop him, block him, get out of the way
Then when he’s open pulverize & pound

Yank Durham
Easy

George Foreman
I wish I felt your confidence
A tougher cookie I aint ever seen
With vicious left hooks and rights to the side
He’s buzzsaw, giant killer, a machine,
Aint lost a fight since nineteen sixty four
To Buster Mathis at the Flushing trials
& has since decimated the divison

Eddie Futch
But you succeeded Frazier’s golden torc
& you have never lost a single fight

Yank Durham
Just keep going George, we believe in you

Eddie Futch
Yeah, back to work, pick up that skipping rope

---

Scene 28

New York / Press conference / Enter Don King, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Archie Moore stands by Foreman’s shoulder / Journalists 1,2 & 3 are present

Don King
Well, thank you all for coming here today
The Sunshine Showdown’s glowing in the dawn
O! what a day loaded in store for thee
& what a night of boxing out Kingston,
Jamaica, this January comingm
Whose arena of forty-two thousand
Stack’d rafter-pack’d above two boxers sees
Joe Frazier, the champion, George Foreman,
The Challenger; today they gonna sign
The contracts, but first, boys, lets see those fists…
I’m gonna call on Mister Joe Frazier
To say a few words, Joe

Joe Frazier
Good afternoon,
About George I’m not gonna say too much
For as you know my own lip-rapping skills
Aint so great, you know how it is, no mouth
Run-offer, like some people that we know
{Laughter}
Because of one particular reason
I’m stoked to bits this fight is coming off
For me & George are in the fighting game
For fighting aint no politician thing,
When sportsmen go off rapping, that aint right,
The ring no place to showcase opinions
Other than that which settles whose fought best,
& so, I feel this fight should entertain,
While George tries to strip away my title
I’ll do my very best to keep it close

Don King
Thanks Joe, so George, some words you wanna say?

George Foreman
I don’t wanna be as modest as Joe
For he’s already proved himself a king
I gotta get out here to preach & brag
& big me up & let you people think
I’m a monkey or something, so all yous
Can come along & see me do something
I want all the people in this country
Complaisant with all planetary parts
To light their eyes upon this special fight
I know myself it shall be mighty brawl
An evening when George Foreman will declare
Wars on Joe’s bones, & that’s a definite!

Crowd
Right On

Joe Frazier
Most people suggest a fighter
Loses his legs ascending certain age
But now my legs feel stronger than ever
I don’t know, I must have got one of those
The guy who run so fast

Journalist 1
A second wind

Joe Frazier
No – the Six Million Dollar man, yeah?

Journalist 2
Yeah

Joe Frazier
When I hit the road in the morning
I’m like the Six Million Dollar Man

George Foreman
You people are certainly gonna see
A mighty fight, in which avow’d am I,
The only way to take leave of that ring
Victoryless before the fifteenth end
Is stretcherborne, unconscious, void of force

Don King
We’ll see you all in Kingston on the night
It will be grand, it will be exotic
A royal, unforgettable battle
As if they were the houses roseate
White York & Red Lancaster, clamp’d by gore
Together on a sodden, windswept moor
But under sultry island sun instead
So a good day to you all
{To Frazier & Foreman}
This way boys

Journalist 3
Mr King, could you answer some questions

Don King
That will be all, thank-you

Journalist 3
But Mr King
Is it true there’s twelve thousand empty seats
On an island where the average wage
Is only twenty-five dollars a month
Was that to be expected… Mr King?

Exit King & the Boxers

Journalist 1
So how you think the fight is gonna go

Journalist 2
I can’t see Foreman lasting seven rounds
He’s barely hit the third before his foes
End the bouts, encrumpl’d upon canvas
But Frazier is a different being
& by the fourth or fifth Foreman will tire

Journalist 3
I don’t think it’ll even last that long
George Foreman’s just an old-fashion’d slugger

Journalist 1
But tough, I wouldn’t be so sure

Journalist 2
Come on
You’re kidding right, Foreman don’t stand a chance

Journalist 3
But Jamaica, hah, better than New York
In winter, don’t forget to pack your shorts

Journalist 2
I’ll be there Jack, & newly single too!

---

Scene 29

Jamaica / Joe Frazier’s hotel, poolside / The Knock-Outs are playing, Frazier is singing to a crowd of lithe Jamaican ladies & journalists

Repertoire
Knock On Wood
Like a Knock-Out Drop
First Round Knock Out
They Bigger They Come

Enter Eddie Futch & Yank Durham

Eddie Futch
Hey Joe, Joe Frazier, what are you doing?

Joe Frazier
Hey, guys, relax, we’re just having a jam

Eddie Futch
A jam, a jam, your fight is in five days

Yank Durham
This is insane, Joe, why ya not training

George Foreman
I was this morning

Eddie Futch
We heard about that
You were getting bested by Ken Norton
& that aint ever happened before, Joe

Yank Durham
We’ve told him his service no more needed
& have a nice vacation here

Eddie Futch
Like you
It seems, Joe, but this aint no holiday,
It’s hard work, its elite competition
It’s, it’s not this anyway

Joe Frazier
Eddie, Yank
Relax, I got this

Yank Durham
Singing by the pool
In this heat drains your strength – its just stupid

Eddie Futch
It’s time to get outta here, gals & girls
Go take your party to another pool

Jamaican Woman 1
Alright, alright

Jamaican Woman 2
See you later, Joe, thanks

Joe Frazier
Bye ladies, boys, nice music today

Knockout 1
Yeah

Knockout 2
You’d better hightail back to yer training
Mr Futch & Mr Durham don’t look pleas’d

Eddie Futch
Damn right we aint pleas’d, now get outta here

Joe Frazier
I don’t know why you guys are all upset
I got Foreman, he got nothing on me
All blunderbus & blunders, whats the fuss

Yank Durham
It aint him we’re worried about, its you,
Dwell we do upon your poor well-being,
Away from the grey-iron grasp of the gym
& that wet, wild & windy Philly
You’re losing your intensity & drive

Eddie Futch
And it’s not just this island’s soothing balms
We should have cut your gloves off once Ali
Hit canvas, too much damage that night dealt,
& now you’re just a shadow of the man
Who charg’d upon the title like a train
You’re now proud owner of a new-bought yacht
Loving to dive into the sun and fun

Joe Frazier
What you on about, Eddie, I’ll be fine

Yank Durham
He’s got a point, you’re losing something Joe

Joe Frazier
I gotta hear this bullshit from you too
& on the eve of a title defence

Eddie Futch
Joe, you got enough money, whatever
Happens next week, it’s time to give it up

Joe Frazier
Damn, give it up, what’s to gain, I’m World Champ
You think I’m gonna walk away like
that?
All the work and sweat, Climb this high mountain
Pain all the way, to come down on a plane
No, no chance, not happening, now lets work,
George Foreman’s record is a deception,
I got too much for him, I’ll be too strong
Then maybe, in a year or two, retire
Cos’ I still gotta make sure Clay stays down
You got my back

Yank Durham
We got it Joe

Joe Frazier
Good, Good
Now come on, lets get outta here, you’re right
A poolside aint no place for a fighter
Nor ringside too, but on the canvas he
Belongs – as the Zulu with his Assegai
Dwells natural in his tribal impi –
Knuckledust fists like burnish’d katana
In the hands of a silver samurai
I’ll show George Foreman & the watching world
Joe Frazier is a trueblood champion

Eddie Futch
Yeah-heah – that’s the spirit

Joe Frazier
I got this boys

Exit Frazier, Futch & Durham

---

Scene 30

The Sunshine Showdown / Don King arrives in a limo with Joe Frazier to the sound of Desmond Dekker & the Aces ‘Israelites’ – the crowd is excited as they enter the stadium – out of the car also steps Marvis & his aunt, Mazie

Marvis
This is all amazing Auntie Mazie
I’m so excited at this my first fight
Daddy watching, & in Jamaica too!

Mazie
All this is gonna blow your mind my boy
There is nothing like seeing your daddy
In action, so supremely does he flow

Enter Mavis & Mazie / enter Foreman

Journalist 1
Hey its Foreman

Journalist 2
Good luck George

Journalist 3
You’ll need it

Angelo Dundee
Hey George

George Foreman
Hello

Angelo Dundee
I’m Angelo Dundee
Ali’s trainer

George Foreman
O hi, here for the show

Angelo Dundee
We want to talk to you after you win
{Foreman laughs}
There are rumours rumbling of Africa

George Foreman
I heard them, in Zaire or something, right

Angelo Dundee
Right – I’m here to pin it on the rematch
But I’ve seen your jab, Sonny Liston style,
& well, you’d better get a passport boy!

George Foreman laughs & enters the stadium

Journalist 2
Hey Angelo, why ya backing Foreman
He’s a wide-swinging brute with no technique

Angelo Dundee
With his parries, pivots, blocks pivots & step-aways
He’ll act just like an agile matador
To Frazier’s raging bull, a clash of styles,
Foreman’s an old school fighter who prevents
A punch before it has even begun,
Pinning arms, pushing shoulders, pulling gloves,
I don’t think Frazier’s gonna land a blow

Journalist 3
You’re crazy man

Angelo Dundee
We’ll see, let’s watch that fight

The Journalists & Angelo Dundee enter the stadium

---

Scene 31: THE SUNSHINE SHOWDOWN

Referee: Arthur Mercante

Commentators
Howard Cosell
Don Dunphy

Dunphy
Here we ringside, Kingston, Jamaica
To see who’ll be the next World Champion
Of the global heavyweight division
Here comes the challenger, big George Foreman
This undefeated warrior was born
In Marshall, Texas, nineteen forty-nine
Which makes him twenty-four, in sixty-eight
He won Olympic gold, turn’d pro, sithen,
Guided by Dick Sandler, canny-handed,
He’s won all of his thirty-seven fights
With thirty-four by knock-out, six feet four
With a range of seventy-eight inches
George Foreman’s the man who floor’d Chavala

Cassel
We’re now awaiting the arrival of
Joe Frazier, the defending champion
To a twenty foot ring with a canvas
Like a mattress, very soft, the Frazier
Kind of canvas, that man does not bounce
This slugger coming at ya like a tank
Wait a second – in the background cheers I hear
{Joe Frazier arrives with Don King}
Now here comes Frazier, twenty-nine years old
Coming down the aisle, his strong arms hanging
Onto his manger, Yancy Durham
As always has his habit sent him in
This South Carolinan soul, Buford born
In nineteen forty-four, would win his gold
In sixty-four, by Hayes, Carr, Larrabee,
Under Yancy Durham’s style & wisdom
He’s won every professional fight
Twenty-nine victories straight, twenty-five
By technical or natural knock-out

Dunphy
But four men have ever gone the distance
With Joe, there’s Muhammad Ali, of course
In the never-to-be-forgotten bout
Of March eighth, nineteen seventy one
Oscar Bonnavena has done it twice.

Cassel
Joe is five feet eleven – with a reach
Of seventy-three & a half inches
Who says he’s not too happy with Foreman
Spitting disparages on his focus
& yearns to do away with Foreman swift

Dunphy
& now he’s thro’ the ropes, & in the ring
Powerful, in his colourful attire
Of white gown, trim gold-gleaming & a belt

Cassel
Joe Frazier came in at a surprising
Two hundred & fourteen pounds, that’s eight pounds
More than on the night he fought Muhammad Ali, who is also here at ringside
Watching on – we’ll survey his opinion
Upon the fight some moment opportune

Dunphy
The referee is Arthuyr Mercente
Who refereed the Ali-Frazier fight
A man who is gen’rally consider’d
The best boxing referee in the States

Cassel
They are trying to psyche each other out
& look, there is no fear in either man
Especially George Foreman knows no fear
He’s grown enormously in confidence
Of presence & speech, as well as boxing

Dunphy
Arthur Mercante makes his announcement

Mercante
This Heavyweight Championship contest
To decide the world title is govern’d
By the rules of the Jamaican boxing
Federation scoring rules – a clean fight
With legal punches up above the waste
Conform the ten point must scoring system
There will be a mandatory eight count
Even after three knockdowns in the round
The fight goes on, no saving by the bell,
Go wait for the bell & come out boxing

Dunphy
When phantom fortune proffers tangible
In title fights before a titan crowd
I hope excitement strikes thee as it me
We are all close to the start of round one
Come any second now & we may have
An interesting evening
{BELL}
Here we go

Cossel
Frazier’s status as the fight favorite
Is understandable, but Foreman flies
Out punching with a right, Frazier responds
With usual style, smoking he puts it
His job’s to get inside, his best weapon
The left hook, to which Foreman’s vuln’rable

Dunphy
Frazier’s in the white trunks, Foreman’s in red
George Foreman looks a little pensive, tense
But lands a left jab, pushes Frazier back

Cossel
Frazier is not landing any punches
Tho’ he is the aggressor

Dunphy
But Frazier
Rarely wins the first, I would be surpris’d
If he won one now

Cossel
Foreman has been struck
Struck good by Frazier’s left hook’s beastly best

Dunphy
Yes, Foreman looks a little looser now

Cossel
Now there’s another heavy left by George
Who’s getting punches into Frazier’s head,

Dunphy
We will find out tonight how much Ali
Extracted from Frazier, if anything

Cossel
& lets discover just how good is George
In punching & in taking of a punch

Dunphy
Foreman, there, with a good, smart, snappy jab

Cossel
He hurt Joe Frazier, Joe Frazier is hurt!

Dunphy
Foreman is having a very good round

Angelo Dundee
{ringside]
Frazier’s hurt, Joe Frazier’s hurt, oh my!

Cossel
Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!

Dunphy
The mandatory eight-count is taken
By the heavyweight champion, while pois’d
As can be, Foreman is pois’d as can be
Upon the neutral corner ropes, relax’d,

Marvis
{ringside}
Daddy, stop playing daddy, stop playing!
Why’s my daddy playing, get him daddy!

Dunphy
There’s a full minute to go in the round
& already this fight is proving out
What some expected

Cossel
Tis spectacular
Frazier’s in real trouble here – ooh, that left
Is getting in

Dunphy
Frazier seems to be hurt,
He’s being rock’d

Cossel
Frazier’s been dull’d & dazed
Getting hit over & over again
Same temple hit so often by Ali

Dunphy
Foreman’s winning the fighting completely

Cossel
Foreman steadily goes about his job
Determin’d, like a sheepdog on the holme

Dunphy
Tho’ Frazier fights back gamely, trouble’s spear
Seems but a step & a second away

Cossel
George Foreman is all over Joe Frazier

Dunphy
There’s only twenty seconds in the round

Cossel
George Foreman fires off right fist at Joe’s jaw

Dunphy
Frazier is down again

Cossel
Frazier is down
& he… maybe… no, he’s rising, he’s game!
He is dazed, he doesn’t know where he is

Dunphy
The mandatory eight count, Joe looks lost
& wobbling like the scarecrow in a storm

Cossel
The round’s about to end

Dunphy
Frazier looks beat
He’s never taken punishment like this
{BELL}
Frazier goes down again at sound of bell

Cossel
But look, he’s up & the bout continues

Dunphy
Three knockdowns in the first round by Foreman
Muhammad Ali, watcha make of that

Ali
George punches like a reckless amateur
& telegraphs each thrust as semaphore
With sweeping, sluggish movements of his arms
His left jab’s fine, but fails to follow up
All Frazier needs to do is keep away
But making mistakes is his insistance
Straight from knockdown he’s lunging at his foe
A times for pride, a time for common sense
He’s thinking as he is the champion
He’s gotta get his man, but runs instead
Into George Foreman’s mandament display
If he’d just step away from the slugfest
He could win the fight, George looks very tired
After one round only, his punches wild
But Frazier’s tenaciousness, lack of fear,
Intimates Foreman’s intimidation’
Remember when Joe fought Bonavena
Was two-times knock’d down in the second round,
But got back up, with non-stop punches won –
This fight could be Joe’s yet…

Bell

Dunphy
There goes the bell

ROUND TWO

Cassel
The Challenger’s scarily dominant
Joe’s hooks that even land have hardly phas’d
This cool marauder Foreman, all’s in awe

Dunphy
Joe’s coming out, wants come back hurrified

Cassel
You’ll find no man gamer than Joe Frazier

Dunphy
Foreman batters Frazier in his corner

Cassel
Oh – he is all over Frazier again
Frazier’s knees buckle

Dunphy
Joe goes down again

Cassel
He is down for the fourth time in the fight

Dunphy
Just forty-five seconds, now four-times down

Cassel
A quick left, & another, Foreman sent
A short & vicious compact to the chin

Marvis
Auntie Mazie, my Daddy aint playing

Mazie
No son, he’s human like the rest of us

Marvin
But, he’s the champion of all the world!

Dunphy
There goes Joe down again
Fallen for the fifth time in this fist-fight

Foreman
{to Frazier’s corner}
Yank, stop it or I’m going to kill him

Crowd yelling & shrieking Stop it! Stop it! Stop the fight! / Frazier gets back on his feet / Foreman resumes the attack

Cassel
It is target practice for George Foreman
But Frazier is ready to go again

Dunphy
Joe’s down again, a jamboree of jolts
Let us see if the referee stops it

Cassel
Three times down, the fight is stopped, no its not

Angelo Dundee
Stop the fight, stop it, someone stop the fight

Dunphy
Mercante has taken hold of Foreman
Tries to lead him to a neutral corner
While Frazier barely recognizes breath

Cassel
Angie Dundee is screaming out ‘stop it!’
It is over, it is over, the fight
Is over only in the second round!

Cassel
George Foreman wins it in the second round

Dunphy
I’m going up into the ring to talk
To Frazier, the loser, & Foreman
The winner because Joe Frazier has been
A great champion, thoroughly deserves Consideration

Cassle
Nancy Durham is hugging George Foreman
They’re going crazy about him up there

The ring becomes rapidly inundated by a swarm of men – two fist-fights spontaneously erupt / Don Dunphy with Dick Sandler & Don King get in the ring & head for Foreman who is just having a word with JF in his corner

Dunphy
This ring’s a madhouse, a stunning upset
A burst of brawling bedlam gone abroad
We have a new heavyweight champion
I cannot wait to interview this man
& hope to hold on to my microphone
I am trying to get to George Foreman
Out of my way, good fellows, if you please

King & Dunphy come together & get to Foreman – King graps his shoulder, Don his arm

Dunphy
George, George, do you have anything to say

Foreman
Joe Louis, I have more respect for him
Than all the world’s fellowship, next to him
Mister Archie Moore

King
My man, I got it

Foreman
What round is it?

Dunphy
You forgot when you won

Frazier
I thought it was the fourth

Dunphy
No, the second
D’ya know how many times you knock’d down Joe

Foreman
I can’t remember

Dunphy
George, I got to know
Your future plans, will you fight Joe again
Or will it now be Muhammad Ali

Foreman
My plans, right now, were to win the title
I’d like to tell the kids if work thee hard
& pray, then you can do just anything
I would like to spend my whole life preaching
My next fight is to work with juveniles
That’s my ring, the world is my true ring

Don King escorts Foreman out of the ring / Bryant Gumble & a cameraman find Ali

Bryant
Muhammad Ali, did you expect that

MA
No I did not, Foreman’s upset my plans
I’ll have to beat them both now for to prove
I’m true champ born, the greatest of all time

Bryant
So what do you think of Foreman right now?

MA
He hit Joe like all of his opponents
I will admit he’s hard, but if a man
Can stay out of his way for just five rounds
In good shape – stick him, move, stay out of range,
He’ll retire George Foreman, this man depends
On getting his man in the first two rounds
If he don’t do that he gets frustrated
If you stick him with left jabs, right crosses,
Tie him up in boxing, he will retire
& I know I’m gonna whup George Foreman
& I’m gonna whup him in Africa
In the Congo, where boys Lumbaba are

Bryant
Now then, Ali, answer me this question
How could that man go fifteen rounds with you
& only two with Foreman

MA
That’s easy
‘Cause George Foreman’s not as good a fighter
Scientifically as I am, right,
But I admit he’s stronger, hits harder
I’m not a hard puncher, people know that
But boxing ability will give me
Victory, with ease, whupping him on points
Over the distance if necessary

Bryant
So a fight in your home territory,
You couldn’t now be any happier
With what is coming up this September

MA
Why would you call Africa my hometurf

Bryant
You have been telling me that for ten years

MA
That’s right & if you lot come over there
Talking all like that we’re gonna cook you

Ali slams down the microphone mike & storms off

Bryant
Well there you have it folks, it’s all over
The Sunshine Showdown sets into the stars
& leaves a trace of glory in the night
That when pierc’d next by Dawn’s roseate dart
On Stanley’s peak her golden tint shall fall
That’s all from NBC, great fight, good night

Don King enters the ring, goes to George Foreman & acclaims him

Don King
George, I told you so, I told you so, George
{Cossel arrives trying to interview Foreman}
I got him, he’s my man

Cossell
Can we, can we

Don King
I came with the champion, & I’ll leave
With the champion, all of this adroit
Manoeuvring on my behalf, & now
We’ll all be flying out to Africa

---

Scene 32

The Foreman dressing room / Just after the Sunshine Showdown, George Foreman, his trainer, Dick Sadler, & Archie Moore

Archie Moore
My God, you are a monster in the ring
Frazier’s invincible aura shatters
Mighty the swings of your cannonball fists
Mixing an assassean attitude
With thunderous powerstrikes zeusean

Dick Sadler
Well, I aint seen its like since Fifty Nine
Johannsson floor’d Floyd Patterson five times

Archie Moore
It was seven

Dick Sadler
Whatever, what a rout
As out of the Eniwetok Atoll
This new age lurched with a TNT snarl
Blast brighter than ten suns, a two mile flame,
So, too, has boxing’s future just been born

George Foreman
Was that a dream? it feels no dream, my skin
Tingles with a sensation symphony
No sleep administers adrenaline
As that which now administers my world
& I, the bonnie champion of it,
From hoodlum youth to gladiator freed
From economic grinditude, applied
The best of prowess – train’d, innate, made good
Among the pantheons of tribe & time,
The undisputed, the undefeated,
Now the youngest ever champion to claim
The title as his own, my life is bless’d

Archie Moore
Not bless’d as such, success from hard work springs
& a real man attends to his own fortune

Sadler
Arguably a brutal dethroning
Nevertheless, an easy victory
You boss’d the man just as the Hohokam
Master’d desert, or, at the Leyte Gulf
The naval might of Nippon shatter’d bare
Unleashing devastations as brutal
As when Sherman struck Shenandoah’s vale
Ravag’d end to end, or when grasshoppers
Eat everything green between the Rockies
& Missouri

George Foreman
Long in paindays building
I guess that I just wanted it much more
Full forty months of sacrifice & sweat
While he lapp’d up the good life & money
A famous life of music & parties
But lost his appetite for the fighting
& drown’d his hunger in the Roman baths
Sate by fat senators while long I train’d,
Sparring with Carthaginians enslaved
Duelling Numibians for the thumb
Undistracted by liberal excess
& could not lose, only poor man being

Dick Sadler
Each devastating knock-down different
Fetch’d weapons from your ruthless armoury
Pulverizing hooks, uppercut rockets
& that last right half hook-half uppercut
That lifted Frazier clean up off his feet.

George Foreman
But he still got up again, didn’t he
I have never seen anything like it
I’ve seen him fight & as we fought I thought
Boy, you mess’d up now, you’ve knock’d Joe down
He’ll be angry, I’d better be careful
He’s gonna getcha, so I jump’d on him
& knock’d him down again, each time I did
I kept on thinkin’, boy, you’ve made him mad
This fight was all about keeping him down
I was thinking if I don’t hurry up
& end this thing then he’s gonna end me
But come that marvel moment, Mercente
Stopping the fight & all, I felt fulfill’d
Into my soul floated all the others
A gallery of angels inrushing
I saw Joe Louis, John O’Sullivan
& Rocky Marciano smiling on

Archie Moore
They’re not alone, whereby tomorrow morn
The world should ponder who this wonder is
The man who beat the man who beat Ali

George Foreman
That’s Me

{Knock on door}

Dick Sadler
It could be press

George Foreman
Yeah, I’m ready

Enter Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier
George, I just wanna say how fine you fought
Too good for me, I still don’t understand
Just how you did it, brother, but you did

George Foreman
Thanks man, it musta been my lucky day
I’ve more respect for you as a fighter
Than any man I know

Joe Frazier
If that is so
You could have lump’d on me less punishment
A bruising wall & you were cruising too

George Foreman
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that
I fear’d your punches whizzing pass’d my head
Like bullets from an unforgiving gun
If one of them had hit me, well, you know

Joe Frazier
I might be a sniper at a slugfest
But if my gun aint loaded, that’s the shunt
Your Houston Tornado tore my town down
I felt set on some underwater drift
With dull depth charges dropping on my head,
Or with a change of stance & shift of weight
You lifted me straight off the floor, both feet
But by the by, let me leave you to it,
For you’re the champ now, congratulations
I’ve had my victories, & they were sweet
Enjoy yours now, you deserve it brother

George Foreman
Thanks

Joe Frazier
No problem, see you at the rematch!

Frazier & Foreman share a laugh
Joe Frazier
But right now I got Sinatra’s trombone
In I’ve got you under my skin in my head
I need to be lazy with a hammock
A cool pool, pepsis & buckets of ice

George Foreman
I hear you brother

Joe Frazier
Take it easy, man

Exit Frazier

George Foreman
Angel-hearted, but boxing Samael
Who took a buzzsaw to an era’s swathe
& tore a host of glories

Knock on the door

Archie Moore
I’ll get it

Enter the Spirit of America

Spirit Of America
Impress’d by such pulverizing impact
The press are waiting for Big George Foreman
There’s cameras, reporters, radio
From various places, races, nations
Is he ready?

George Foreman
I’m ready, yes, lets go
But somebody order me fried chicken

Archie Moore
No sweat, brother

George Foreman
& grill’d cheese sandwiches
Such as were disavow’d by my training

Exit all but the Spirit – if possible, during the song, show Foreman leaving with Don King in the same limo that King arrived in with Frazier

Spirit Of America
You gotta love those cool gladiators
Like avatars of Vishnu from the void
This age’s lives rise as fortunate ones
When status inclinations of the day
Are all for voyeurism of elites
A golden era when best fought the best,
Doses of ultraviolence assur’d
With weapons devastating, never seen,
Especially those fists of George Foreman
So perfectly invincible evolv’d,
Frazier had taken him far too lightly
He’d never thought him special – big, strong, young,
Ambitious – yes – but very beatable
Alas, such is the cocky juice of fools
Who feel the flaming pinions of fame
Might only shine for them – no, Joe was wrong
As planets move in orbit round the sun
Our faces move & alter in the light
Like human moods they change, like fickle fate
Like woman’s love, like everything alive,
Our fame is but ephemeral, tho’ some
Might linger in the magic of the skies.

---

Scene 33

New York / TV studio / The Dick Cavett Show / on the guest couch is Jack Benny / Bill Cosby is playing saxophone along to Slinky Disco

Bill Cosby
…well, the guy starts blowing the saxophone,
Y’know, brr-brr-brr-bah-bah-brr-brr-bah
Then all of a sudden all the people
Sat before me, y’know, so cool, so still
They’re watching this guy clambour onto stage
The next thing you know he’s banging cymbals
Like ding-a-ding-ding, lots of ring-a-dings
& its Max Roache, y’know, hes rescued me
Well, he was just sat there doing his thing
So I made beeline to the wurlitzer
& said, ‘hey guys I want my money back!’

Cosby joins Benny on the couch

Jack Benny
I didn’t understand a word he said
But I still loved it

Bill Cosby
Ask Dick what I said

Dick Cavett
I will tell you right after the show, Jack
Trust me, it was funny

Jack Benny
It felt funny

Dick Cavett
So moving on t’where everybody knows
One of the most profoundly upsetting
Boxing events distinguish’d by giants
Was just play’d out in Kingston Jamaica
When, just one minute & fifty seconds
Inside the second round, the champion
Joe Frazier lost his title, being fell’d
Four or five times by the young contender
George Foreman, well… tonight we’re gonna try
& figure out just how, for Joe Frazier
The bout went south – ladies & gentlemen
Joe Frazier

Enter Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier
First thing first I’d like to say
I wrote down something before I came on
{reading}
I will not lose another fight this year

Dick Cavett
How ya not gonna lose anymore fights

Joe Frazier
That’s easy, I aint gonna fight again
Not this year, anyway, I still feel blue
About losing my title, but I lost
Fair & square, I got whupp’d, but my momma
Whupp’d me too

Dick Cavett
What do you put it down to
How does a champion lose his title

Joe Frazier
Over & over I’ve studied the fight
To isolate its worst mistakes, y’know,
So, for now, its back to the drawing board
There start from scratch, get myself together
& next time in the ring more careful be

Jack Benny
Can I just say one small thing

Joe Frazier
Sure you can

Jack Benny
You’re among the nicest fellas I’ve met
{applause}
Your attitude encapsulates honour

Joe Frazier
My terms are fair, I caught some wicked shots,
But vigourwith I should have dodg’d them all,
I been around far longer than young George
I know the fighting game & understand
Such debacle should never have occur’d

Dick Cavett
Tell me, during the fight, was there a time,
Of your locality you’d lost all sense ,
Of where you were, Joe, did you lose your track
Of your locality

Joe Frazier
That first dull blow
From Foreman short-circuited my life-force,
I said, hey, what, but an instant’s flashing
& I took another of those punches
With no time to convince myself I’m fine
& take a breath of peaceful steadying
Instead I stood, hotheaded & angry,
Me, Joe Frazier, champion of the world,
It’s like, I couldn’t believe it happen’d
& so it could never have happen’d, right?

Dick Cavett
Right, but it was happening, how did you feel,
Was your mind alive?

Joe Frazier
Tis not a dream you feel
But a titan shock, some gadfly surprise
Back in sixty-six or sixty-seven
Oscar Bannavenna left me flatten’d
On canvas floor, then nothing until George
Unflatteringly clatter’d me once more
I said to myself, what happen’d here Joe,
Y’know, this can’t be real, so up I got
Instead of using the old pro routine
& take precaution when a danger looms
& move around until my wits flew home
But groov’d on thro’ the fight just as before
So doing thus was lord of my mistakes
Cos the man hadn’t tasted my punches
But I’d just had a taste of his, ya dig,

Jack Benny
Might I ask one question

Joe Frazier
Sure

Jack Benny
In a fight
When being hit, do you feel pain at once
Or does it later hurt you

Joe Frazier
Well then Jack,
Tis something unexplainable & queer,
Not the lively pain of bullets & knives
No charge of Apis, when nerves raise legions,
But more a drifting to a higher state
Like taking, Jack, those pills you took backstage

Dick Cavett
There’s no dude in your brain sayong oh-oh

Joe Frazier
If you’re thinking your timings together
Like when you are doing a show, y’know,
Before an ambrosial audience
Even after I was fell’d the fourth time
I was happy in mine elementals
& readied myself for more performance
A little off-key, perhaps, but steady

Dick Cavett
How does your love of fighting fare, still keen?

Joe Frazier
Sure am, & shall be going back to work
To win my title back a wiser man

Dick Cavett
Are you aware, Joe, that the outside world
Is full of peoples’ deep ruminations
Upon your lack of realization
Such was the beating by Ali bestow’d
& came to Foreman fighting in fractions

Joe Frazier
Well, I cannot give any man credit
For anything another man has done
Twas Foreman who defeated me, not Clay
He’s a big, strong fella, I’m not sure yet
How good a fighter he’ll make, but one thing
I do know is… he packs a ten-ton punch

Bill Cosby
I’d rather bomb with a joke any day
Than be hit on the head by George Foreman

Jack Benny
Did you ever hear from Ali, after
Your epic adventure in life & ring

Joe Frazier
I never heard from Clay, no, not at all

Dick Cavett
It would be nice if Ali deliver’d
A small, little note saying I’m sorry
Apologizing for unpleasantness

Joe Frazier
A note could come, but never face-to-face
For we don’t be getting along so well
But as it stands if each of us desires
Once more to don the crown, we’ll have to duel

Dick Cavett
Thanks Joe… & please take up your microphone
& see this super show out in best style
{Joe moves to stage}
Let us say a big thank-you to our guests
Bill Crosby, Jack Benny & Joe Frazier
Great to see you guys… take it way Joe

Frazier sings My Way