The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 171

Clwrtslwl symbols Diamond wedding set at four thousand two hundred dollars. Other wedding sets available from one hundred and fifty dollars. handcuffed lightnin' and thrown thunder in jail. But what to think when Ali says God will help him beat Foreman? "This man will crumble," Ali said of Foreman, "because I am workin' for God." Ali said it's happened before. "Frazier and Norton" Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, both of whom defeated Ah' and then lost return matches "God just weakened them.

I see that God has got me on a mission." The Foreman fight, Ali said, "will be a divine fight, a holy war Armageddon on a miniature scale." It is difficult, too, to separate show biz from reality when Ali talks about how he'll beat Foreman. A seeker of truth is helpless, for he never knows which Ali is answering, the athlete or the actor. "Henry Cooper, Sonny Banks, Joe Frazier, an amateur named Allen Hudson they all knocked me down with left hooks comin' from nowhere," Ali said. "This man, Foreman, is not a left-hooker. He's a straight puncher.

"What's gonna win this fight is condition. Foreman can't go past five or six rounds and he knows it. Most people I fight are surprised I'm so fast. They don't realize it until the fifth or sixth round when they get tired and, pop-pop-pop, I'm still comin'." Here, another Ali took over. He jumped off his resting couch in the dressing room.

Show time. "Round One bing! I'm out on him boom, boom! I shake him up I beat him to the draw He was a kid when I beat Sonny Liston 10 years ago They're sayin', 'How much time will Ali last with big George "And I say, 'How long will he See, they say I can't hit And when have I ever been stopped When I have given a record I go quick? That ain't right, that don't even sound right. "This is a kid. No skill, no speed That's belittin' to me, my greatness He's not fightin' Joe Frazier, he's fightin' Muhammad Ali I'm actually the greatest fighter of all time." AT does Ali really think of himself? Ali was behind the wheel of his limousine. A journalist rode in the front passenger seat.

They talked as the car moved slowly down a country road. Ali was subdued and thoughtful or gave that appearance, anyway, for who can be certain of anything with him? "I'd like to live like that on a farm," Ali said, nodding to a little house along the road. "No traffic, no people. You can be alone." But doesn't he like the attention he gets in a city? "Just to go in and out. Not to live.

When I get away from everything, when I'm 35, 40 years old, I want to get me a farm and raise my little girls. Maybe a hundred acres, with a chicken coop so I can get eggs whenever I want some. A cow. Two cows." If Ali had life to live over again, would he do it the same way? He didn't answer at first. "Not if I knew what I know now," he said finally.

"I wouldn't have said that thing about the Viet Cong. I would have handled the draft different. There wasn't any reason to make so many people mad." Handled the draft differently? Would he have gone into the Army? "No, just the Viet Cong thing. The people proved me out on that. They didn't like the war, either." Is Ali afraid of death? "Well, you don't want to die.

But we ain't nothin' on this earth. We don't own nothin'. We just borrow it for a while. Listen to this: Death is the tax the soul has to pay for having a name and a form. Heavy.

"So what are we here for? To serve God's creatures. Ike Williams, Kid Gavilan they were world champions, and now they work for me at my camp. I take care of them. I don't need anybody at this camp, but sometimes I have 14 people workin' here." Is there a private Ali we never see? "Yes. The spiritual side." When Ali is dead, how would he like to be remembered? "Just a boxer" he spoke slowly "who tried to help his people." Wo REALLY, is Muhammad Ali? This is a multiple-choice question.

(a) An incomparable athlete, a majestic piece of the Creator's art. (b) A world-famous personality of considerable charm and charisma. (c) A simplistic egotist who mistakes fame for greatness and confuses charm with intellect. (d) A make-believe figure who, when fame flees, will wake up one morning and say "Who am really?" He may have no answer. (e) All of the above.

can drown a drink of water, I can kill a dead tree. Don't mess with Muhammad Ali. LEMON Jlnd 5oh Jewelers established 1828. -570 the River City Mall 4905 Brownsboro Road in Semonin Square 1. Member American Gem Society Brides RUN to Charnette's I before they WALK down the aisle! A We're proud to offer f-f I this unusual value 1M Chantiliy Lace Gown Sif and Bridal Veil MM 1 C-pIete VS 1 Vatae tt- 1 Party Pant Sets Special Bridal shop lltr 111J 434 S.

4th Street, Louisville, Ky. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1974 27.