Becoming Muhammad Ali

Lucky says that every boxer needs to be confident; otherwise they would run out of the ring. He is sure that Cassius was confident about one thing: “that boxing was the fastest way for a kid like him to become famous” (229). Boxing became his whole focus.

Lucky recounts how he spent months after school watching Cassius practice. Cassius would periodically get frustrated when he was knocked down, but he blamed himself more than anyone else. However, he knew that staying down would be the real problem.

When they were younger, Willie Pastrano—a famous boxer—came to town with his trainer. Cassius found out where he was staying and went there. Using a hotel phone, he told Willie that he was the Golden Gloves champion in Louisville and that he wanted to win both the National Golden Gloves and the Olympics. Then he went upstairs and stayed for three hours, listening to Pastrano and his trainer give him tips about boxing. The experience made Cassius’s confidence grow even more.

Lucky thinks that the opposite of confidence is humility. Even though Cassius called himself “the Greatest,” he could be humble, though not many saw that. He knew that it frustrated Cassius that his mother only made four dollars a week when he could make that much from one fight, but his mother made him feel humble because even though it wasn’t easy, she did her work with pride.