Ali during his exile period, when he had his title stripped over his refusal to be inducted into the United States Army. Ali is doing his best to espouse the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and Cavett is trying very hard to understand some of Ali's more difficult to comprehend diatribes.
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After the classic first Ali - Frazier fight, Ali came on the Cavett show with a very swollen face, but the fact is that the loser of the fight was able to appear on television while Frazier was still in the hospital. Ali was a surprisingly gracious loser after being defeated for the first time.
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When Ali and Frazier met for the second time they both had just been defeated. Frazier lost the title to George Foreman and Ali had suffered a broken jaw in a fight he lost to Ken Norton. So for their upcoming non-title fight they engaged in a little more publicity than usual and made this joint appearance on the Cavett show. Ali's win in the fight got him a shot at George Foreman, who he later defeated to win back the title.
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Ali visited Cavett's PBS show shortly after losing his title to Leon Spinks, and while preparing for the Spinks rematch in which he would win it back to become the only three time heavyweight champion in history. The insightful discussion includes Ali's assessment of the erosion of his boxing skills as he continued to fight in his late 30s.
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