Ali (film)

Muhammed Ali

• Yeah, I know where Vietnam is; it's on TV. Southeast Asia? It's there, too?

• I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong. Ain't no Vietcong ever call me a nigger.

• Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.

• Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. [in unison with Bundini] Rumble, young man, Rumble.

• I ain't draft dodging. I ain't burning no flag. I ain't running to Canada. I'm staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I've been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain't going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I'll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won't even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won't even stand up for my right here at home.

• I'm gonna give 300 dollars to the man who brings me Howard Cosell's toupee, dead or alive.

• (taking punches from George Foreman) Is that all you got?

• But if I ever was to get in the ring with Joe, here's what you might see. Ali comes out to meet Frazier, but Frazier starts to retreat. If Joe back up an inch farther, he'll wind up in a ringside seat. Ali swings with his left. Ali swings with his right. Just look at the kid carry the fight. Frazier keeps backin', but there's not enough room. It's only a matter of time before Ali lowers the boom. Ali swings with his right. What a beautiful swing. But the punch lifts Frazier clean out of the ring. Frazier still rising, and the referee wears a frown 'cause he can't start countin' till Frazier comes down. Frazier's disappeared from view. The crowd is getting frantic. But our radar stations done picked him up. He's somewheres over the Atlantic. Now, who would've thought, when they came to the fight, they was gonna witness the launching of a black satellite? But don't wait for that fight. It ain't never gonna happen. The onliest thing you can do is wonder and imagine.

Dialogue

Muhammad Ali: Man, without me, you'd just be a mouth and a microphone.

Howard Cosell: And without me, you'd just be a mouth.

[Ali lifts up Howard Cosell's toupee on national television.]

Howard Cosell: [to the camera] We'll be right back.

Muhammad Ali: You want some food for that thing?

Howard Cosell: How could you do something like that to a man you revere?

Muhammad Ali: Cos' it's funny.