Round 3: Do You Have to Ask?

[Muhammad Ali & choir & audience]
People ask me how I became the poet
I tell them, I didn't become the poet, I was born the poet
Poetry comes natural to me like boxing
A lot of people are surprised that a fighter like me is such a great poet
They say boxing and poetry don't mix
They are wrong
Boxing and poetry do mix
The same fist that can knock out a man holds a pen that writes a poem
Now that's poetic justice
applause
Poetry and boxing do mix
All the great poets should have been fighters
Take Keats and Shelley for an example
They were pretty good poets, but they died young
You know why, because they didn't train
They say you should write poems about what you know, about what you love
I write poems about what I love, I write about me
laughter
A lot of people don't see the beauty in poetry
They don't realize that a poem is even more beautiful than a left jab to the nose
To show you the beauty in poetry, I'd like to read a poem by one of the greatest poets of all time
This is the most beautiful poem ever written, I wrote it about six months ago
laughter
This is my greatest poem and I'm looking forward to 1965 when I'm going to read it in Washington, DC at the inauguration of the president
This poem is entitled 'I Am the Greatest' number 73 by Cassius Clay
For those of you who haven't heard, I'm a most enchanting guy
A most enchanting guy
The greatest boxer that ever lived, would you like me to tell you why
Tell us why, tell us why
I was born the champion, I'm poetic, I'm brash, I swing
[Swing]
My greatness is too much for me, man I'm everything
King?
[?] Cassius have all dropped season 20 centers ago [?]
Go, go, go
And this Cassius will cool Liston as you already know
No, no, no
Yes, yes, yes
For at the end of the bout, you're gonna hear the ref shout
'The winner and new champion'
Mr. Liston won't see that the victor is me
For stars all he'll be seeing
Twinkle, twinkle little stars
Liston's on his way to Mars
No, Liston won't hear
He'll be flat on his ear
And I'll be new champion
No, you'll be new champion
They all must fall in the round I call
They all must lose in the round you choose
You can say that again
They all must lose the round you choose
I'm the greatest
Hail, Cassius
You are the greatest
And just as I prophecy the round of each victory
I hereby claim I can do the same with this bit of poetry
Impossible, we don't believe it
I can achieve it
We'll bet you can't do it
Don't wager your ruin
We think it's a fiction, watch your prediction
Just to save time, three words from me will end this round
It's one of his jokes
Tha, tha, tha, tha, that's all folks
He is the greatest