Eyes on the Prize II; Interview with Floyd Patterson

Okay, this is passion as a champion, you are always considered a person who outside of the ring is going to let a client reflect their kind of life. What did you think of Cash's play first came on the fight scene? Well, it was something different, in fact, when you saw it, when you saw it, yes, you're right, you're right. When Clay came on the scene, he was Clay then. When Cash's play came on the scene, he was something different. I had never seen anything like that before. I thought it was rather comical, in fact, I got a lot of laughter out of it. How he would predict what the after a while of many of his predictions came true. Did you think he would crash too much? Well, after a while, I realized he was doing that to convince himself that he could do it.

And he did a very good job in convincing himself because he did it. What's the kind of sign? Stop them. Yes. Park. Here it is. You would consider the champion who outside of the ring, let us sort of cry, reflect their life, gain to lease, there's a life of solitude. When did you first hear Clay, when do you think of him and his personal style? Well, when I first saw Clay was on television, he was yelling to the top of his voice about what he was going to do to his opponent. I found this very, very funny in the beginning, but after a while, I began to dislike it because he said the meaning of things about his opponents and that's something that in boxing, I always thought, was I no, no, you never doubt another doubt of yourself. But as time went on, I realized that he was doing this in order to give himself more confidence, convincing himself that he could do it. And Clay, in my opinion, I felt was very, very intelligent because I watched him fight

once and he had predicted that he would knock the guy out in the foreground, excuse me, in six rounds. And then the guy had something to rock at her to say back and he said, well, because of that, I'm going to knock you out in four. Right after the fight, the fight went to distance. It was in the gut medicine square garden. They went to distance and right away, the TV jumped into the ring and put the mic in front of him and said, now you said you were going to knock him out in six, you failed. Then you said you were going to do it in four. What happened? He said, what's six and four? So what I'm trying to say, I was going to tell you that I got a big kick out of that. After a while, of course, we had differences as far as beliefs were concerned. And that's mainly why in the very beginning we weren't too friendly to what one another because well, he has his beliefs. I have mine. I respect his, as long as he respects mine and back then he didn't respect mine. That's the good idea. Mark it.

Okay. New fucking closer. Okay. Mr. Pastor, in 64, I had an article for the New York Times where you challenged Klee to fight. How did that come about where you challenged him and you challenged his belief of the Black Muslims? Well, first of all, call me for Lloyd, okay? Secondly, I didn't challenge him. I just expressed the way I felt about the things he believed and he expressed the way he felt about the things I believed. I only did this because of some of the derogatory things he was saying about my beliefs, which indicated to me he did not respect what I believed. So therefore, I was not going to respect his belief. You see, if you respect what I believe, I'll respect what you believe. If you don't show me the same courtesy, then I can't show it to you. Well, that's the way life is. Okay.

What was something that Klee was saying that you know, made you react to what I challenged you to fight? Well, some of the things he said was that, well, some of the things Klee said about me as going back when he was cashier slave, he called me a white man's champion. Now I always respected what he believes and I felt that he should respect my belief and the fact that I didn't see colors, he called me a white man's champion and I resented that. And so, you made a statement when was his reaction to your challenge? Well, he made a lot of derogatory things back then, but frankly, I don't even remember because they would go with one ear and out the other. See, those things don't stick with me. A lot of the things he said about me and I guess eventually we fought. Okay, let's go.

Parker? Well, let's take you back to this first fight you had with the cashier slave who, by the way, was the first time I guess with Muhammad Ali, where some of you had thoughts about that fight, do you remember about that fight? Well, frankly, I remember more about the second fight than the first fight. I prefer not to remember the first fight. However, I will tell you some of the things that happened in the fight. As you may know, I had a bad back then. In fact, there was a knot as big as my fist and back on my back because the blood could not get through my spinal cord. I was a state in an injury when I threw a left hook and I believe fell down. And when I got up, well, anyway, I took a very bad beating for many of several rounds. Finally, I was thinking about the 10th round I said to myself, I'm going to try to hit this guy at least one shot. So I tried to tie him his left jab because he throws a awful lot of jabs. As he was throwing the jab, I went across the right hand to catch him as the jab was coming back.

Now, there are many things that you can do to avoid a right hand. You can barb, leave. You can take a step to the side, left the right. You can move back. You can do several things. He did every one of them and every one of them do the right hand. So I said to myself, how do you hit this guy? Which led me to believe he was very, very fearful of getting hit. And the fact that he was so fearful of getting hit, he had a tremendous, very, very good defense. As he took no chances when it came to getting hit, then I realized why it was so difficult to hit him. Of course, the answer to the fight was all over. If you remember back then, how he co-cells said that he carried me during the fight. That's not true. He did not carry me. It's just that he was aggressive at times, but he was very fearful of getting hit. And anyone that's very fearful of getting hit, very rarely gets hit. Played never really got hit until he lost his legs. When he lost his legs, then he started taking a lot of punishment.

It's good. Great. Park it. Now, legend goes that when Clay was fighting, he kept saying, what's my name? What's my name? And at some point, you said, well, how am I going to wait? Now, tell me you're very nervous. That is not true. I mean, in terms of the fight. While we were fighting, Clay had said, maybe once or twice in the early rounds, maybe like in the third or fourth, what's my name? My reply was Caches. And finally, in the latter part of the fight, I'd say maybe around the night, 10th or 11th round, I was really taking the bad beating and suffering. He said, now what's my name? And my reply was, once or twice, I believed, I said the same thing. Caches Clay, and that's what is always going to be regardless of the results of this fight. Caches Clay. That's it. Okay. Stop down. Park it. Okay.

And 67, and Clay refused to be inducted into the armed services. What did you think of that stance that he took? Well, every man has his own rights to believe as he chose to believe, and I respect that. I could only speak for myself. I could not speak for, he has just laid because, well, he has his own mind. He has his own beliefs. If I was asked to go into the service, I could only tell you what I would have done. The fact that my next door neighbor lost her husband, Lady Crochet Street lost her son based on that alone I would have had to go. Okay. Save up here. Can I just give it to you? Yeah, but sometimes I'd like to have it with you anyway. Oh, I thought you... I mean, I need you to expound a little bit about my neighbor next door. Okay. Okay. Save up here. Can I just give it to you? Yeah. I need you to expound a little bit about my neighbor next door. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Parking. Two. Okay. Well, in 67, I refused to be inducted into the other services.

I mean, what was your reaction to it? What did you think? Well, I was a bit shocked in the beginning, but then I thought about it. When I refused to be inducted into the service, I was a bit shocked in the beginning, but as I thought about it, I respected his opinion. He had his own thoughts about it, and perhaps he was right. I don't know. But I can only tell you about myself. See. And that is, if I was asked to go into service back then, the fact that my next door neighbor, lost her son, the lady across the street, lost her husband, I would have had to go on guilt feelings alone. Okay. Boy, what did you think of the white Muslims at that time? Well, I'm not a racist in any way. I just like anyone who's prejudiced whether they be white or black.

See. So I don't see any colors. So as I said back then, I'll say again, you know, I think of you put all the, all the KKKs, along with the black Muslims, on an island somewhere. It would be a better world to live in. When, when, when, I'll leave the, Cassius Clay be suddenly listed. And then two days later, now say it was a black Muslim. What did you, what did you think of that? Well, back then, I didn't know what to say because I knew very little about the black Muslims. Back then, when Cassius Clay had said, when I found out that he was a black Muslim, that he had just joined the black Muslims, I didn't know that, that much about them. But it was then that I started listening to Malcolm X on television and then I learned what they were representing. And what did you think they were representing? Well, that's fairly obvious, you know. I mean, what did the Ku Klaklan represent?

Well, back then, I really didn't know that much about the black Muslims. It was not until he joined the black Muslims. And... I said, how are you going to say that? Well, back then, I really didn't know that much about the black Muslims. It was not until he joined the black Muslims. And... I said, how are you going to say Ku Klaklan? Oh, okay. Back then, I really didn't know that much about the black Muslims. But when I heard that Cassius Clay had joined them, I began to read about them, I began to listen to interviews on television, and Clay himself had an awful lot to say about it, not always really catch any interview with the heat, and made back then. But I guess it was through Clay and the black Muslims themselves that I learned more about them and what they believed in.

What did they do? Well, I naturally disagree, you know. As I said before, I do not see colors. To me, we're all brothers and sisters. And on Judgment Day, God will judge us, based on what we did for our brothers and sisters, not based on our color. You get to ask me what you want to say. As long as you say, you ask us, Clay, by the way, the pain that you were talking about. Okay. Marky. Before the first fight with you in Ku Klaklan, he had been saying a lot of things to the President. He's going to have you called by his Muslim name. Tell me a little bit about what he had been saying, and then the fight itself. Well, yes, he had... Keshav's play had said this over TV many times, and he had said it to the press at press conferences,

that he was going to beat me so bad he would have me. He was going to ask me... He's going to make me call him by the name he wanted to be called. And during the actual fight, he did say, during the early rounds, I believe he asked me once or twice, what's my name? And I said, Keshav's play, but I distinctly remember the lather rounds when I was taking the bad beating. He said, what's my name now? And my reply was, Keshav's play, and that's what it will always be. I'm 54 years old now, and it's still Keshav's play. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not being disrespectful. His mother and father, they still call him Keshav's play. I read it to his father several years ago, and he had said to me, I met you as soon as you placed, you remember who I am, so I looked at him and I said, well, I don't quite remember, but you'd look for me. He said, well, I'm Keshav's play's father,

so I said, oh, you still call him Keshav's play? He said, yeah. So, anyway, give me that to what I would say. Clay and I get along very well now. You know, I mean, I've seen him on several occasions. We talk, and we're friends. You know, all that's forgotten about. But he's still Keshav's play. I'm still the rabbit. He calls me the rabbit. Okay.