African-American & Black, Boxing, African-American Studies 

Muhammad Ali is an ambassador to the world, consistently being acclaimed everywhere as Sportsman of the Century. What few people realise, all these years later, is that the legend first took shape in those early years of 1961-1964 in Miami, where he trained with the celebrated Angelo Dundee. It was here that the young Cassius Clay honed his boxing as well as his self-promotional skills, transforming himself into the boxer who spun hilarious doggerel about his opponents and himself, top become both champion and legend. This book is a beautiful and faithful record of that transformation. With over 80 stunning photographs, taken during three extended sessions in the early 1960s, this book captures the young Cassius Clay in tender, almost intimate settings - that would never be duplicated once the spotlights focused on the young boxer - to reveal a personality of extraordinary confidence and charisma.