Ali was referring to Joe Frazier.
"Joe Frazier was the first to leave the ring... He was the winner. The
Champ... He had punched his dreams into shape. This was money in the
bank... Hadn't Ali himself proclaimed three months before this night:
'I'm the Resurrector. The man who beats me will be remembered like the
man who shot Liberty Valance.' Ali carried immortality in his hip
pocket... Ali watched Frazier leave."
(from "Ali: The Last Goodbye," by John Lahr)
I located the quote above by using Amazon.com's "Search Inside the
Book" feature. I used the keywords "ali," "liberty," and "valance."
The reference Ali made was an allusion to the film "The Man Who Shot
Liberty Valance," in which a man becomes famous for taking down a
notorious outlaw. A pop song, also entitled "The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance," became a hit shortly after the film was released in 1962.
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pinkfreud |
