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during and after a talk at Georgia Tech, that he had retired
from boxing, he would be back in action if he was able to clear
himself of the felony, and the sentence of five years in jail, plus
a fine of $10,000.
Efforts to translate Elijah's often contradictory statements in
his paper Muhammad Speaks, have not been successful. Just
why Elijah condoned Clay's boxing career before he got into
trouble with the draft, and now downgrades Cassius' plans to
return to the ring if freed of legal restraints, is mystifying.
A conversation with Clay over the telephone left the definite
impression that Cassius was thinking of putting on the gloves
again. Those were the days,
When the writer called Clay's home in Chicago from The my friend, when Cas-
Ring office, Cassius answered with the announcement, "This is sius and Elijah were
Muhammad Ali." buddy-buddy, so to
There was no effort to pay any attention to Elijah's suspen- speak. On the· right, ,
sion of Clay's right to call himself Muhammad Ali for a year, Muhammad appears
and relegation to Class F in the Black Muslim membership, as pleased by what he
a Muslim in disgrace. hears Clay say. Be-
"This is Muhammad Ali," Cassius shouted, with emphasis. low, Cassius sits on
"Am I thinking of going back into the ring? Right now I am the podium next to the
considering it. I don't know. I am not sure. Black Muslim leader.
"If my sentence is thrown out by the Federal court, on top
of the Supreme Court decision, I will make an announcement."
This certainly controverted the despatch from Atlanta which
had Clay going into immediate retirement.
If Cassius had backed up the Atlanta retirement story and left
him without any possible future in boxing, The Ring Magazine
would have been forced to announce its abandonment of Clay
as the heavyweight champion of the world.
However, Clay repudiated the retirement reports and left to
The Ring no option except to continue to support his title own-
ership, and his continuing right to due process of law.
The Ring feels that the Supreme Court decision, which sent
the Clay case back to the lower Federal court in Houston, served
to justify its insistence that Cassius deserved to be heard by the
nation's supreme tribunal, and merited a legal review of the
evidence as it was presented in Judge Joe Ingraham's court,
and in the Federal Court of Appeals, which upheld his sentence.
The fact that such evidence as was obtained by the FBI
through surreptitious means-telephone wire tapping and bug-
ging, possibly among these means-has been ruled out by the
Supreme Court leads Clay to believe that he may be found
not guilty.
In any event, the case now has returned to the Federal Court,

Clay sports a Black Muslim uniform during a past convention in
Chicago. Here he converses with some female members of the
group, known as the Sisters of Islam.

Clay takes a stroll
with his current wife,
1 the former Belinda
Boyd. The first · Mrs.
Clay, Sonji Roy, was
divorced by Cassius
because the Muslims
did not like her.