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Doc Airing On HBO Tonight Features 14 Appearances By Muhammad Ali On ‘The Dick Cavett Show,’ Current Commentary By Cavett, Sports And Civil Rights Experts

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Between 1968 and 1979, boxing superstar Muhammad Ali appeared on The Dick Cavett Show on television 14 times, with natural charisma, quick wit and playful pugnacity, a perfect foil for the sophisticated broadcast host. Whether discussing his prowess in the ring, the status of race relations in America, or his controversial decision to refuse induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Ali was an entertaining and provocative guest.

A documentary on these appearances, “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes,” debuts tonight on HBO, interweaving clips from the show with new insights from Cavett and commentary from authors, sports commentators and civil rights activists.

The world first heard of Muhammad Ali, then known by his birth name, Cassius Clay, when he won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics as an 18-year-old boxing prodigy; he used his fame to bring America’s attention to racial, religious and political injustice.

On The Dick Cavett Show, Ali found a willing sparring partner in its host. In a jocular manner, Ali discussed matters that were usually off-limits on other talk shows.

“He would say things to Cavett about whites that you’d hear on the street corners of Harlem,” remarked civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton. “They seemed to go to the edge of the racial debate in the country.”

In 1967, citing religious and moral objections, Ali refused to serve in the Vietnam War and was convicted and stripped of his heavyweight title. Facing years in prison, he appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, where his conviction was overturned, but, by that point, Ali had been unable to fight professionally for three years.

During this time, he appeared frequently on Cavett’s show, engaging in conversations about his identity, political and religious views and social issues.

“There was a period in my life when I felt that Muhammad Ali was my best friend,” says Cavett, who praises Ali’s ability to bridge cultural and racial divides, and in an interview yesterday called their relationship “one of the early bromances.”

When Ali returned to fighting in 1970, win or lose, he was always welcomed back by Cavett.

“You are really my main man, because this is the only show that invites me right after I get whipped,” Ali joked about his jaw broken from a clash with Ken Norton.

Cavett said his most memorable program with Ali also featured Joe Frazier, when the two boxers famously lifted the slight host up in the air.

“A fight nearly broke out a couple of times in the studio. There were some very tense moments,” Cavett said.

Frazier, Cavett added, “was a wonderful boxer and man. Ali eclipsed him.” And he described Ali as a “dazzling personality. Nobody tries to argue seriously that there was ever a greater athlete or boxer.”

In addition to Sharpton, those interviewed in the documentary include Larry Merchant, sportswriter and commentator for HBO World Championship Boxing; Ali biographer Thomas Hauser; columnist Juan Williams; and author Ilyasah Shabazz. Archival interview subjects from The Dick Cavett Show include Ali’s former trainer Angelo Dundee and boxing champions Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Frazier.

The documentary also acts as a window on today, exploring how Ali came to symbolize something greater than boxing. By the time he carried the Olympic torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, his hand trembling from Parkinson’s disease, Ali’s legacy was immortalized as a beacon of equality and political conviction, a true champion whose impact on the civil rights movement and the world rivals his boxing victories.

The documentary will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO and partners’ streaming platforms.