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of Clay. “Great fight, kid,” he says to the old and battered Mountain. “You were great.” The last striking sense of him that persists and stings comes from his daughter Khaliah. She was at Momma Bird’s funeral, and that night sat with her father. She was both sad and happy. For the first time, she had him alone. She thought of all they would talk about. But he just sat there for hours in the dark living room, saying nothing. She sat with him, wondering—what is he thinking? She said nothing. Over and over, he listened to the same song lyrics until dawn broke: “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, only darkness every day….”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

A large part of this book comes from my own observations, analysis, and long relationship with the principals of this story—Ali, Frazier, and the people who surrounded them. Writing about the ring then, unlike the marketing-driven coverage now, could be done on a highly personal basis. Writers could sit with fighters and their managers for long hours without interruption, leading to the kind of storytelling sessions that invariably added at least some view of the fighter’s inner world.

Very little in the way of preparatory reading has been done for this book; most of what is out there is first-and secondhand hero worship. However, a few books were especially rewarding. Black is Best, by old colleague Jack Olsen, catches the early Cassius Clay with a sharp reportorial eye and is certainly the finest book to have been done on Ali. Wilfred Sheed produced a keenly observed work back in 1975, Muhammad Ali, that also ranks as a piece of boxing literature. The autobiography written by Joe Frazier with Phil Berger was helpful in that it provided a sincere overview of Joe. But the same cannot be said for The Greatest, the autobiography of Ali done with the Muslim propagandist Richard Durham. It is a screed of misdirection and fantasy that, along with the film of the same title, is in part responsible for the Ali myth. Conversations with the late Tex Maule, Dick Russell, former S.I. colleague, were always enlightening, as were long talks over the years with Sugar Ray Robinson and Archie Moore. Sugar’s fine book with Dave Anderson was also quite helpful.

Acknowledgments are due a number of people, particularly my editor, David Hirshey, for his enthusiasm and close attention; my agent, Chris Calhoun of Sterling Lord Literistic; and Sunni Khalid, a student of the Nation of Islam. And, most heartfelt, to Anne Janette Johnson, for the generosity of her time in the preparation of the manuscript; and to my son, Mark, for his strong editorial hand and unlodgeable belief.

Copyright

GHOSTS OF MANILA. Copyright © 2001 by Mark Kram. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-195668-3

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication