The stars aligned: Cassius Clay (not yet Muhammad Ali) and the Beatles (in Miami Beach in 1964) would soon ride a tsunami of fame. Harry Benson The Beatles were furious. They were standing in the ...

“I told ye’,” Cassius Clay cried to all of us who had laughed ... before he was to fight had been a press conference with the Beatles. They were all very much alike—sweet and gay.

Cassius Clay was a towering young braggart, but as much as he used his mouth, the real music was in his hands. In January of 1964 he hadn’t done much worth talking about yet in professional ...