Eig is also working with filmmaker Ken Burns on a four-part documentary on Ali.
The afternoon sun flashes off the cars chrome bumpers.
Cassius Clay gets out.
Credit: Stanley Weston/Getty Images
Hes dressed in a custom-made denim jacket and swinging a dandyish walking stick.
He checks to see if anyone has noticed him.
He shouts, Im the biggest thing in history!
![ALI_cvr_spine.jpg[1]](https://ew.com/thmb/6e5Ik5J_u0MrXAT7j2MwICZO2bY=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29:max_bytes%28150000%29:strip_icc%28%29:format%28webp%29/ali_cvr_spine1-2000-17bb2abdcf2c4fdbad9115bddf21d53b.jpg)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Clay is tall and stunningly handsome, with an irresistible smile.
Hes a force of gravity, quickly pulling people into his orbit.
Cars on Collins Avenue stop.
Women lean out of hotel windows and shout his name.
Float like a butterfly!
Sting like a bee!
Rumble, young man, rumble!
He throws a left jab that stops inches short of the camera.
Im pretty and move as fast as lightning, he says in his sweet Kentucky accent.
Im just twenty-two and Im gonna make a million dollars!
Excerpted from ALI: A Life by Jonathan Eig.
Copyright 2017 by Jonathan Eig.
Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
