Editing Muhammad Ali (section)

====Chamberlain challenge and Ellis fight====
{{Main|Muhammad Ali vs. Jimmy Ellis}}
In 1971, basketball star [[Wilt Chamberlain]] challenged Ali to a fight, and a bout was scheduled for July 26. Although the seven-foot-one-inch-tall Chamberlain had formidable physical advantages over Ali—weighing 60{{nbsp}}pounds more and able to reach 14{{nbsp}}inches further—Ali was able to influence Chamberlain into calling off the bout by taunting him with calls of "Timber!" and "The tree will fall" during a shared interview. These statements of confidence unsettled his taller opponent, whom [[Los Angeles Lakers]] owner [[Jack Kent Cooke]] had offered a record-setting contract, conditional on Chamberlain agreeing to abandon what Cooke termed "this boxing foolishness",<ref>{{cite news |title=Ali's Remark Ended Wilt's Ring Career |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-15-sp-979-story.html |at=Morning Briefing |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 15, 1989 |access-date=February 20, 2020 |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603030813/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-01-15/sports/sp-979_1_wilt-s-ring-career |url-status=live }}</ref> and he did exactly that.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terry |title=Achilles Heel Advertising: Repositioning the Competition |url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/achilles-heel-advertising-repositioning-the-competition-1.3473631 |access-date=August 30, 2018 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=March 3, 2016 |archive-date=March 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328021008/http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/achilles-heel-advertising-repositioning-the-competition-1.3473631 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Meanwhile, on June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court overturned Ali's draft evasion conviction. To replace Ali's opponent, promoter [[Bob Arum]] quickly booked a former sparring partner of Ali's, [[Jimmy Ellis (boxer)|Jimmy Ellis]], who was a childhood friend from [[Louisville, Kentucky]], to fight him. Ali won the bout through a technical knockout when the referee stopped the fight in the twelfth round.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/27/archives/victor-at-220-12-in-command-of-houston-bout-ali-stops-ellis-using.html |title=Victor, at 220½, in Command of Houston Bout |work=The New York Times |date=July 27, 1971 |access-date=May 18, 2022 |archive-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517044730/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/27/archives/victor-at-220-12-in-command-of-houston-bout-ali-stops-ellis-using.html |url-status=live }}</ref>