Editing Muhammad Ali (section)

====Main Bout====
[[File:Muhammad Ali 1966.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Ali watches replay of his March 1966 title fight against [[Henry Cooper]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Boxing – Muhammad Ali – Rank Cinema, Wardour Street, London |date=August 16, 2017 |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muhammad-ali-points-to-the-cut-eye-sequence-when-he-again-news-photo/833299780 |publisher=GettyImages |access-date=December 11, 2020 |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826144858/https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muhammad-ali-points-to-the-cut-eye-sequence-when-he-again-news-photo/833299780 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
After the Patterson fight, Ali founded his own promotion company, [[Main Bout, Inc.|Main Bout]]. The company mainly handled Ali's boxing promotions and [[pay-per-view]] [[closed-circuit television]] broadcasts. The company's stockholders were mainly fellow Nation of Islam members, along with several others, including [[Bob Arum]].<ref name="Ezra105">{{cite book |last=Ezra |first=Michael |title=The Economic Civil Rights Movement: African Americans and the Struggle for Economic Power |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-136-27475-6 |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DL41bsCigZcC&pg=PA105 |access-date=July 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031223028/https://books.google.com/books?id=DL41bsCigZcC&pg=PA105#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ali and then-[[World Boxing Association|WBA]] heavyweight champion boxer [[Ernie Terrell]] had agreed to meet for a bout in Chicago on March 29, 1966 (the WBA, one of two boxing associations, had stripped Ali of his title following his joining the Nation of Islam). But in February Ali was reclassified by the Louisville draft board as 1-A from 1-Y, and he indicated that he would refuse to serve, commenting to the press, "I ain't got nothing against no [[Viet Cong]]; no Viet Cong never called me [[nigger]].",<ref>{{cite news |last=Shalit |first=Nevin I. |title=Muhammad Ali: Losing the Real Title |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/7/15/muhammad-ali-losing-the-real-title/ |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson |date=July 15, 1980 |access-date=August 19, 2015 |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904070931/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/7/15/muhammad-ali-losing-the-real-title/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although the second part is probably apocryphal.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fatsis |first=Stefan |date=June 8, 2016 |title="No Viet Cong Ever Called Me Nigger" |language=en-US |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/culture/2016/06/did-muhammad-ali-ever-say-no-viet-cong-ever-called-me-nigger.html |access-date=March 24, 2023 |issn=1091-2339 |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322215644/https://slate.com/culture/2016/06/did-muhammad-ali-ever-say-no-viet-cong-ever-called-me-nigger.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Amidst the media and public outcry over Ali's stance, the Illinois Athletic Commission refused to sanction the fight, citing technicalities.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |title=He Could Go To Jail And Still Be Champ |date=August 28, 1967 |first1=Angelo |last1=Dundee |first2=Tex |last2=Maule}}</ref>

Instead, Ali traveled to Canada and Europe and won championship bouts against [[George Chuvalo]], [[Henry Cooper]], [[Brian London]], and [[Karl Mildenberger]].

Ali returned to the United States to fight [[Cleveland Williams]] at the [[Astrodome]] in [[Houston]] on November 14, 1966. The bout drew a record-breaking indoor crowd of 35,460 people. Williams had once been considered among the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division, but in 1964 he had been shot at point-blank range by a Texas policeman, resulting in the loss of one kidney and {{convert|10|ft|m|disp=flip}} of his small intestine. Ali dominated Williams, winning a third-round technical knockout in what some consider the finest performance of his career.

Ali fought Terrell in Houston on February 6, 1967. Terrell, who was unbeaten in five years and had defeated many of the boxers Ali had faced, was billed as Ali's toughest opponent since Liston; he was big, strong and had a three-inch reach advantage over Ali. During the lead up to the bout, Terrell repeatedly called Ali "Clay", much to Ali's annoyance. The two almost came to blows over the name issue in a pre-fight interview with Howard Cosell. Ali seemed intent on humiliating Terrell. "I want to torture him", he said. "A clean knockout is too good for him."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Tex |last=Maule |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1079523/1/index.htm |title=Cruel Ali With All The Skills |date=February 13, 1967 |magazine=Sports Illustrated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309201457/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1079523/1/index.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2013}}</ref> The fight was close until the seventh round, when Ali bloodied Terrell and almost knocked him out. In the eighth round, Ali taunted Terrell, hitting him with jabs and shouting between punches, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... what's my name?" Ali won a unanimous 15-round decision. Terrell claimed that early in the fight Ali deliberately thumbed him in the eye, forcing him to fight half-blind, and then, in a clinch, rubbed the wounded eye against the ropes. Because of Ali's apparent intent to prolong the fight to inflict maximum punishment, critics described the bout as "one of the ugliest boxing fights". [[Tex Maule]] later wrote: "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty." Ali denied the accusations of cruelty but, for Ali's critics, the fight provided more evidence of his arrogance.

After Ali's title defense against [[Zora Folley]] on March 22, he was stripped of his title due to his refusal to be drafted to army service.<ref name="greatath" /> His boxing license was also suspended by the state of New York. He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20 and sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He paid a bond and remained free while the verdict was being appealed.