One Night In Miami 🥊

February 25,1964 -- the day Cassius Clay met Sonny Liston in the ring for the first time. As the formidable heavyweight champ, Liston was pretty much unbeatable. 👊🏾

The younger Clay, a quick talking, fast moving loudmouth, was up for the challenge. Not really seen as a ‘heavyweight’, and unliked by the media, the odds were against him 7-1. But injuries, age, overconfidence, and an apparent diet of hot dogs and beer, made Liston off his game. 🌭🍺 Clay’s taunts only added to the drama. Purchasing a bus, with “Liston Must Go In Eight” written on it -- he drove it all over town. 🚌 In further trying to unsettle Liston, Clay said he would build himself a pretty house and use Liston as a bearskin rug, as he even smelled like a bear. 🐻 And that after he won he would give Liston to the local zoo. Training harder than ever, at what is normally a boring weigh-in, Clay wore a jean jacket with Bear Huntin’ on the back, becoming so animated when he saw Liston that it looked like he was having a seizure. 😳 His appearance as an unstable hot mess likely added to Liston’s confidence.☝🏽

As the fight began, it was evident Liston had met his match. Clay appeared agile, Liston awkward. And in between rounds it is said that Clay opened his mouth in the gesture of yawning. 👀 As we know, in the end, he won -- and becoming “the Champ”, he indeed made history. 👏🏽 Hanging afterwards at a Miami hotel with friend Malcolm X, Golden Globe nominated One Night In Miami is about this very party. Less about the actual fight and more about how we choose to leave our mark on the world, the film is heavy on dialogue, but also on meaning. Clay’s subsequent announcement that he was joining the Nation of Islam -- as Cassius X, and then Muhammed Ali -- came the next day.

We live many lives. We follow our dreams, searching for meaning -- hoping to be remembered for many different things. 🙏🏽 We may not all be boxing champions, but we are all certainly champions at something. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Maybe it’s the way we love those we love. Or how we make people feel. Who we inspire. Albeit cocky, loud, and self-assured, none can dispute Ali’s inspired greatness. He said our hands can't hit what our eyes cannot see. And so, we aim for that version of personal greatness that we indeed can see. 🥊

In searching for that greatness, we “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” 🦋 🐝

What is your legacy? What will you be remembered for? 🤔