MUHAMMAD ALI’S MANAGER HAS CONCERNS

April 2nd, 1964

Dear Cassius,

Or I guess I call you Muhammad now, right? That’s going to take a bit of getting used to!

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the name change and I completely respect your reasons for adopting it. (And don’t worry about all those t-shirts we had printed up that say 'Every Day is a Cassius Clay Day!', I’ll think of something to do with them).

While I’m completely behind the name alteration and everything it represents (give my best to Malcolm X when you see him, very interesting man), I thought I’d throw a few other name suggestions out there. Not that there’s anything wrong with Muhammad Ali, obviously. I'm sure all those fight fans and the American public in general are going to love it eventually. Your choice is perfect, there's no question about that, but maybe we could come up with something even more perfect? See if any of these alternative names takes your fancy:

M. Ali

Mike Ali

M. Anderson

Mike Anderson (My personal favourite)

Muhammad Anderson

Christian Ali

Muhammad Christian

Hans Christian Muhammad

Christophe Christian

Moses Ali

Peter Ali

Peter St. Paulson

Cassius X

Mike X

Mark X. Le Spot (My wife suggested that one)

Muhammad Clay (Split the difference)

Cassius Ali (Ditto, work it in gradually)

Ali Sesame (Kind of along the same lines, but the kids will love it)

Maxie Lougash (Got a real mysterious quality)

The Big Bopper (I think enough time has passed)

The Poet Who Don’t Know It

Muhammad O’Toole

Muscles O’Toole

Mustafa Knockout (See, it’s clever, like you)

Allah B. Dazed

The Unknown Boxer

The Marquis of Queensbury II

Sugar Muhammad Ali (Takes the edge off a bit)

Fistwell Pumpington (Just throwing a few things out there)

The Devout Pugilist

Muhammad Jefferson

Muhammad Washington

Washington Ali

George Washington Jr

Starsley A. Stripeson

Non-Threatening American III

The Greatest

The Grandest

The World’s Greatest Grandpa (Maybe with some make-up? Too gimmicky?)

Any of these take your fancy? If you did spot something on the list that suited, I can have a notary around to your place with all the paperwork in less than 15 minutes at any time of the day or night. Though, obviously, if you want to stick with the whole Muhammad Ali thing, I’m completely behind you. I'm sure it will look great on a marquee.

Your pal,

Frank (or maybe it should be Muhammad Finkelstein now! No, maybe not).