HBO's Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes looks back at Muhammad Ali's 14 appearances on The Dick Cavett Show

The Undefeated

Ali's interviews with Cavett were special, not only because they touched issues of the day like the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, but because the heavyweight champion would visit to chat even after he lost in the ring -- and describe why he lost. "It was hard not to like him the first year I met him. His great charm, humor, and everything he had," says Cavett, now 83. "But I noticed as he came on two, three, and four times that we — I don’t know what the word for it is — but each time I saw him he seemed to get on a little better and I realized that we were becoming friends. A lot of my guests were pleasant and fun, but he was extraordinarily so. And we became buddies, which is hard to say when you’re not the three-time heavyweight champion of the world and he is."