125 pages • 4 hours read
James Patterson, Kwame AlexanderBecoming Muhammad Ali
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Round 9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Round 9, Introduction Summary
Lucky reflects that he might know Cassius better than he knows himself. He always knew his friend was destined for greatness. He and Rudy both witnessed his dedication to the sport, practicing with him each day. Lucky also saw how tired Cassius was between his job cleaning the Nazareth College library and boxing. One night, he was so tired that he fell asleep in the library. Now there is a marker there that says, “Cassius slept here” (254).
As Cassius prepared for the Golden Gloves in Chicago, he never let himself be kept down. It’s a lesson that Lucky still thinks about and has applied to his dreams of being a writer.
Lucky remembers that when Cassius graduated from Central High School, it was the source of some debate because he’d technically failed English. However, his principal advocated for him, knowing that Cassius would go on to do great things. His English teacher then opted to require a final oral presentation from him rather than a paper, and Cassius passed. At graduation, he received a standing ovation. Lucky adds that he “was always a good son, a good brother, a good friend” (255).
Lucky says that later, when asked what he wanted to be remembered for, Cassius said that he’d like to be seen as a mix of love and positive feelings.
Lucky says that he’ll never forget that night, the “night everything really began. The night it all got real” (256).
Round 9, Poem 118 Summary: “At Central High School”
Cassius explains the reasons that he was often sent to the principal’s office: for talking while his teacher was reading Invisible Man, for having onions and garlic in his pocket, for asking why devil’s food cake is brown but angel food cake is white, among others.
Ultimately, he says that he was sent “for not wanting / to be / invisible” (258).
Round 9, Poem 119 Summary: “The Principal”
The principal, Mr. Wilson, tells Cassius that he believes in him and that he can be a boxing champion. However, he adds, Cassius must focus on school. He then starts reading from Invisible Man or whatever they are reading in English class. Cassius listens.
Round 9, Poem 120 Summary: “Talking Trash”
Cassius trash-talks with someone else training for the 1959 National Golden Gloves. The other boxer is complaining about the heat, but Cassius says that his fists are hotter, unafraid of the larger athlete.
When Cassius compares him to King Kong, calling him “ugly,” everyone laughs, and the other boxer comes over in anger but is stopped by a trainer. Cassius is still unafraid and is willing to fight him.
Round 9, Poem 121 Summary: “After Winning”
Cassius wins his second Louisville tournament trophy, and Joe Martin tells him that he’s ready to go to Chicago again. He is keeping his fists up more, and his punches are quick. To make sure he gets some physical rest, Martin sends him to the YMCA to watch films of great boxers and study their movements, telling him, “Cassius, immature boxers imitate, / mature boxers steal” (266).
Round 9, Poem 122 Summary: “Jack Johnson vs. Tommy Burns”
On December 26, 1908, John Arthur “Jack” Johnson fought Tommy Burns. Their fight was the culmination of a two-year saga in which Johnson tried to convince Burns to fight him. The two men went 14 rounds. Johnson would taunt Burns at the start of each round and then hit him with a quick set of punches at the end.
The fight didn’t make it to round 15 because Johnson hit Burns so hard that the police turned off the camera, hurrying into the ring to stop the fight. There is no film of Johnson when he was declared the first Black heavyweight champion of the world.
Round 9, Poem 123 Summary: “The Brown Bomber”
Granddaddy Herman and Cash argued over everything, Cassius recounts in his poem, but they always agreed on the best heavyweight boxer in history: Joe Louis Barrow, aka the “Brown Bomber.”
Joe Louis was from Detroit and was subtle, “wasn’t flash / stayed pretty quiet / in and out / of the ring” (270). He jabbed quickly and made sure to use combinations to win fights. Even though he could probably knock out all his opponents with one punch, he hit them with a barrage. That is, until he encountered the Brockton Bomber.
Round 9, Poem 124 Summary: “Joe Louis vs. Rocky Marciano”
On October 26, 1951, Joe Louis faced Rocky Marciano, who was four inches shorter than he was. Marciano was an up-and-coming fighter, and their match was hard to watch. Even Cassius only watched it once because he didn’t want to have to see his hero age, get slower, and eventually lose his title.
The fight lasted eight rounds, until Marciano hit Louis three times for a knockout. It was Joe Louis’s last fight and likely the most important of Marciano’s career, despite having fought and won 48 other matches.
Round 9, Poem 125 Summary: “Sweet as Sugar”
While Cassius waits to watch film at the YMCA, Lucky reads from a biography of Walker Smith Jr. Smith would go on to change his name and become Sugar Ray Robinson.
They watch the tape of Sugar Ray. He moves swiftly around the ring. His left hook knocks out several boxers, often finishing matches before the end of the first round. Cassius stands up to replicate Ray’s movements.
Round 9, Poem 126 Summary: “Bon Voyage”
Bird throws Cassius a party as he prepares to leave for Chicago again. However, he and his friends aren’t allowed to eat until his family members do. When Cassius goes out to help his father bring desserts in, he runs into Teenie Clark.
Round 9, Poem 127 Summary: “Conversation with Teenie”
Teenie tells Cassius that she’s there looking for him and that she came to say good luck. He thanks her, but she asks why he’s behaving strangely. When he denies it, she asks about the rabbit’s foot she gave him. He tells her that he still has it but also that he doesn’t need luck.
Cassius inquires about her new school, and she says it’s alright, but the white boys are dumb “[a]nd sometimes mean / Integration is not so nice” (280). When he mentions that the Supreme Court seems to think that integration will solve everyone’s problems, she adds that going to school with white boys may just cause more.
Eventually, at her insistence, Cassius invites Teenie in for the party.
Round 9, Poem 128 Summary: “Golden Gloves Party Menu”
Cassius recounts the food served at the party: meatloaf, cornbread dressing, fried chicken, casserole, strawberry ice cream, sweet tea, and much more.
Round 9, Poem 129 Summary: “Momma Bird’s Prayer”
Cassius’s mother opens the party with a prayer over the food. She prays for Cassius and for his dreams to come true. As she asks that Cassius remember where he came from, Cash interrupts, ending the prayer.
Round 9, Poem 130 Summary: “After Dinner”
Cassius notes that his father is drinking and Lucky is reading. Riney and Teenie eat cake, while Rudy recovers from a stomachache. Bird tells Cassius to thank his visitors, and he proceeds to do a magic trick.
Round 9, Poem 131 Summary: “Pick a Card”
Cassius has Riney pick a card and put it back into the deck. As he shuffles, he tells the story of their friends who got stuck in the snow until Cassius heard their yelling and rescued them.
He places one card face down. He tells Riney to flip it over.
Round 9, Poem 132 Summary: “How’d You Do That?”
Riney wonders how Cassius did his card trick; others speculate how he may have done it. In his poem, he explains that he used misdirection, getting his audience to believe in him even before the trick. The story about the friends in the snow was part of the misdirection.
Teenie comes out, and everyone starts to leave, including Teenie and Riney together. They wish him luck.
Round 9, Poem 133 Summary: “The Night Before”
Cassius goes for a run the night before he leaves for Chicago and the 1959 Golden Gloves tournament. He shadowboxes and imagines the future. On his way home, he runs through Bellarmine College and then stops at Greenwood Cemetery.
Round 9, Poem 134 Summary: “Amen. Amen. Amen.”
Cassius stops at Granddaddy Herman’s grave, and he addresses the poem to him. He says that his grandfather has helped him know who and whose he is, as well as where he is going. He thanks him and says, “I love you” (292).
Round 9, Poem 135 Summary: “The Day Of”
On the day of the tournament, Cassius gets dressed, pulling on his white Everlast shorts and black boxing shoes. He walks into the Chicago Stadium “holding my history / in one hand / and my cool / in the other” (293).
Round 9, Poem 136 Summary: “Cassius Clay vs. Tony Madigan”
On March 25, 1959, Cassius faces Tony Madigan, an Australian boxer. Madigan doesn’t respond to Cassius’s jabs at first, but by the third round, Cassius sees him tiring, slowing after having to chase Cassius around the ring. This realization makes Cassius throw harder hits and move quicker. He trash-talks the whole time and hits Madigan with an intense uppercut.
Cassius explains that Tony Madigan “didn’t stand a chance” because Cassius had so many people he was fighting for, from his family to his tutor to Corky Butler to his children and grandchildren.
Round 9 Analysis
In this section, the novel comes full circle by returning to the Golden Glove tournament, exactly one year from the 1958 tournament described at the beginning of Round 1. Cassius’s entire focus in this section is on preparing for the championship, and by winning it, he sets himself on the trajectory to become the greatest boxer in the world.
Cassius spends a lot of time thinking about who he is and where he came from in this section. His principal even reminds him that “[y]ou know, a lot of people sacrificed for you to be exceptional, Cassius,” reminding him to be humble and placing his present and future in the context of his past. Odessa echoes Granddaddy Herman’s earlier words in her prayer, emphasizing, “In this room full of angels, / remember whose you are, Cassius Clay. / Hold fast! / Together, we can dream a new world. / United we stand, / divided we fall—” (283). Her prayer, set in italics, takes on a sermon-like quality, reminding Cassius of all that he does for his community and what his advancement as a boxer can do for that community.
Likewise, Cassius pays a crucial visit to his grandfather’s grave, where makes a “visit with / my past” (291). The poem in which he describes Granddaddy Herman’s grave is entitled “Amen. Amen. Amen.”—an exact quote from the end of Granddaddy Herman’s sermon in Poem 25 (292). Instead of being told to remember who he is, whose he is, and where he comes from, Cassius uses “I” to say, “I know who I am / I know whose I am and / I know where I’m going” (292). This use of the first person demonstrates that Cassius has reached the peak of his character development. No one needs to remind him anymore; he has reached self-actualization. Cassius’s ability to successfully complete the card trick is another symbol of this self-actualization. Whereas he struggled to learn it earlier, he now connects it to boxing through the use of misdirection.
By watching film of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Jack Johnson, Cassius traces a genealogy of successful Black boxers, learning about where he came from as a boxer and in whose footsteps he is going to follow when he becomes heavyweight champion of the world. He recognizes that he is following in this lineage when he points out that “Granddaddy Herman / and Papa Cash / used to argue / […] / […] but / the one thing / they never disagreed on / was the best / heavyweight boxer / in history” (270). Black history has often been purposely not recorded and preserved, as when Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns and the police rushed the ring, turning off the camera “all so no one ever got to see” a Black boxer take the title.
This “invisibility” of successful Black athletes in history connects to the theme of Becoming the Greatest and Overcoming Oppression. When Cassius is sent to the principal’s office, he identifies one of the main reasons behind being sent as “not wanting / to be / invisible,” right at the time that his class is reading Invisible Man, a novel about the way people of color are not truly seen by their oppressors (258). Cassius wants to be seen, and he wants to be seen as the best boxer in the world. He is willing to prove again and again that he is the greatest so that it is recorded and remembered.
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