Sydney Poitier. Diana Ross. Bill Cosby. Hank Aaron.
These are only a handful of the many celebrities who, along with hundreds of socialites, journalists and civil rights leaders, entered the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium (now Georgia State University’s Dahlberg Hall) on Oct. 26, 1970, for what would become the comeback fight for then-disgraced boxer Muhammad Ali. It was Ali’s return to the ring after being banned from the sport for more than three years for refusing to join the military and for his opposition to the Vietnam War.
And while the historic fight with Jerry Quarry would help revitalize Ali’s career and spotlight Atlanta as a “Black Mecca,” it also ushered in one of the most brazen, if not most obscure, heists in the nation’s history.
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