About the Book
Return of the King tells the story of Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring in 1970, after a more than three-year suspension for refusing his draft notice as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. With Ali’s career still in doubt, he found new support in shifting public opinion about the war and in Atlanta, a city still governed by white supremacy, but a white supremacy decidedly different from that of its neighbor cities in the Deep South.
Atlanta had been courting and landing professional sports teams in football, basketball, and baseball since the end of 1968. An influential state politician, Leroy Johnson, Georgia’s first Black state senator since Reconstruction, was determined to help Ali return after his exile. The state had no boxing commission to prevent Ali from fighting there, so Johnson made it his mission for Ali to make a comeback in Georgia. Ali’s opponent would be Jerry Quarry, the top heavyweight contender and, more important, a white man who had spoken out against Ali’s objection to the war.
In Return of the King, Thomas Aiello examines the history of Muhammad Ali, Leroy Johnson, and the city of Atlanta, while highlighting an important fight of Ali’s that changed the trajectory of his career. Although the fight between Ali and Quarry lasted only three rounds, those nine minutes changed boxing forever and were crucial to both the growth of Atlanta and the rebirth of Ali’s boxing career.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
1. Class, Race, and the Rise of Leroy Johnson in Atlanta, 1895-1968
2. Black Power, Black Sport, and the Fall of Muhammad Ali, 1942-1968
3. Growing Pains, 1969
4. The Politics of Race (and Boxing), January to July, 1970
5. The Politics of Boxing (and Race), August-September, 1970
6. Return of the King, October 1970
7. After October, 1970-1996
Bibliography
About the Author :
Thomas Aiello is a professor of history and Africana studies at Valdosta State University. He is the author of White Ice: Race and the Making of Atlanta Hockey and Dixieball: Race and Professional Basketball in the Deep South, 1947–1979.
Review :
“Return of the King is a compelling social history, a story that moves nimbly and lands its punches with power. Thomas Aiello has written an important and original work exploring Muhammad Ali’s comeback and the making of modern Atlanta.”-Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life “You don’t need to be a boxing fan to love Thomas Aiello’s powerful and evocative portrayal of how Black Atlanta enabled Muhammad Ali’s career-defining comeback.”-David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference “Return of the King is essential reading for anyone interested in Muhammad Ali and boxing as transcendent figure and institution respectively. Aiello frames his treatment of the 1970 fight between Jerry Quarry and Ali, in the racial politics of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and the nation. After reading this book no one can ever see Atlanta as ‘the city too busy to hate.’ This study is sports history at its best and reveals that when properly contextualized and theorized the discipline is invaluable to a clearer and more accurate understanding of the past.”-Jeffrey T. Sammons, author of Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society “Both local and national in scope, Return of the King is a fascinating account of the Ali-Quarry fight. It offers a fresh look at the political culture of Atlanta through the prism of Leroy Johnson’s story and a closer focus on one of the most underappreciated periods of Ali’s career. This is an early contender for the best sports history books of 2025.”-Clayton Trutor, author of Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta-and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports “Thomas Aiello’s book is an exciting and detailed account of Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring after three and a half years in exile, with a special focus on how Atlanta, with its sophisticated Black politicians like State Senator Leroy Johnson, was able to overcome racist opposition to present the bout against white hope Jerry Quarry in the heart of the Deep South.”-Lewis A. Erenberg, author of The Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on the Global Stage “Contrary to the beloved figure he would become years later, the Muhammad Ali of 1970 was a man under siege. Stripped of the heavyweight championship and exiled from the ring for 3½ years for evading the draft during the Vietnam War, he was hated by a large segment of white America for his perceived uppity attitude and his affiliation with the Black separatist Nation of Islam. Improbably, Atlanta stepped forward to provide him with a venue to launch his comeback in an event that would prove pivotal both for Ali and the city itself. In his thoroughly researched book, Return of the King, Thomas Aiello offers up an erudite study of that long ago encounter that is a welcome addition to the Ali canon.”-Mark Kram Jr., author of Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier “In Return of the King Thomas Aiello deftly reconstructs Muhammad Ali’s boxing comeback after being exiled for refusing to serve in the United States military at the height of the Vietnam War. Aiello offers a compelling narrative that reveals why Ali's return could only have occurred in Atlanta, the Black mecca of the American South. This is the origin story of Ali’s second act: when the self-proclaimed King of the World found redemption in the ring, emerging as a triumphant symbol of Black Power.”-Johnny Smith, coauthor of Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X “Thomas Aiello rivetingly chronicles the powerful convergence of culture and politics, time and place, for cultural icon Muhammad Ali and Black powerbroker Leroy Johnson during a decisive moment in Atlanta. Anyone interested in exploring the possibilities and limitations of Black Power politics will admire Return of the King.”-Winston A. Grady-Willis, author of Challenging U.S. Apartheid: Atlanta and Black Struggles for Human Rights, 1960–1977
