The occasion of his visit in 1970 was to end his exile from boxing in the first professional fight after being stripped of his titles for failure to accept induction into the armed forces during the Vietnam Conflict. As one of the first public figures to denounce the war, he was quoted as saying, "I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong."

His stance would lead to a protracted legal battle lasting 4 years and after refusing to accept a lower courts decision to convict him of draft evasion, the matter had been placed before the U.S. Supreme Court for final dissolution. In spite of his recognized status as a minister of the Black Muslim faith, Ali was ordered to take the oath for service in the U.S. Army. When he refused, he was arrested and charged with draft evasion. While out on bond and with his case under appeal to the Supreme Court, he earned a living speaking at colleges across the country voicing opposition to the War.

The sports world had turned its back on him leaving only one national commentator to embrace him publicly- Howard Cosell. Even black supporters denounced Ali saying he should have followed the precedence set by Joe Louis and accepted induction into the Army.

During this time of expulsion, an Atlanta attorney and member of the Georgia State Senate, Leroy Johnson discovered a loophole in the law that would allow Ali to fight as long as it was not for a championship and as long as it was at a venue acceptable to the boxing commissioners.

Every state cancelled Ali's boxing license with his first conviction for draft evasion. Since Georgia had never issued a professional boxing license, Senator Johnson found a way to get the authorization for Ali to fight signed by Governor Lester Maddox. Maddox, an avowed racist, had gained the national spotlight as a segregationist refusing to seat blacks at his Pickrick restaurant, in defiance of the newly passed Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Newspaper advertisements for his Atlanta restaurant always included a phrase, "Segregated at no extra charge!" and axe handles were on sale near the checkout counter, further symbolizing his stance against integration. Maddox made national news-photographed brandishing a handgun ushering blacks off his parking lot in the shadow of the Georgia Tech campus, while his cronies menaced and threatened them with his axe handles.

During the 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. funeral ceremonies, Governor Maddox had surrounded the state capitol building with Georgia State patrolmen and issued a "shoot to kill order" should any violence break out when countless thousands from all around the world ascended on Atlanta to mourn the fallen Nobel Prize Winner.

It was the governor that Senator Leroy Johnson had to convince to issue authority for Muhammad Ali to enter the ring again-in Georgia. Johnson was successful in literally tricking the governor to sign the authorization and the fight was scheduled for October 26, 1970 at Atlanta's Municipal Auditorium between Jerry Quarry and the returning former heavyweight champion of the world.

A week prior to the fight, Ali and his entourage checked into the pride of the "New South," The Hyatt Regency Hotel (then named the Hyatt Regency House). The town was "abuzz" with excitement and crowds gathered in the hotel lobby to catch a glimpse of "the champ."

Hustlers and pimps with their female escorts from Chicago, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and points west came to the city in droves, driving customized Cadillacs and wearing peacock inspired fashion, bedecked with flashy jewelry and dangling furs. It was an electric carnival atmosphere never before witnessed in the Deep South. On fight night many of these flashy personalities would find themselves victimized and fleeced at the notorious party hosted by "Chicken Man."

Within a day of their arrival, the Ali entourage was encouraged to make other housing arrangements. Death threats had been issued and the Regency had been placed on a high security alert from bomb threats. Determined to make the fight happen, Leroy Johnson arranged for the Ali camp to move to his private lake house in remote Fulton County. To provide protection, police guards were placed on the wooded lake property. In 1970, the City of Atlanta Police Department was a factious organization controlled by the all white Fraternal Order of Police.

There were no ranking black police officers on the force at the time. According to the account given in Muhammad Ali's book, The Greatest: My Own Story [Random House Publishing, 1975], the night before the fight, he came face-to-face with death outside the ring. Ali was accustomed to death threats and several years before had witnessed his apartment set ablaze on the same day Malcolm X was assassinated. However, he and his group had been lulled into a false since of security at the remote Johnson cabin.

Just after dark, Drew "Bundini" Brown, Ali's ring man and companion since 1963, looked out of the windows to see why the outside lights had gone out. Peering into the darkness, he discovered the police were gone. Someone else checked the phone and it was dead. Soon thereafter they were under siege and the cabin became riddled with bullets. Ali credits Bundini with throwing him to the floor and protecting him with a mattress from a bed.

Determined to make the fight after the failed attempt to kill Ali, the group moved to the basement of the Municipal Auditorium to wait until fight time. Located only blocks from the central police station, and downtown, the auditorium presented somewhat more security.

The fight ended in the 3rd round with Ali scoring a technical knockout over Jerry Quarry.

While training for the March 8, 1971 "Fight of The Century" with Joe Frazier, the Supreme Court upheld Ali's position and all charges against him were dropped.