Vietnam War was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States, led to various boxing authorities stripping Ali of his title and denying him a license to fight in many jurisdictions. He was also convicted of draft evasion in 1967, yet remained out of prison while his case was under appeal.

Ali had become a highly polarizing individual. He was highly outspoken, both about his boxing skills (his self-proclaimed nickname, “the Greatest,” stuck with him his entire life) and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Many believed Ali to be a hero, especially in the Black community, and wanted to see him fight the new heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier. Others opposed Ali, either on political grounds for his stance on the Vietnam War or because of the harsh racism he engendered. Most of the nation’s prominent news and sportswriters continued to refer to Ali as “Cassius Clay.” But as long as Ali, under either name, remained on the sporting sidelines, he remained a peripheral distraction.

Into this maelstrom stepped the other prominent figure in Return of the King. Leroy Johnson was the first elected Black state senator in Georgia since Reconstruction. After his election in 1962, Johnson, a wily politician and businessman, soon became known as a facilitator and dealmaker. He had contacts in both the white and black communities and did favors for leaders in both. He expected and received other favors in return, which helped him enormously in his negotiations to land the Ali-Quarry fight.

Return of the King recounts Johnson’s rise to prominence and how it coincided with Atlanta’s growing reputation as “the city too busy to hate.” In contrast to other Southern cities like Birmingham, Atlanta had seen little racial strife in recent years and much compromise between the white power structure and the Black business community (often at the expense of lower-class Blacks). Johnson’s support had led to the election of Atlanta’s current Jewish mayor, Sam Massell. When Johnson realized Georgia had no state athletic commission and that approval for an Ali fight depended only on the City of Atlanta, he reached an agreement with Ali’s representatives (who were eager for a fight anywhere).

Return of the King has been meticulously researched (including 40 pages of endnotes and a 13-page bibliography). Author Thomas Aiello, a history professor, goes back several decades before the actual fight to discuss the evolution of racial politics in Atlanta (along with Leroy Johnson’s rise to influence). The author also discusses Ali’s career from its earliest days and the controversies the boxer generated over the years. In his prologue, the author goes back to 1892, when the last prominent fight between Black and white fighters took place in the South. Although some figures mentioned in the book, like Ali, Frazier, and Jimmy Carter (who was running for Governor of Georgia at the time of the fight), remain household names, many names and places may be unfamiliar, especially to younger readers. However, the author generally does an excellent job of explaining so that readers never feel lost amid the decades of history. He includes over 20 pages of rare period clippings, drawings, and photographs, including vintage political cartoons, along with photos of Jerry Quarry after the fight (with his badly bloodied eye) and of Lester Maddox and friends standing in front of his infamous Pickrick Restaurant. These photos and drawings may be the most enjoyable parts of the book for some readers.

Although most boxing fans wanted to see Ali fight Joe Frazier, for reasons described in the book, Johnson couldn’t arrange that match for Ali’s return to the ring. Instead, the promoters signed the next best thing, the top-rated white contender at the time, Jerry Quarry. The fight soon gained the ire of Georgia’s openly racist Governor, Lester Maddox, who originally had given Johnson his tacit approval (more accurately, his declination to disapprove the fight openly). Maddox was ineligible under Georgia law to run for re-election as governor and was instead running for lieutenant governor. Although he had no legal authority involving the fight, Maddox subsequently pandered to his base. He declared the day of the fight a state day of mourning (leading to the incongruous spectacle of flags over the Municipal Auditorium flying at half-staff on that day).

The author describes in increasing detail the preparations for the fight, including the throng of Black celebrities (including such luminaries as Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Curtis Mayfield) who took over posh hotels like the newly opened Regency Hyatt, a few blocks from the fight venue. These details often include humorous bits of trivia, like the fact that fight promoters did not have the 20-foot boxing ring specified in the fight rules. Instead, they have to work all weekend, modifying a 19 1/2-foot ring to meet specifications. Similarly, Hugh Hefner agreed to make Atlanta’s Playboy Club available for private parties if promoters could arrange a private closed-circuit TV feed to the Playboy Mansion so Hef could watch at home. Not surprisingly, Hefner’s unprecedented request was granted.

The fight itself proved anticlimactic, both in real life and in Return of the King. The referee stopped the contest after three rounds because of a severe cut over Jerry Quarry’s eye. Similarly, the author’s discussion of the fight occupies a mere three pages in the book. However, the author continues with a concluding chapter that describes the effect the fight had on the principals, the boxing industry, and Atlanta’s business and politics. The fight’s most immediate impact occurred later that night, when a well-organized group of thieves issued invitations to dozens of Black high rollers (including some well-known mob figures) to a party where they were systematically stripped and robbed of over one million dollars in cash and belongings.

Most of the thieves came to a terrible end, as did Jerry Quarry, whose subsequent career decline and eventual early death related to dementia, which the author describes. Leroy Johnson’s career soon suffered setbacks as well, although not as thoroughly documented as those of Quarry. My biggest quibble with Return of the King is that the author skimps on his description of the later lives and careers of some prominent figures like Johnson, Lester Maddox, and Sam Massell. Maddox lived until 2003, Johnson until 2019, and Massell until 2022, and all three had interesting political and business events in their later lives. I wish the author had devoted a few more pages to these and other similar topics. However, the book fittingly concludes with the event that superseded the Ali-Quarry fight in the public consciousness. Muhammad Ali served as the final torchbearer at the 1996 Olympics’ opening ceremony, carrying the torch up the stadium stairs and lighting the Olympic cauldron. Many in the crowd and watching the ceremony on TV remembered the 1970 fight and found this event a highly satisfying conclusion to the story.

My review of Return of the King has been colored to some extent by my personal involvement with many of the events and places described in the book. I was a student at Georgia Tech at the time of the fight, and I spent considerable time at the downtown locations mentioned (including the Municipal Auditorium, where I attended several wrestling matches). At one point in the book, the author mentions the September 1970 football game between Georgia Tech and South Carolina. That game featured the debut of Tech quarterback Eddie McAshan, the first Black starting quarterback at a powerful, traditionally white Southern school. I was at that game, cheering for Tech, and later met McAshan and several of Tech’s other Black players. I realize others reading the book may lack my familiarity with the details or my enjoyment of recalling memories, but I believe my rating is as objective as possible.

Return of the King may remind some readers of Norman Mailer’s The Fight, his classic description of Ali’s 1974 fight with George Foreman. Thomas Aiello’s book lacks the full scope and literary quality of Mailer’s. But that’s understandable: Aiello is a historian; Mailer was an extremely gifted novelist and journalist. Return of the King is an excellent addition to the extensive historical library surrounding Muhammad Ali’s career and the not-so-extensive library surrounding Atlanta’s history in that era. Together, Return of the King and The Fight are suitable bookends to Muhammad Ali’s boxing career renaissance.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.