Becoming Muhammad Ali: Round 7–Final Round

by Kwame Alexander, James Patterson
This fictionalized biography, written in a combination of prose verse, imagines the early life of Cassius Clay, better known as Muhammad Ali.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Rounds 1–3, Rounds 4–6, Round 7–Final Round
20 words 101 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. flair
    distinctive and stylish elegance
    For Cassius, it wasn’t enough to be a fighter. He had to be a fighter with flair.
  2. instinct
    inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to stimuli
    Joe Martin said
    I looked sleepy,
    fought with no killer instinct
  3. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    When my daddy
    showed us
    a gruesome magazine photograph
    of a twelve-year-old faceless boy
    who was visiting family
    in Mississippi
    for the summer
    when he was shot in the head,
    drowned in the river,
    and killed
    for maybe whistling
    at a white woman.
  4. devastating
    physically or spiritually destructive
    Even though I won
    the next few fights, I felt a
    devastating loss.
  5. contender
    the contestant you hope to defeat
    I fought like a gladiator
    ate like a champ
    lit up contenders
    in the ring like a lamp.
  6. humility
    a lack of arrogance or false pride
    Some people say the opposite of confidence is fear. Not me. I say it’s humility.
  7. humble
    marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
    But deep down, where it mattered, he could be very humble.
  8. dustup
    an angry dispute
    ...he’d gotten
    into a dustup
    before I left
    that ended
    with the cops
    on our doorsteps.
  9. toll
    a fee levied for the use of roads or bridges
    What I want is y’all off my block, but you here, and you know what that means. Pay the toll!
  10. wrath
    belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong
    This makes some of his gang giggle,
    but it’s the next thing I say

    that has them all laughing
    out loud like hyenas

    and brings me face-to-face
    with the wrath of Chalky.
  11. ovation
    enthusiastic recognition
    When they called his name at graduation, Cassius got a standing ovation. You couldn’t hear yourself with how loud that applause was.
  12. burly
    muscular and heavily built
    It’s hotter
    than a Texas parking lot
    in this joint,
    yelled a burly fella
    who was also training
    for the ’59 National Golden Gloves.
  13. heckle
    challenge aggressively
    ...Johnson chased
    and stalked him
    around the world
    for nearly two years,
    buying ringside seats
    to his fights
    just to heckle
    and hound him
    into the ring.
  14. taunt
    harass with persistent criticism or carping
    In the first couple minutes
    of each round,
    Johnson taunted him,
    laughing at Burns’s blows
  15. barrage
    the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area
    and at the end
    of each round
    he’d punish Burns
    with a barrage
    of powerful punches
  16. daft
    foolish or mentally irregular
    Yeah, it is, but the white boys are daft.
  17. integration
    incorporating a racial or religious group into a community
    I thought the Supreme Court said integration was gonna solve all the problems.
    They lied.
  18. hock
    joint of the hind leg of hoofed mammals
    A huge pot of collard greens
    A ham hock
    A macaroni casserole
  19. wince
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    I was too slick for tricks,
    had a swift uppercut
    with his name on it
    that made him wince.
  20. famine
    a severe shortage of food resulting in starvation and death
    He never boxed again, but he kept on fighting. He fought to raise money for famine victims all over the world.
Created on Mon Nov 09 09:58:33 EST 2020 (updated Tue Nov 10 10:45:30 EST 2020)

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