WTVJ is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019 with a look back at the station's rich history as well as some of the biggest stories and biggest personalities we've covered.
Boxer Muhammad Ali was one of the most famous and most often covered personalities by WTVJ in the station's early days.
Ali lived in South Florida and trained for his fights at Miami Beach's renowned 5th Street Gym with Miami trainer Angelo Dundee.
Cameras from WTVJ, which was then Channel 4, were there constantly when Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, had some colorful words about his boxing opponents and pretty much any other topic he wanted to discuss.
One of his most memorable catchphrases that became known world-wide before he took the title from Sonny Liston on Miami Beach in 1964 was also captured by WTVJ.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," he said. "Rumble young man, rumble."
He even gave WTVJ a shout-out while discussing the World Heavyweight Championship match.
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"Sonny Liston made two mistakes in his whole life. That’s when he saw me the first time and when he fights me the second time," he said. "And I want to say one thing to the people out there and all of Miami: Channel 4 made me great, that's why I'll stop Liston in 8."
Ali had a special relationship with not only WTVJ but also long-time sports director Bernie Rosen. Rosen said when Ali first came down to South Florida he lived in a little room in Overtown.
"We had the most unbelievable relationship with him," Rosen said. "Whenever he saw us he said 'just wait a minute' and he just took time out to do an interview with us, we had some magnificent film."
