His name was Ali

[Gazi]

8 hours ago, panthers55 said:

 As someone who saw him fight from the mid sixties until he retired, he was so much more than the greatest fighter. He represented the black struggle against racism and the little guy against the establishment.  He was one of the first black people I knew who converted to being Muslim. He was considered the most recognized person in the world not just the most recognized sports figure. Even later in life when he could no longer talk and his body was ravaged from Parkinson's he became a champion against the disease.  

The funny thing is that he makes Cam look like the least controversial guy out there by comparison. Cam didn't invite it while Ali did. He railed against the machine and won. May he  find in death the peace he rarely found in life. He was an icon and bigger than life. And so much more than a boxer to the millions who loved him and those that hated him. 

I saw the whole country unify and mourn his death. Something I haven't seen in a long time. He was the Greatest for a reason. 

Aldo, this made me think of Cam 

 

[GoobyPls]

9 hours ago, MHS831 said:

Awesome story.  I can say that I hated him too, but I noticed how the other boxers like Foreman,  Norton, and most of all, Frazier, after they retired, spoke highly of Ali as a person. 

Some of you remember Ali because Will Smith played him in a movie, but I vaguely remember him in his prime--during the heyday of boxing-the heyday that was created by Cassius Clay.

Frazier still didn't like Ali after all those years 

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, GoobyPls said:

Frazier still didn't like Ali after all those years 

I did not realize that.  I saw an interview where he was complimenting his boxing--maybe I assumed it. 

 

[Mr. Scot]

Ali and Frazier's daughters fought a few years back.

Frazier said he expected maybe he and Ali's sons would fight some day. He certainly didn't think it would be their daughters.

[Jangler]

Hawt.

[Jangler]

Ali might be the last celebrity in this country to deserve a state funeral.

[rodeo]

2 hours ago, Jangler said:

Ali might be the last celebrity in this country to deserve a state funeral.

Randy Travis

[Mr. Scot]

If you want a sense of just how big Muhammad Ali was, consider...

Late last night, I saw my phone flashing an update from NFL Mobile. I wondered what in the world could have been happening in football at that time of night. Turned out it was the news of Ali's passing.

Ali had no real connection to the NFL. Still, the biggest sports league in the world thought it was important enough news to broadcast it on their own channel.

That's a true legend.

[Jangler]

1 hour ago, rodeo said:

Randy Travis

[GoobyPls]

7 hours ago, MHS831 said:

I did not realize that.  I saw an interview where he was complimenting his boxing--maybe I assumed it. 

 

You need to hear Frazier interviews with Howard Stern

[MHS831]

15 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

You need to hear Frazier interviews with Howard Stern

I have not, so maybe.  I imagine that their rivalry was complex--like Bird vs. Johnson.  I will never know what it is to be the best at a sport with another person.  You can't like him--hate would be easier.  But there has to be respect, because they both know how much they worked and how many people they beat to get there.  If Fraziier simply hated Ali, that would be childish.  But to hate him as a form of motivation, or to hate his antics but respect his accomplishments, I see it.

Watch the interview I attached--damn if it doesn't sound like Frazier has some slurring going on.  I used to be friends with Kelvin Seabrook when he was one of my security guards at an area middle school.  He was that way.  I could not understand him.  If football causes concussions, wonder what boxing causes?

[Mojo]

On 6/4/2016 at 6:42 AM, thomas96 said:

 

"That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful. And to me, still, I would say pound for pound...I'd say I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time. " 4:18 in the video. Anybody who knows anything about boxing recognizes Sugar Ray as the greatest fighter of all time, and that's what's not even close.

That's fine that you believe that, but you should have more respect than to keep posting that in an rip thread dedicated to one of greatest sports athletes of all time.  It's distasteful and unnecessary really.  Ali is widely considered the goat and you already knew that before you opened the thread.  Stop being egregious.  There's other places and times to make that argument.

[GoobyPls]

3 hours ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

If Frazier truly hated Ali, then he wouldn't have wept for him in that Facing Ali special that aired a few years back.

I don't know if he hated him but he didn't like him. He would poke fun at Ali having Parkinson's. He saw it as a victory the fact that he can talk and walk while Ali was in a wheelchair.

 

I can see why Frazier had a lot of animosity towards Ali. When Ali was exiled Frazier vouched for him, went to the White House for he can get his boxing license back, sent Ali money. But when Ali came back all he did was slander Frazier.

[aussiePanther]

If anyone still reading this thread is at all interested in the man Ali was, one of the greatest documentaries of all time (no qualifiers) is "When We Were Kings" about the Rumble in the Jungle (the championship fight between Ali and Foreman in what was then Zaire).