Muhammad Ali

[eagles_victory]

I have been doing research and watching a lot of stuff on him lately. I have to ask why is this guy so beloved nowadays? He was a draft dodging bigot. You always hear people praising Ali and how great he was. I get that he was the first athlete to speak out and he sort of "changed the game" so to speak, but still I don't see how everyone loves the guy.

[Old Tiger]

cassius clay > muhammad ali




I think its a pop culture thing because he was so polarizing.

[Old LB]

Same reason people love most atheletes...entertainment. Most of these guys are not great people, but they are fun to watch for entertainment purpose.:thinking:

[ronwx5x]

I have been doing research and watching a lot of stuff on him lately. I have to ask why is this guy so beloved nowadays? He was a draft dodging bigot. You always hear people praising Ali and how great he was. I get that he was the first athlete to speak out and he sort of "changed the game" so to speak, but still I don't see how everyone loves the guy.

I'm old enough to remember his fight with Sonny Liston. He was a great fighter and an even better strategizer. He could figure out his opponents' weaknesses, whether mental or physical, and beat them at their own game. I have never admired him as a person but he was certainly a great fighter. Just fought too long like many of them.

[trojandad]

I'm old enough to remember his fight with Sonny Liston. He was a great fighter and an even better strategizer. He could figure out his opponents' weaknesses, whether mental or physical, and beat them at their own game. I have never admired him as a person but he was certainly a great fighter. Just fought too long like many of them.

he definitely beat liston between listons ears, cause liston should have dismantled him....clay fought liston like people started fighting tyson, when tyson and liston both saw they werent going to scare people out of the ring, they both lost their advantage...

as far as why was he so popular, howard cosell made his fight a racial item....being big in the northeast as he was, he wrote several articles on how clay was being railroaded in a southern discriminatory court (houston) and got the new york readers to side with cosell that clay going to prison was equal to a modern day lynching....they bought it and, like most things back in that day, whatever the northeast press said was what the world heard...

as far as me personally, i didnt like it when he refused draft service, but once he paid his prison time i figured he was willing to serve his jail time for his beliefs, so he ought to be respected for that....he wasnt a really big deal either way to me....but he obviously had skills.....

[Trashman]

I remember Jimmy Young putting a beating on Ali in 1976. The decision went to Ali and people all over the country thought the fight was fixed.

[trojandad]

I remember Jimmy Young putting a beating on Ali in 1976. The decision went to Ali and people all over the country thought the fight was fixed.

young DID win that fight....poor cosell was pitching for ali SO hard during that fight....he knew all his work was about to go down the drain...but young had been ali's sparring partner for forever, he obviously saw something....

[bigwood33]

I remember Jimmy Young putting a beating on Ali in 1976. The decision went to Ali and people all over the country thought the fight was fixed.
A prize fight fixed??!! :eek::eek:
Perish the thought :stirpot: :1popcorn:

[Cowboy_Up]

I have been doing research and watching a lot of stuff on him lately. I have to ask why is this guy so beloved nowadays? He was a draft dodging bigot. You always hear people praising Ali and how great he was. I get that he was the first athlete to speak out and he sort of "changed the game" so to speak, but still I don't see how everyone loves the guy.

He stood up for what he believed in, and he knew he was in the minority by doing so. I always think its funny when someone calls him a bigot. I wonder what it was like to be a black man growing up in Louisville, KY. Think he ever saw any racial prejudice? I see it all the time here in South TX today; I can only imagine what it was like in 1960.

I think the old saying about walking a mile in a man's moccasins is a good one to remember.

[eagles_victory]

He stood up for what he believed in, and he knew he was in the minority by doing so. I always think its funny when someone calls him a bigot. I wonder what it was like to be a black man growing up in Louisville, KY. Think he ever saw any racial prejudice? I see it all the time here in South TX today; I can only imagine what it was like in 1960.

I think the old saying about walking a mile in a man's moccasins is a good one to remember. He held conferences at HBU's saying why blacks were the best race. Bigotry at its finest.

[Cowboy_Up]

Not sure why you asked a question if your already convinced of the answer. Were you alive in 1963? Or do you get all your answers from google?

[Trashman]

He stood up for what he believed in, and he knew he was in the minority by doing so. I always think its funny when someone calls him a bigot. I wonder what it was like to be a black man growing up in Louisville, KY. Think he ever saw any racial prejudice? I see it all the time here in South TX today; I can only imagine what it was like in 1960.

I think the old saying about walking a mile in a man's moccasins is a good one to remember.

Being a victim of racial prejudice doesn't give one a right to subject others to the same treatment.

[trojandad]

I wonder what it was like to be a black man growing up in Louisville, KY.

but if you listen to ali's accounts, he was directed toward boxing as a youth by a white louisville cop, of all people to direct him.....gotta be careful when painting anyone, white or black, with a broad brush, another good saying to remember....:)

[Phil C]

A prize fight fixed??!! :eek::eek:
Perish the thought :stirpot: :1popcorn:

:eek:

[Phil C]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqMk-AuTDZE

[BwdLion73]

I think he was the front runner of what the news medias powers really were.