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RIP Muhammad Ali

by Kurt
16 replies
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Very likely the most influential and important athlete of my life time...Goodbye to The Greatest.

I can remember when in 6th grade the entire school picked sides, you were either for Ali or for Frazier...I was on the Ali side.
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    Thanks Kurt.

    10 Things You May Not Know About Muhammad Ali




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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    RIP Champ.
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
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    Terrible news!

    I grew up watching boxing in the 70's and loved watching almost all of those fighters back then, especially the Louisville Lip.. The heavyweight division was incredible in those days --> Ali, Frazier, Norton, Foreman, Shavers etc. all great fighters. The Thrilla in Manilla I can still remember quite vividly today, and the Foreman fight in Zaire is another...

    Unfortunately, I was one of those fans that paid (my dad actually bought the ticket) the "big bucks" to watch The Champ take a terrible beatdown that he shouldn't have taken on Closed Circuit against the great Easton Assassin, Larry Holmes. That was a fight that never should have happened --> a very, very sad day for sports fans, and I must admit, I have never seen so many grown men cry when that fight was stopped...

    For those of you that were not around prior to PPV television, Closed Circuit was basically the PPV of yesteryear, but you had to go to an arena, convention hall, or theater to watch the event piped in on a large screen.

    My father was one of those people that disliked Cassius Clay immensely because of his brash talk and his refusal to fight in the war...he was a WWII vet and Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano were his guys.

    Not me, I loved Smokin' Joe, The Acorn, Big George, and Kenny Norton too...but the man that could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee was/is the greatest for me.

    When I was a kid my pops did a fair share real estate business in Louisville and he met the champ a time or two, he did grab an autograph and some other Ali stuff for me...unfortunately, kids being kids, I did not take care of some of my collectibles well enough along the way, and do not have the champ's autograph today.


    Keep Floating Like A Butterfly and Stinging Like a Bee --> You will always be the greatest boxer for me...(Sorry, Mike.)

    The greatest shook up the world ---> a very sad day indeed, and an incredibly large loss...

    http://alicenter.org/

    Rest In Peace, Champ.

    -don
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

    Very likely the most influential and important athlete of my life time...Goodbye to The Greatest.

    I can remember when in 6th grade the entire school picked sides, you were either for Ali or for Frazier...I was on the Ali side.

    I don't know what kind of man he really was. But his boxing skill was mythic.

    I would watch him jab, and it was a beautiful thing to see.
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  • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
    He also belongs to the ages. I almost forgot about this...

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...i-the-mission/
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    "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain

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    • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
      Banned
      Originally Posted by TLTheLiberator View Post

      He also belongs to the ages. I almost forgot about this...

      https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...i-the-mission/
      Most certainly a much better memory than his 1967 draft dodging conviction, the accompanying 5 year sentence that was eventually overturned, and all the tumult and turmoil the controversy created.

      That said, below are words of G.W.B. in 2005 when he bestowed The Greatest with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The president called him “a fierce fighter and a man of peace”.

      “When you say the greatest of all time is in the room, everyone knows who you mean. Quite a claim to make, but as Muhammad Ali once said, ‘it’s not bragging if you can back it up,’ ” Bush said. “And this man backed it up.”

      The president honored Ali’s boxing legacy as well as his work for justice.

      “Far into the future, fans and students of boxing will study the films and some will even try to copy his style. But certain things defy imitation,” Bush said.

      “The real mystery, I guess, is how he stayed so pretty,” he continued, to laughter. “Probably had to do with his beautiful soul.”
      WATCH: George W. Bush honors Muhammad Ali with Presidential Medal of Freedom | TheHill

      Short version: The Champ receives his medal at about the :49 mark...


      Indeed, The Greatest was a very special man.

      Rest In Peace, Champ.

      -don
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    Just one of the many memorable quotes from The Greatest.

    The Service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.
    Cheers

    -don
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  • Profile picture of the author 1nspire
    RIP Ali. So true of this quote.
    The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
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  • Profile picture of the author CaRTmAnBrAh
    I liked Ali and it's of course very sad that he got Parkinsons and has now passed. Maybe this isn't the most appropriate time to have a debate about this but having to listen to the world fawn over him as the greatest boxer of all time is irritating. He really wasn't.

    A peak Mike Tyson would have destroyed anyone including all those who beat him. Even Tyson thinks Ali was the greatest. I genuinely don't get it. If you watch the best years of any fighter in history, nobody comes close to the destruction of Tyson. Remember what Tyson did to Berbick, Holmes and Spinks without even trying.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Originally Posted by CaRTmAnBrAh View Post

      I liked Ali and it's of course very sad that he got Parkinsons and has now passed. Maybe this isn't the most appropriate time to have a debate about this but having to listen to the world fawn over him as the greatest boxer of all time is irritating. He really wasn't.

      A peak Mike Tyson would have destroyed anyone including all those who beat him. Even Tyson thinks Ali was the greatest. I genuinely don't get it. If you watch the best years of any fighter in history, nobody comes close to the destruction of Tyson. Remember what Tyson did to Berbick, Holmes and Spinks without even trying.
      Tyson always had trouble with big, tall boxers with good jabs, including Razor Ruddick and Buster Douglas. A young George Foreman was a bigger, stronger, meaner version of Tyson, and George had a mean jab.

      There's only been a few heavyweights with "knock out" jabs I've seen, Sonny Liston and George Foreman and maybe the younger Klitchko. I think they would have given Tyson fits. And BTW, Ali beat both Liston and Foreman, although there was some controversy with Liston.

      When discussing Ali as a boxer, we really need to break his career down in two. Before he served 3 years in prison and after. Before he went to prison he would "dance" the entire fight. After, he was much more stationary. During his early career before he went to prison, IMO he's the best boxer of all time, after he had a few losses and a couple of questionable decision, specifically against Ken Norton.

      But take the Ali before prison and I really doubt Tyson could have handled Ali's foot and hand speed. You can't hit what you can't catch and Tyson wasn't any more intimidating than Liston or a young Foreman.

      BTW, I grew up in the same neighborhood in Denver where Liston lived and Ali (Clay at the time) first made his name by showing up on Liston's lawn, yelling at Liston to come out and calling him an "ugly bear". My best friend as a kid was actually Liston's newspaper boy. Liston was a bad man. He once beat up two Denver police officers in City Park...he was handcuffed to each of them at the time.
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      • Profile picture of the author CaRTmAnBrAh
        Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

        BTW, I grew up in the same neighborhood in Denver where Liston lived and Ali (Clay at the time) first made his name by showing up on Liston's lawn, yelling at Liston to come out and calling him an "ugly bear". My best friend as a kid was actually Liston's newspaper boy. Liston was a bad man. He once beat up two Denver police officers in City Park...he was handcuffed to each of them at the time.
        That's really interesting. You've reminded me actually to watch this...

        Phantom Punch

        I never got around to seeing it. I don't know a lot about Liston out of the ring.
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  • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
    Banned
    My favorite quote? "I'm as pretty as a girl."

    RIP.

    Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    I was in tears when I found out he died.


    He was a high class person all the way, especially after he retied from boxing.


    This tape isn't all about Ali, but they do mention a story that will bring you to tears after hearing it.


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