That being said he was one of the greatest boxer's ever but he was a douche. Always annoyed the *beep* out of a lot of people.The stuff he said to Joe,Sonny,etc is a clear sign of an A$$ HOLE.
"That wasn't flying, that was........falling with style"
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"Backing it up" is irrelavant most of the stuff he said publicly humilated Joe,Sonny and others it was disrecpectful and ignorant. He owes his CAREER to Joe for giving him the money and the SECOND chance to fight and how does he repay him by behaving like a ignorant two faced *beep* rag. Nothing made me happier when Joe broke his jaw and Ali got up and was like wtf just hit me.
"That wasn't flying, that was........falling with style"
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The statements most people are talking about are Ali's views on his black heritage. He was pretty well known (although not so much 30-40 years later) for trying to 'outblack' his opponents by talking about how much more respectful of his African heritage than they were. For instance he would call Joe Frazier an Uncle Tom and that he sold out to the white men. He'd keep this up so much that Frazier's kid would get bullied in school and so on. People in Africa didn't even know George Foreman was black because all they would hear about was Ali talking about how he's fighting for Africa against the American. He'd also argue that any white people in his ancestry got there through rape or blackmail.
The truth about Ali is that he grew up in what for black people was considered middle class. Whereas Joe Frazier grew up in a working class environment. So Frazier knew exactly what it was like to be a black man and hadn't deserved those comments at all.
The thing with people talking about this on the Internet is that it's people who have just seen the latest Ali/Frazier documentary where Frazier discusses the effects of Ali's remarks. Everyone who seems to be arguing about them acts as if it's been hidden to preserve his legendary status. The reality of it is that these people just don't know anything about Ali, if they had seen a handful of his interviews they would know that he was well known for antagonising his opponents by talking about his race. The reason he's not primarily known for this is because, in context, he did more for black people than most people realise. Whilst he may have humiliated and tortured a handful of fighters he became one of the most successful and admirable African Americans of all time. A lot of people don't know why he's so admirable but until Ali the only successful black sportsmen were the Floyd Patterson types. The type that would be quiet and accept their role as the white man's bitch. Ali came along and proved that it's possible for a black man to succeed without having to take so much crap and smile for the opportunity.
A Pig's gotta fly!
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"The reality of it is that these people just don't know anything about Ali, if they had seen a handful of his interviews they would know that he was well known for antagonising his opponents by talking about his race."
Nah, You're the one who's ignorant and a sad victim of brainwashing, having watched that propaganda HBO documentary.
Do you recall the name of the Ali/Frazier documentary? Is it called One Nation Divisible?
shareHe actually couldn't back it up in the ring... he said he would KO Frazier by round 6 but he was the one who got his ass kicked. Then he said if he did lose the fight that he would crawl and tell Frazier he was the greatest. Did he do that? Of course not. He was a bastard.
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He clearly was. Ali was a great fighter but not even close to the best ever. Louis, Marciano or Jack Johnson would have destroyed Ali if fought in their primes.
He was a great at manipulating his opponent's mind to his benefit.
No way! He was a LOT more than a psychologist
Louis, Marciano, and Jack Johnson were all great champions, but none of them could have put a finger on Ali in his prime, and I mean that literally. During the prime of his career (the 60s), Ali was without question the fastest heavyweight champ in boxing history, so much so that no one could hit him in the ring. Johnson, Louis, and Marciano would not have had the quickness to connect punches to Ali. Yes, all three were devasting punchers, but their hitting power would have been of no consequence, because they would not have been able to hit him.
All three of the fighters you enumerated had impressive records: Johnson was the first black world heayweight champ, Louis held the title longer than any world heavyweight champ in history, and Marciano was the only world heavyweight champion to retire undefeated. But none of these fighters fought on a higher competitve level than Ali. It is a fact that Ali defeated more world champs than any other world champ in history, having beat Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, and Floyd Patterson. (In addtion to being world champs, the latter four fighters were also Olympic gold medalists, too.) Moreover, Ali also defated to two light heavyweight world champions--Archie Morre and Bob Foster. Make no mistake. He was truly indeed the greatest!
Funny that.
25 years ago they said Tyson was a good fighter but not fit to take on Ali, Frazier or Foreman in their prime!
Its that man again!!
yep
shareSonny was a thug, a hitman for hire, mobbed up and a general low class MFker. Pretty much everything Clay/Ali said about him was on target.
The stuff he said about the other guys (Frazier in particular) was asinine but he was saying it to pump up the gate.
That said, Ali did get carried away with the personal stuff about Frazier and carried it on too long.
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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
At least he was man enough to say what on his mind without fear
shareThe OP is right, he did annoy the hell out of lot of people. Usually racists and people he beat in the ring!
Its that man again!!
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"How many people speaking up for Ali actually realise some of the things he did? Elijah Mohammad sought alliances between the NoI and some very unsavoury organisations. To that end, Ali went and addressed a KKK rally!!!"
Nah, you were just misguided and ill-informed by that HBO propaganda documentary "Thriller in Manila." But both of these assertions are inaccurate. Contrary to what was stated in that documentary, the NOI never wanted to "form a pact" with the KKK and the two organizations didn't "meet regularly." There's no substantial evidence to substantiate that the NOI wanted to work in concert with the Klan.
Moreover, Ali never spoke at a Klan rally. The creator of that propaganda film, which was really just nothing but an Ali hatchet job, just manipulated some archived footage of an Ali interview to generate a false impression. Ali was most likely in the middle telling a joke when he made those remarks, which the creator of this propaganda film just took out of context.
Given the fact that Ali at the time was nothing more than arguably the world's most famous person and the world's most celebrated athlete, it would have been next to impossible for him to speak at such a function without a photographic record of him being there. Add to that, there would have been no way, given the magnitude of his celebrity, that he could have done this without word of it leaking to the media. Believe me, once the press had found out that Ali had done something so sensational and controversial (and they would have inevitably found out about it had it actually happened), it would have created a media frenzy. Yet, there's no news account of this on record nor is there any photo record of Ali speaking at any Klan function.
He did privately endorse Wallace in 1968.and agreed to.fight in South Africa before a segregated audience in 1972.
shareVerbally "killing" your opponent increases your chance of winning the match with 50%
shareI can say the same thing about Floyd Mayweather Jr lol, but if you can talk the talk & back it up at the same time, what can you really say lol...
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