The Greatest

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky.

*Muhammad (nobody corrected my misspelling earlier )

curious2garden said:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1750-1326-9-37

Click to expand...

I heard on the radio today they estimated he took 29,000 hits in his career.

His entire retirement...35 years...was in declining health...

The guy who rarely got hit in his 20's...was physically ruined in his 30's after the comeback in late 1970.

I remember watching his fights in the late 70's thinking he should quit...he was getting pounded fight after fight. It was tough to watch him get old in the ring...

And it was horrible seeing how bad he got by the 90's

I too had to google mensch, haha...bummer about Ali...he was the greatest in many ways.

ali was a man with a huge heart . R. I. P

mr sunshine said:

ali was a man with a huge heart . R. I. P

Click to expand...

Nice find...

In 1962, the late great Rod Serling (Twilight Zone) wrote a made for TV movie 'Requiem for a Heavyweight'. A young Cassius Clay had a bit part to open this movie. Movie was about an old bag of dust fighter (Anthony Quinn) at the end of his career...

A lot of fighters had this view of Ali...(opening scene of movie)

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/...weight-Movie-Clip-The-Old-Pro-Won-t-Quit.html

The single greatest most hyped sporting event in my lifetime was The Fight of the Century on March 8, 1971. Bigger than Super Bowls, World Series, NBA, NHL or an NCAA competitions...

Two legitimate undefeated universally recognized world heavyweight champions in the same fight...impossible to arrange without the highly unusual 3 and a half year exile from boxing of undefeated Muhammad Ali.

It became much more than just the greatest match up ever...

It was during the Viet Nam War...and fan lines were drawn based on your feelings about that war and Ali's opposition of it. The older establishment were for Frazier. The younger people were for Ali.

Ali wasn't just fighting Frazier that night...he was fighting the establishment that tried to draft him into the service and use him as a symbol. They never had any intention of putting Ali on the front lines of battle any more than Joe Louis in WWII. He would have boxed USO exhibitions at best.
Ali turned his nose up at literally millions in lost revenue by refusing induction, both in fight purses and endorsements, to make a point. How many others had convictions so strong that they were willing to go broke and spend 5 years in prison instead of doing the easy thing and accept a soft assignment in the military that would not have involved actual fighting against the enemy?

Establishment people called him a draft dodger.
He was the only 'draft dodger' to give up his million a year lifestyle in a heart beat.

I cried when he lost that fight. I felt the establishment had beaten him. There was a pending Supreme Court case hanging over his head and he was forced to sign to fight Frazier before he had gotten over the ring rust of the years in exile. 3 months after losing to Frazier, Ali won his greatest victory. 8-0 unanimous victory in the US Supreme Court exonerating him completely.

Joe Frazier won the close decision that night...but took the worst beating he ever took up to that point. He wound up in the hospital...later released...and then back in for a few days. Frazier never won another important fight after that night. In two more fights with Ali and two fights against George Foreman...Frazier lost all 4 fights, 3 of them by KO. He also ducked Ali for 3 fucking years after that 1st fight because he knew it would be tougher to beat him in a rematch...and Frazier looked less than great in the fights against the 2nd rate fighters he did beat after the fight of the century. Frazier was 26-0 before Ali...and 11-4-1 after Ali.

abe supercro said:

He lets this little hyper kid smack away at him. I'll always love Mohammad Ali;

Click to expand...

that vid made my day. thanks

He invented rap music