FN: Muhammad Ali reportedly on life support - Now Deceased

[casmith07]

His mama called him Cassius, I'm gonna call him Cassius.......

As a boxer, he grew racial tension with his stance against the draft and conversion to Islam......both because racist whites grew even angrier and oppressed blacks rose up to make their voices be heard. But, post-career, the divide that grew earlier, seemed to be patched up quite a bit.....has his work in the community and across the world brought people together. He basically had the same message as Jesus, Gandhi, and King Jr......he spoke of hard work, generosity, kindness, being true to yourself, raising your voice for your convictions, taking a stand, and pushing yourself past the point of exhaustion now so you can be successful in the future......

I was too young to see him box live, so I was never a big fan of him as a boxer. Also, with my Dad being a Vietnam War veteran, I kind of grew up resenting Ali for being a draft dodger. However, as I grew older, I have grown to understand his stance and his choice. I really don't blame him for not giving in to those fat, lazy Washington, D.C. politicians, who try to throw their weight around......while getting fatter off screwing over us regular citizens.

He was a very polarizing figure. He brought the world together, the way very few have ever been able to. His death will be mourned all over. It is a sad day in boxing, the US, the world of Islam (though I am a Christian), and in the Ali household.

Rest in Peace......Cassius

Going to correct you on one thing: Muhammad Ali never dodged the draft.

Jim Brown said it best -- Ali only became "beloved" when Parkinsons robbed him of his ability to speak. People - especially white people - hated Muhammad Ali in the 1960s and 70s.

I've watched every fight I could of his from any source when I found out who he was when I was a kid. When I boxed at West Point, I tried to fight like him in the ring. I remember my instructor asking me where I learned to move the way I did when I had never formally boxed before or trained, and I told him "I watched a lot of Muhammad Ali growing up." He was dumbfounded.

At any rate, this one is very sad for me. The only "hero" left from my formative years is Michael Jordan.

RIP to the Greatest of All Time. He shook up the world, for sure, and should be mourned and admired by all.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Stallone and Ali - 1977





Stallone and Ali - again... 26 years later for Ali's birthday! 60th?

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

The 70s and early 80's were the best years for boxing in my opinion. Ali got many turned onto boxing his fights were an event plus you had a lot of terrific fighters during that period with some great match ups. You had Ali, Joe Fraizer, Ken Norton, Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes, Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle and Jerry Quarry just to name a few in the heavyweight ranks. In the lighter weight divisions you had Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and several others. Pay per view hadn't reached the homes yet so they showed a lot of real good fights on free TV which drew more fans to boxing.

A fight had to be HUGE like the first Ali/Fraizer fight to be only available for pay on closed circuit. The first 2 Ali/Norton fights were on free TV. Even Ali's 2 battles with Leon Spinks were on free TV. George Forman's classic battle with Ron Lyle was on free TV as was the Forman/ Jimmy Young fight that sent Forman into a 10 year retirement. Once Ali and all those other fighters faded away along with Mike Tyson boxing started losing it's popularity. Most boxing fans got tired of having to pay for every good fight and most of the fights weren't very good.

When boxing left free TV, I stopped following it. I couldn't even name the current Heavyweight champ without looking it up.

 

[KJJ]

When boxing left free TV, I stopped following it. I couldn't even name the current Heavyweight champ without looking it up.

All the great fighters fading away into retirement and pay per view hitting the homes caused many to lose interest in boxing. The fighters weren't that exciting anymore and everyone got tired of having to pay at least $35 to watch fights they used to get for free. I attended practically every big fight in Vegas during the late 70s up until the mid 90s when Tyson faded. I spent a lot of money attending those fights but it was all worth it because I got to see some of the greatest fighters ever. I stopped following boxing in the mid 90s and wouldn't pay $20 to see some of the fights they show on pay per view. Below are a couple of pics I took at the Sugar Ray Leonard/Thomas Hearns fight in Sept 1981. The first pic is of the undercard featuring Marvis Frazier who was being trained by his father Smokin Joe.

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