Muhammad Ali dies at age 74

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RIP to The Greatest!

The fights against Joe Frazier were probably the most brutal ever. I'm pretty sure Ali said something like "that was as close to death as you can get" after the Thriller in Manilla.

As a teenager in the 1970s, my heroes were Muhammad Ali, Wombat and Thommo. What a trio of superstars and still are my heroes!
 
Regardless of your chosen sport, Ali simply a winner with both attitude & ability....The Greatest?
I say yes....
 
Yeah. What the hell was his people smoking to get him into that. The wrestler just lay on the canvas kicking him in the shins to my recollection. And I think Ali got some sort of infection from it. Possibly the stupidest thing I've ever seen in sport.
That's right. I remember it was a Saturday afternoon, live from Tokyo presumably, during the football season. And the wrestler constantly sitting/lying and then kicking at Ali.
 
I'm not a boxing fan but Ali brought style and panache to what is effectively a brutal and at times truly dangerous sport. I'm actually amazed that he lived to such an age , given what a boxer must have to cope with during their years in the sport and of course his Parkinsons disorder. He made boxing mainstream for a generation and brought the crowds back to the sport. I even used to watch the Friday night boxing show that revealed a young Tony Mundine (the father) to TV (I was quite amazed by his skill also).

For me its a brutal and at time unattractive sport. But Ali made it look stylish and fun in and out of the ring. He was certainly the greatest promoter of the sport in history and an iconic figure
 
It could be argued that he wasn't the greatest boxer. I was reminded recently that he didn't win as many fights as Sugar Ray Robinson, and that Rocky Marciano was never beaten. One thing that could never be argued, however, was that he was so much more than just a boxer. He was a remarkable athlete, but an even more remarkable man.
 
It could be argued that he wasn't the greatest boxer. I was reminded recently that he didn't win as many fights as Sugar Ray Robinson, and that Rocky Marciano was never beaten. One thing that could never be argued, however, was that he was so much more than just a boxer. He was a remarkable athlete, but an even more remarkable man.

Agree with that, Frank. Ali is a huge loss to the world in general. He was a great boxer, the best self promoter for himself and the sport, a man that stood strong in his beliefs, a comedian and a genuine athlete. That's why his passing doesn't just affect the world of boxing, the sadness and sense of loss due to his passing reverberates around the world, touching people from so many different walks of life.

RIP Muhammad.

Although Ali was light footed, stylish, even graceful in the ring....the greatest fighter of all, in my opinion, was Rocky Marciano. Just to fight in the heavy weight division for Marciano was a feat in itself. Rocky only stood 180cm (about 5ft 10in) and fought at around 85kg. He had a heart as big as Phar Lap and an unstoppable will to win. 49 fights, 49 wins, 43 knock outs, 0 losses.

Also, I have always admired Jack Dempsey. With the Irish, Jewish and Cherokee ancestry, how was Jack not going to become a great fighter? His life story is a good read also...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dempsey
 
He was The Champ.

Cassius Clay is will live on forever.
Not sure if that was a deliberate slight Bob, but I assume it was not
Quote: "Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me"
 
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Not many sportspeople had the reach Ali did. Great athlete and a modern day icon. Boxing isn't really kosher these days with the PC set, but Ali plied his trade when it was fair dinkum and if your were heavy weight champion of the world you were indeed a champion. He really was one of a kind. Such an intelligent man so it was sad to see his slow decline.
He was a great boxer and a great show man .
It is a shame he did not listen to his body when his time was up and kept fighting as many believe this led to his health problems . At 41 years of age he was slurring his words and his hands were shaking . His quality of life was gone at a very young age .
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People forget that Ali could also take a punch. You're only half a fighter if you can't absorb and only dish out.
Best of the best as far as I'm concerned.
 
Just throwing on When we were Kings for about the fifteenth time ... Best sports doco ever .... RIP to the greatest sports figure of my time
 
Great moment when he lit the Olympic Flame.

Probably the most admired athlete of my lifetime.

I'm not into boxing, in any way, but you have to give it to him he made boxing "fashionable" , and certainly was a unique character, its just such a pity for him that his last 30 years of life were pretty ordinary from a health sense.

Plenty say the sport should be banned, and I guess seeing him probably support that.

Regardless, the world has lost both a great athlete and a truly remarkable human being.

RIP
 
Agree with that, Frank. Ali is a huge loss to the world in general. He was a great boxer, the best self promoter for himself and the sport, a man that stood strong in his beliefs, a comedian and a genuine athlete. That's why his passing doesn't just affect the world of boxing, the sadness and sense of loss due to his passing reverberates around the world, touching people from so many different walks of life.

RIP Muhammad.

Although Ali was light footed, stylish, even graceful in the ring....the greatest fighter of all, in my opinion, was Rocky Marciano. Just to fight in the heavy weight division for Marciano was a feat in itself. Rocky only stood 180cm (about 5ft 10in) and fought at around 85kg. He had a heart as big as Phar Lap and an unstoppable will to win. 49 fights, 49 wins, 43 knock outs, 0 losses.

Also, I have always admired Jack Dempsey. With the Irish, Jewish and Cherokee ancestry, how was Jack not going to become a great fighter? His life story is a good read also...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dempsey
And Dempsey lived to a pretty fair age, dying in 1983, kept his marbles and did well in business. Treat Williams played him in a miniseries in the late 1980s.

Poor Marciano died in a plane crash back in 1969. Jon Favreau (of Iron Man fame) played him in a movie about 16 years ago.

I loved the boxing docos that they regularly showed on WWOS etc, with the old newsreel footage of the fights. SBS recently showed a 2005 documentary on the intertwining careers of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Some of the characters they interviewed could have stepped out a Damon Runyon story.

For feature films on boxing and the tragedy of the fight game, check out the original Kid Galahad (Wayne Morris), Requiem for a Heavyweight (Anthony Quinn - brilliant), Champion (Kirk Douglas), Body and Soul (John Garfield) or The Set Up. In the last one Robert Ryan plays a boxer who doesn't throw the fight, like he is supposed to. A topical subject at the moment!
 
And Dempsey lived to a pretty fair age, dying in 1983, kept his marbles and did well in business. Treat Williams played him in a miniseries in the late 1980s.

Poor Marciano died in a plane crash back in 1969. Jon Favreau (of Iron Man fame) played him in a movie about 16 years ago.

I loved the boxing docos that they regularly showed on WWOS etc, with the old newsreel footage of the fights. SBS recently showed a 2005 documentary on the intertwining careers of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Some of the characters they interviewed could have stepped out a Damon Runyon story.

For feature films on boxing and the tragedy of the fight game, check out the original Kid Galahad (Wayne Morris), Requiem for a Heavyweight (Anthony Quinn - brilliant), Champion (Kirk Douglas), Body and Soul (John Garfield) or The Set Up. In the last one Robert Ryan plays a boxer who doesn't throw the fight, like he is supposed to. A topical subject at the moment!

Cheers @Terry Zarsoff I will check them out!
 
That's right. I remember it was a Saturday afternoon, live from Tokyo presumably, during the football season. And the wrestler constantly sitting/lying and then kicking at Ali.

Even worse was the decision made by his people to let him enter the ring with Larry Holmes in 1980. At 38, he looked sadly over the hill already and Holmes gave it to him non stop. Patrick Collins described well....

"He took punch after pounding punch to his unprotected head, but his perverse pride would not allow him to fall. So he stood and accepted his punishment, and the odious leeches who had taken his money and bathed in his glory simply shrugged and moved on".
 
Great moment when he lit the Olympic Flame.

Probably the most admired athlete of my lifetime.

I'm not into boxing, in any way, but you have to give it to him he made boxing "fashionable" , and certainly was a unique character, its just such a pity for him that his last 30 years of life were pretty ordinary from a health sense.

Plenty say the sport should be banned, and I guess seeing him probably support that.

Regardless, the world has lost both a great athlete and a truly remarkable human being.

RIP
Bob Fulton was the greatest athlete in my lifetime . The greatest Sea eagle of all time . An Immortal
Century-TOTC-Telegraph-198of240-BobFulton.jpg
 

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