Am I missing something? wrote:
Never understood this. People talk in such hushed tones about him. I've heard him referred to as "the greatest man I ever met" by many people. Why?
As far as I can tell:
1) he was a fabulous boxer. Was he really the greatest? No way. Not even close to Sugar Ray Robinson
2) he trashed talked to his opponents to a really unpleasant degree.
3) he was a conscientious objector. Is that really so amazing?
Maybe I'm missing something. He was a great athlete, but I don't get the hero worship bit at all.
Thoughts?
I am assuming you are young, if that is correct, you don't know what boxing used to be and what it meant to be the heavy weight champion during Ali's era. It was far bigger than being the fastest man in the world, the NBA MVP, Wimbledon, Masters, TDF...you were literally the biggest sportsmen on the planet. Even when you consider he gave up his most productive years, he was great purely as an athlete. Ali was the champ multiple times during an era without a doubt was the most competitive in boxing history.
His true greatness was in not compromising on something he believed in so strongly that he risked his career, fame, fortune and freedom. Perhaps this does not seem like a big deal with the passage of time, but find an athlete or any person on the planet in this day and age willing to do that. (There is no one!) The stance Ali took at the time was not popular, but in retrospect, Ali was right; why should he fight the Vietcong when they had done anything to threaten the U.S., while Blacks did not have equal rights here in America. And, as conscientious objector, he did not lie or make up anything, he did not run to Canada...his objection was on religious grounds, he was honest, upfront and willing to accept the penalty.
Ali was flamboyant and had a big mouth, while this of type behavior irks some people, I don't have a problem with it if you can back it up, which he did. Because of his big mouth, he was the world's greatest promoter for an event and went from the most hated athlete to the most beloved. People will accept your flamboyance when you are really good at what you do. And, for Black Americans, Ali was the first person most of them ever saw stand up to White people and speak his mind...this is something that you would probably have be a 50+ Black person to fully understand.
I won’t taught Ali whole life and career, you can read about that in books, but he was generous to a fault, he divorced 3 times, all of them without a prenup and was never taken to court by an ex-wife. He has assisted the U.S. government in geopolitical issues and been a great U.S. goodwill ambassador. Ali was far from perfect, he had had some of the same flaws you find in a lot of men, but he was never associated with drugs, drinking, guns any legal or antisocial issues and lived an exemplary life outside of the public arena. People like people, who are real, who stand for something and aren’t afraid to make their opinions known. And, even if you don’t agree with everything he did, you have to respect a man who stands strong in their convictions.
Ali, didn’t do anything that changed the world, but he is certainly a historical figure and deserving of his place in the world. - Hopefully this helps.