Meant to say "less to do with his boxing accomplishments". He was unique. He's not revered simply because of his boxing accomplishments. He is still in a short argument as one of the greatest heavyweights but his fame that lives on to this day is due to other aspects.
Ali along with MLK saved a generation of Americans by refusing induction into the US Army and declaring opposition to LBJ's genocide in Southeast Asia. MLK publically stated that LBJ's war "it is simply, genocide".
Imagine you're making a fighting game including ever historical athlete.
They have stats. Strength, speed, defense, stamina, motor skill. Ali would have close to the highest rating in ever stat. Not many others like him.
Riddick Bowe - most under-rated heavyweight boxerhttp://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=1640&cat=boxerAli was tactically smart. An outstanding entertainer & crowd pleaser. I highly doubt he was physically the best but his mental attributes carried him beyond his equals.I doubt Ali would survive today if all remained constant because the heavyweight division allows for an extra foot in height and 5 stone weight advantage.
hitmonlee wrote:
Imagine you're making a fighting game including ever historical athlete.
They have stats. Strength, speed, defense, stamina, motor skill. Ali would have close to the highest rating in ever stat. Not many others like him.
I apologize if what i am about to say has already been mentioned. I did not read the 109 previous posts.
Clay was a black kid who grew up poor in Louisville, KY during the late 50's & early 60's, a time of severe repression for poor people, and 1000 times more for poor black people. He showed generations of not just black, but all poor people, that everyone has the right to excel in whatever they choose, be proud of it, and shout it from the rooftop if you choose to do so. He was not the least bit embarrassed about who and what he was and this message permeated with many others, myself included. To see a young black man jam it in racist, white, rich America's face somehow made all things seem possible for everyone. I was not so poor that I didn't know where my next meal was, but I knew that I different than most in a lot of ways. Clay/Ali came along at the right time with the right attitude to provide hope to many. If he did that for kids like me and my friends, I can only imagine the effect he had for the African-Americans of the time. The man gets a free pass from me on any mistakes he may have made along the way. Even though he polarized a segment of society, he inspired an entire generation at the same time. "The Greatest" to many!
Being poor in Louisville in the 50’s-60’s depends on the definition of poor.
I recall a documentary of a black female singing group from the South, touring Britain in the early 60’s and their main observations were how poor the average English were, compared to their compatriots back in the States.
But back to Ali, if this case in point below is an example of the result of all his histrionics, I think you should have chosen wiser leaders over the years.
This below was written by Walter Williams and if America was to have a black president, why on earth couldn’t they have chosen someone like him?
“One definition given for insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results; it might also be a definition of stupidity. Let's look at some cities where large percentages of black Americans live under poor conditions.
Experiencing a violent crime rate of 2,137 per 100,000 of the population, Detroit is the nation's most dangerous city.
Rounding out Forbes magazine's 2012 list of the 10 most dangerous cities are St Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Baltimore; Stockton, Calif.; Cleveland; and Buffalo, N.Y.
The most common characteristic of these predominantly black cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations. Some cities — such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia — haven't elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. What's more is that in most of these cities, blacks have been mayors, chiefs of police, school superintendents and principals and have dominated city councils.
Today 72 percent of black babies are born out of wedlock.
Being born and finding out that your mother is 17 years old, that your grandmother is 35 and that you don't know who or where your father is is not a good start on life. In fact, it's a near guarantee for school dropout, poverty and crime, but such a start in life has nothing to do with racial discrimination.
Law-abiding poor black people suffer the nation's highest rates of criminal victimization from assaults and homicide.
Black education is a disaster, but who runs the violent, disruptive big-city schools, where education is all but impossible?
For the most part, it's not white people.
Go to a city such as Detroit and you'll find that blacks have been superintendents, principals and most of the teachers for years.
Most black high-school students, in Detroit and other cities, can't read, write and compute as well as sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade white students, but is it because of racism?
What the elite teach is not only futile but counterproductive. For example, speaking standard English in an English-speaking country is critical, but sloppy-minded academics and assorted hustlers have taught that poor English, gangsta rap, men wearing pigtails and thug behavior should not be criticized but become a part of the celebration of diversity.
Black people could benefit from an honest examination of the bill of goods they've been sold. Such an examination would not come from black politicians, civil rights leaders or the black and white liberal elite.
Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans in a constant state of grievance based on alleged racial discrimination.
The long-term solution for the problems that many black Americans face begins with an absolute rejection of the self-serving agenda of hustlers and poverty pimps.”