Muhammad Ali in serious condition

The great boxer may be losing his last fight in hospital surrounded by family.

 How can we forget "Sting like a bee, float like a butterfly." To me he'll always be "The Greatest"

Definitely the greatest heavy weight ever... nobody has ever disputed that...

and very likeable too (outside the ring)

https://youtu.be/-m8vcyknr3Y

Also on a lighter moment

Ali, Smokin' Joe and George Foreman on talk show...funny

https://youtu.be/qDLuO8eis3o

He changed the way we think of his sport that is the sign of a true champion. 
Glad all his talent is captured on film and available via the internet as the contrast between him today & our memories of him in the ring is great & sad.
I just heard that he passed away
The greatest passes away

 RIP to the one and only...Muhammad Ali.

RIP Muhammad Ali

Another huge chapter in boxing closes...he will never be forgotten.

One of our local Hillcrest resident, used to own the old Hillcrest Hotel... Ray De Vries knew him fairly well. Ray is involved in public relations and event coordination based in Umhlanga Rocks, was an organiser of the Comrades and Dusi sometime back...not sure if he's still involved...haven't seen him around for sometime.

But he discovered Willie Mtolo in a little township in Underberg...Willie as most of you know won the New York Marathon when Ray took him over and it was there that Ray met the great legend and they became acquainted. Ray has told many of us about MA...his character and many things that very few know. He was a humble man...this might jarr some of you but Ali when he was young boasted and ranted only for promotion and draw card reasons...only show...he confessed later that he never believed he was the greatest...he gave great praise to his opponents. He was extremely brave and marched to the beat of his own drum...he battled with his delibating condition but was adamant that boxing never caused this condition...a fighter to the end.

 Sad.
Another person of a special era leaves us.
I suddenly feel old today.
RIP Champ!!

 When I was a kid myself and half the boys in school would wag it for the day when Ali was fighting ,heck even my Nanna knew who the World heavyweight champ was .His last fight I remember taking half a day off with the rest of our shearing gang to watch him something unheard of among Kiwi shearers .But then that scumbag don king turned the sweet science into a joke  .B ut watch Ali-Frazier if you want to see real men going hammer and tongs ,as Ali said "it felt like dying " but what a way to go eh ? 

 Sad - May he rest in peace. 

Favorite Ali quote... "I told you I am the greatest, not the smartest."

 Here's another...
I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others. Muhammad Ali

Lovely Denny, from what I heard from Ray  that's the real Muhammed Ali at heart.

You were to boxing as the late Jonah Lomu was to our sport...big strong men, gentle in the treatment of others off the field but terrors in your arenas.

 " If a man views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 he's wasted 30 years of his life "

Well said...thanks for that Mr Wardaddy.

It's just a pity that wisdom comes at a price of the sacrifice of years.

Sometimes, I often question why we are so stupid when we are young and scorn our elders and then go on to repeat the same mistakes our forefathers made.

When will we ever learn

It happens in every generation.

Muhammad Ali:
“I ain’t draft dodging. I ain’t burning no flag. I ain’t running to Canada. I’m staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain’t going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I’ll die right here, right now, fightin’ you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won’t even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for my right here at home." 

Guts, pure guts...not a follower of the herd.

 Ummm ... there are those that remain as thick and ignorant as they were 30 years back.
Of course none are to be found on this board.

Ali took incredible punishment in winning those titles, well documented in the Thrilla in Manila. But equally brutal was the Rumble in the Jungle, where Foreman, possibly the heaviest puncher of all time hit him with the kitchen sink for 6 rounds.
My favourite Ali fight is the one against Ernie Shavers another huge bomber. Ali wasn't all that engaged and just kept getting hit by huge right hands. And in the final round when he seemed ready to fold, he launched a vicious attack on Shavers and left him hanging on in the end.
Many of his superb skills were gone by the time he fought Frazier the first time, but his fighter's heart carried him through 6 more years.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhINe13biw

I missed most of the great boxers but would like to have seen Ali and Tyson fight. 

 The Tyson/Lennox Lewis fight was something of a proxy. Tall boxer vs short puncher. But Lennox had a bigger punch than Ali and by then Tyson's reflexes were shot. Tyson at his peak was certainly more formidable than Joe Frazier.
In the end Ali found a way to unravel every opponent except Holmes.

 Holmes it must be said was Ali's old sparring partner, Ali was way past his best by the time of that fight.....his feet had stopped dancing. I've always believed an Ali vs Tyson would have been a no contest with Ali holding the shorter Tyson at bay with his lightning quick left jab. The  boxing world was robbed of Ali at his best when he was stripped of his title and banned from boxing......it was a different Ali who reappeared three and a half years later. The man proved that beyond any shadow of doubt when he demolished Foreman who had devastated everyone else including Smoking Joe. No-one went more than two rounds with George.

Throw a punch in rugby and you'll receive a guaranteed red card that could get you banned for at least a week or more. More punches in subsequent matches and you could be banned for life.Boxing is just the complete opposite. The purpose there is to create enough brain damage which will disable your opponent's ability to defend himself or even lose complete control of his mobility/agility... a very cruel sport indeed.  

 To be fair .. Ali was a 103 when he fought Holmes ... way past his best ... and then he spent most of the fight applying the "rope a dope" which I though to be rather foolish at the time.
Holmes became champ during a very lean period in heavy weight boxing. I never rated him as anything special.
Smokin Joe was a favourite of mind. Absolute gentleman. 
Tyson was fearsome and would have loved to see him up against the likes of Joe, Ali and George Foreman.
What an awesome era. So sad we've never seen the likes since.
  

 If I remember correctly, Ali did not land a single punch in his fight with Holmes....way, way past his best. And yes Holmes stepped into the vacuum created with the retirement of Ali, Joe and Foreman. I almost forgot Ken Norton who was a damn fine boxer. It was the golden era of heavyweight boxing, I doubt we'll see another.

You won't see another...that was the Golden Age of boxing not only in HW but also in the lighter and middle catergories which extended to the 80'S as well. Sugar Ray Leonard,Marvelou s Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran to name a few...even our Brian Mitchell...the best boxer we're ever had.

 The only thing Ali did that really p!ssed me off was the way he treated Frazier calling him an uncle Tom and a gorrilla  .I think in later years Ali made an apology of sorts but too late .That fight with Frazier was the most brutal bout I have ever seen ,and that includes all that mma bizzo  which is as nothing in comparison .14 rounds in 50 c heat ,just before the 15th Fraziers corner threw in the towel just before Ali quit .As Ali said it was the closest he had come to dying.

Ali made a lot of mistakes and was very human...he was no saint but after he retired he mellowed a lot and became a gentleman...he was a good friend of all his opponents later and did a lot of charity work...he was a very outspoken character and his mouth often landed him in big trouble but to those who really knew him well, he was full of good attributes...he was a kind man but never a man to flatter and exaggerate he kept his distance (as in the ring) and was extremely intelligent. But the strongest quality he had was his courage...

 

 What George Foreman said about Ali
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The fighters of today don't even come close or compare to previous fighters.
For most today, it's not about their own personal legacy in the ring, and that's why some don't ever fight the best in their own divisions.
It's all about the money....