Ali

[stew]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

[trileacman]

I presume Ali got badly needed money for these appearances.

I would fear it was his "handlers" who reaped the most rewards.

[BennyHarp]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

He told people that he was the greatest, but then went out and proved that he was on numerous occasions.

[stew]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

He told people that he was the greatest, but then went out and proved that he was on numerous occasions.

True however he proved a few times that he was not the greatest a fair few times as well.

Jake La Motta, now if you want to talk about greatness.

[BennyHarp]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

He told people that he was the greatest, but then went out and proved that he was on numerous occasions.

True however he proved a few times that he was not the greatest a fair few times as well.

Jake La Motta, now if you want to talk about greatness.

Boxers will always have the fight which is one too many - unfortunately Ali had 2 or 3 too many which he may be paying for now.

[stew]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

He told people that he was the greatest, but then went out and proved that he was on numerous occasions.

True however he proved a few times that he was not the greatest a fair few times as well.

Jake La Motta, now if you want to talk about greatness.

Boxers will always have the fight which is one too many - unfortunately Ali had 2 or 3 too many which he may be paying for now.

LaMotta was incredible as was the original rocky, who went 49-0, he died real young however, 45 or 46 I think, to me  these two are the greatest boxers ever.

Boxing is more corrupt than cycling or football, it is a shame to see it as it is now compared to  a few decades ago, the Hagler, Hearns, Sugar Ray, Duran era was incredible for boxing, those days are long, long gone.

[Minder]

I would say there is someone behind Ali, be it family or "advisers", that will wring every penny out of his appearances until he is in a box.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him wheeled out on his hospital bed to some event.

[muppet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Kilbane

His folks were from Achill.

[CiKe]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

Hard to define a greatest sportsman - not like you can compare a golfer against a boxer.

Jim Thorpe would be up there, Ali was a marketing genius, he told people he was the greatest and they bought it.

He told people that he was the greatest, but then went out and proved that he was on numerous occasions.

True however he proved a few times that he was not the greatest a fair few times as well.

Jake La Motta, now if you want to talk about greatness.

Boxers will always have the fight which is one too many - unfortunately Ali had 2 or 3 too many which he may be paying for now.

LaMotta was incredible as was the original rocky, who went 49-0, he died real young however, 45 or 46 I think, to me  these two are the greatest boxers ever.

Boxing is more corrupt than cycling or football, it is a shame to see it as it is now compared to  a few decades ago, the Hagler, Hearns, Sugar Ray, Duran era was incredible for boxing, those days are long, long gone.

La Motta? Sugar Ray...in spite of calling himself the Greatest, Ali cited SRR as greatest of all time.

[Wildweasel74]

Thorpe was good alright, didnt mention him as i thought no body would have knew him

[Wildweasel74]

Sugar ray beat la motta 5 times, to be honest he was nothing short of a hood. Read his book, the film plain sailing compared to it. Raped his wife, mugging some man and put in him a coma for a long time, the word sportman wouldnt come close. In reality Ali made boxing what it is, and was the sole real for the explosion of the NFL, basketball etc in money terms,
the truth is Sugar Ray Robinson was a better boxer than him, possible Henry Armstrong, and benny leonard also, but heavyweight is the level at all boxers are measured, and he was far and away the best i seen. Only 1 man trouble him ken Norton due to a strange crab like defensive style. He would have hammered frazier if he hadnt a 3/12 yr layoff from boxing, but the stance he took during the vietnam war was a real he became so famous. was most hated man in america cause he wouldn't go. America likes to rewrite its history on that little fact and make out he was always so admired.

[Declan]

Sugar ray beat la motta 5 times, to be honest he was nothing short of a hood. Read his book, the film plain sailing compared to it. Raped his wife, mugging some man and put in him a coma for a long time, the word sportman wouldnt come close. In reality Ali made boxing what it is, and was the sole real for the explosion of the NFL, basketball etc in money terms,
the truth is Sugar Ray Robinson was a better boxer than him, possible Henry Armstrong, and benny leonard also, but heavyweight is the level at all boxers are measured, and he was far and away the best i seen. Only 1 man trouble him ken Norton due to a strange crab like defensive style. He would have hammered frazier if he hadnt a 3/12 yr layoff from boxing, but the stance he took during the vietnam war was a real he became so famous. was most hated man in america cause he wouldn't go. America likes to rewrite its history on that little fact and make out he was always so admired.

+1

[Main Street]

Spot on,
the best boxing in that La Motta film, was in that scene where they were watching a 10 second movie clip of Sugar Ray in a boxing match.

[Syferus]

The story of Ali can't be told without Frazier. Smoking' Joe is my all-time favourite boxer and the only men ever to beat him in a boxing ring were Ali and Foreman and that in itself tells you plenty about him.

The Fight of the Century and the Thrilla in Manilla are the events that turned Ali's talk about being the 'Greatest' from empty boasting into a very real argument.

Amazing is the only way to discribe them in the ring together; they lifted each other to heights few ever reach in any sport.

[NAG1]

whos is on your opinion the greatest sportman of all time then saying u brought it up, Lewis? woods? jordan? pele? Messi? i would like to know?
cause i cannot see anyone who can compare up against him,
did make his name outside the ring alot more than any other sportsman but never ducked anybody unlike today boxers

WW Its all about opinions and I'm not devaluing your icon, just saying that he wouldnt have been mine, It has been said above just repeatedly saying you were the greatest ever, doesnt necessarily mean you are. Dont get me wrong he produced the goods when he needed too but so did others Lewis, Beaman, Pele and also Maradonna (Controversial but still applies).

So Im not sure that I have an Ultimate sporting Icon as I have a few but I still don't buy into the hype surrounding Ali.