Ali

[HiMucker]

Im going to be controversial.  Roger Federer.  Read his book.  Fantastic sportsman and it wasnt always the case.  Started off a very bad loser.  Absolutely love Ali all the same

[nrico2006]

There are other boxers at different weight levels who have a case for being a better boxer than Ali, but people seem to be influenced by the nostalgia and glamour of heavweight boxers and give them a place above the rest.  There are loads of other sportsmen who were more dominant in their sports than Ali was.  He was one of the best Heavyweights ever, possibly the best and he would be up there in the best pound for pound fighters ever.

[HiMucker]

The "Rock" is the most elctrifying man in sports entertaiment.  To date I may add

[Nally Stand]

Larry Reilly.

[seafoid]

Ali was the one who said "Ain't no Viet Cong ever called me nigger"

Up there with the greatest of political statements.

[HiMucker]

Ali was the one who said "Ain't no Viet Cong ever called me nigger"

Up there with the greatest of political statements.

Hardy would pull him up for using a double neagtive though!

I thought his quote about "a man who views the world the same at 60 as he did at 30 has just wasted 30 years of life" or something to that affect was very good. 

[Hardy]

Ali was the one who said "Ain't no Viet Cong ever called me nigger"

Up there with the greatest of political statements.

Hardy would pull him up for using a double neagtive though!

I thought his quote about "a man who views the world the same at 60 as he did at 30 has just wasted 30 years of life" or something to that affect was very good. 

I'd let Ali away with a lot, in fairness. Even his racism doesn't outweigh the greatness on the other side of the scale.

What I want to know is why Lennox Lewis is being touted here as one of the greatest sportsmen ever.

[BennyHarp]

Ali missed three and a half of his best years in the ring. I would imagine that length of time out of any sport would take its toll but in boxing it must be huge to lose these years. To come back and achieve what he achieved, all the while telling people he was the greatest is one of the best sporting tales of my lifetime. So whether or not he was the greatest sportsman of all time is a completely unanswerable question, but what cant be disputed is the impact he had on not only his sport but on society in general. For me though, he was the greatest.

[deiseach]

With Ali, you had to have been there. And I wasn't there. Shorn of the socio-political environment in which he lived, and with the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World meaning very little these days, it just doesn't resonate to those who didn't live through it.

[Main Street]

And Ali made it to Croke Park.

[BennyHarp]

And Ali made it to Croke Park.

An enjoyable read about Ali's fight in Croker

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3484739

[nrico2006]

Ali was the one who said "Ain't no Viet Cong ever called me nigger"

Up there with the greatest of political statements.

Hardy would pull him up for using a double neagtive though!

I thought his quote about "a man who views the world the same at 60 as he did at 30 has just wasted 30 years of life" or something to that affect was very good. 

I'd let Ali away with a lot, in fairness. Even his racism doesn't outweigh the greatness on the other side of the scale.

What I want to know is why Lennox Lewis is being touted here as one of the greatest sportsmen ever.

I have read a lot of articles recently where Lewis has been described as one of the greatest heavyweights ever etc, but in my opinion he was a solid boxer who had a physical advantage over a lot of fighters.  He was beaten by two bums, and was lucky to get a decision against Vitali Klitschko and was afraid to give him a rematch.  In saying that, one of the articles I read was by that tube Glen McCrory who said that Lewis dominated the Heavyweight division for a generation and was the most fearsome man he ever got into a ring with. 

http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,,13275_8455823,00.html

[nrico2006]

I have read a lot of articles recently where Lewis has been described as one of the greatest heavyweights ever etc, but in my opinion he was just a solid boxer who had a physical advantage over a lot of fighters.  He was beaten by two bums, and was lucky to get a decision against Vitali Klitschko and was afraid to give him a rematch.  In saying that, one of the articles I read was by that tube Glen McCrory who said that Lewis dominated the Heavyweight division for a generation and was the most fearsome man he ever got into a ring with. 

http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,,13275_8455823,00.html

[BennyHarp]

I have read a lot of articles recently where Lewis has been described as one of the greatest heavyweights ever etc, but in my opinion he was just a solid boxer who had a physical advantage over a lot of fighters.  He was beaten by two bums, and was lucky to get a decision against Vitali Klitschko and was afraid to give him a rematch.  In saying that, one of the articles I read was by that tube Glen McCrory who said that Lewis dominated the Heavyweight division for a generation and was the most fearsome man he ever got into a ring with. 

http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,,13275_8455823,00.html

Are you sure you didnt just read the same article twice? 

[Canalman]

Ali was the one who said "Ain't no Viet Cong ever called me nigger"

Up there with the greatest of political statements.

In fairness Seafóid, he also very nastily insulted Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson and most criminally imvho Joe Louis. Said some hurtful things about them which didn't do him any credit.

Could never warm to MA at all  as a result.