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I remember watching this show when I was a kid and this is the first time I have watched it since... I know now that Ali didn't want to do the show as they tried to get him for years... Eamonn Andrews was a massive fan so they paid Ali alot of money to do the show... nice to step back in time to a point when Ali should have retired....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWZOBX1vE7A
well I just saw this thread and thught I'll watch that at weekend - just ended up watching it all the way through. Absoultely brilliant !
Never seen that before, cheer Saddo.
Bit confused re Frazier though - didn't he hate him at this point ?!?
That was brilliant seeing Frasier and Ali getting on so well, Ali seemed overwhelmed by everything. Joe Louis was there too.
I think Ali was thinking the same thing :-XQuote:
Originally Posted by Mark TKO
No that was real love. Frazier helped Ali when he was broke and in exile. Ali did seem genuinely moved and it was great seeing the old time fighters and trainers.
I read Ali's book he released just after the foreman win and he devotes a whole chapter just on that car ride.... Ali told a totally different story about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
not read that book for along time but Ali basically said Fraizer helped him out and he was shocked that Fraizer really thought he could beat Ali.
he also mentions that they stopped, got out of the car and a shitload of people started surrounding ali after autographs and the like... pushing past the then heavyweight champion without even knowing who he was... fraizer didn't like that at all.
but Ali was full of fraizers praise.
I think it was Fraizer who held the grudge.. which is quite sad if true because him foreman and Ali made the best era of heavyweight boxing bar NONE :cool:
I read that book too, it was 500 + pages and Frazier did help Ali out with some money. I agree maybe Fraizer took the jibes personally which was easy to do because they were very harsh but those men shared a ring and fought to their near death. If that does not get each others respect nothing would have. Still a beautiful moment between them two.
I noticed during the program they mentioned that it hadn't been too long since Ali regained the HW title from Leon Spinks in 1978, so the "This is your Life" show for Ali would have aired in 1978 or 1979. A year or so before Ali came out of "retirement" to fight Larry Holmes in Oct 1980. Prior to the fight with Holmes, Ali had already started struggling with vocal stutters and trembling hands, but got a clearance from the Mayo Clinic, that declared him fit to fight Holmes, sad shit.
In re: Frazier's appearance on the show, this was 3 years after the "Thrilla" in 1975, Joe's last fight with Ali, maybe Frazier was just trying to be a good guy or something, who knows.
It's always sad to see Ali looking so vibrant in his younger days, and so frail now. I know it could be said that Ali lived a great life, and/or 100 lifetimes compared to most of us, but that doesn't make his condition now any less tragic.
That either happened before the 2nd fight @MSG or the 3rd fight in Manilla, my guess is, it was before the 2nd fight at Madison Square Garden. Howard Cosell looked like he was going to piss himself when the scuffle broke out, I remember watching that live. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust
Ali was a great fighter, but at times he could be an asshole as a human being. I just always saw Ali as an entertainer and never took a lot of the social/political shit that came out of his mouth seriously. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with his fans, revered by millions of boxing fans all over the world and loathed by millions of others.
he did alot of fucked up things in his life---rude and hurtful and mean things---bordering on cruel---very hypocritical for amna who was supposed to be a moral Muslim human rights activist etc.... picking on his black brothers and calling them gorilla and monkey and ugly and uncle tom and you name it---quite rude and hurtful and it reaklly did hurt peoples feeligns. Joe Frazier for sure had his feeling shurt several times. It was not all hype and fight promo---it was genuine meanness that Ali used---some OK I will admit was to psyche out his ooponents but he went too far and really racially abused several black fighters---then later he would retract his words and then late again go back and insult several fighters. He was also quite abusive and rude to his wife and a big cheater as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mars_axThat either happened before the 2nd fight @MSG or the 3rd fight in Manilla, my guess is, it was before the 2nd fight at Madison Square Garden. Howard Cosell looked like he was going to piss himself when the scuffle broke out, I remember watching that live. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust
Ali was a great fighter, but at times he could be an asshole as a human being. I just always saw Ali as an entertainer and never took a lot of the social/political shit that came out of his mouth seriously. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with his fans, revered by millions of boxing fans all over the world and loathed by millions of others.
I say he had his moments of glory but at other times he STANK to high heaven with hypocrisy and boorishness. Also his big fucking mouth and braggadoccio really came back to get him poetically didnt it now?
@brocktonblockbust - I always hated that gay shit that went on between Ali and Howard Cosell, I thought the two were going to blow each other, or probably did.
Life has a way of eventually humbling all of us, no-matter how great we might think we are, Ali went from being king of the world to a frail physical train wreck who can't wipe his own ass. I think it's sad and tragic, and I feel empathy for Ali as a human being, but i'm sure there's more then a few who feel like what comes around goes around, and Ali got what he deserved.
Ali was the greatest heavyweight ever and people do not appreciate that because of the outside behaviour.
Jack Johnson smokes Ali in 6.Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
anyway I agree his 2 careers are astounding---Ali the lightning bolt and then Ali the flat footed rope a doper----both champions!
Never see that kind of versatility again.