Originally Posted by landmine950
We live in an age where political correctness has taken on bile inducing levels. History is often rewritten to change facts from different eras to make them more palatable to modern day sensabilities.
Seeing a shaking and drooling Ali, a once champion boxer and well known personality,reduced to the mental ability of a cooked turnip certainly invokes feelings of sadness and even pity.
BUT, those feelings should not be allowed to blur the facts about Ali.
In an attempt to provide some balance to the often sugarcoated fawnings that so often accompany the name Ali among boxing circles I am re-presenting a bit I shared about Ali. These are not my personal opinions about the man, just simple historic facts. As much loved as he is today,at one time he was the most disliked and even hated sports figure in the world.
If I may be allowed to offer a few minor corrections,regarding what are normally presented and accepted as have presented as "FACTS."
1) " Ali was stripped of from his title due to racism"
actual fact.
April 29, 1967
New York Lifts Crown in Swift Move
By THOMAS ROGERS
Only a few hours after he had refused to be inducted yesterday into the armed forces of the United States, Cassius Clay was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing championship by the major governing authorities of the sport in this country and Europe.
The New York State Athletic Commission, in a statement issued by Edwin B. Dooley, the chairman, announced it had "unanimously decided to suspend his [Clay's] boxing license indefinitely and to withdraw recognition of him as world heavyweight champion."
Mr. Dooley said, "His refusal to enter the service is regarded by the commission to be detrimental to the best interests of boxing."
Please note that regardless of an individuals opinion this action at the time was a crime. furthermore.
He was also convicted for refusing induction into the army and sentenced to five years in prison.
Ali said "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers."
Based on this it might be assumed that Ali would fight in a JIhad or "holy war" against the American "unbelievers" such as Is the inspiration and justification for the 9-11 attacks
2) Ali is a very intelligent and intellectual person
In 1964, Ali failed the Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were subpar.
His poems and rhymes were considered juvenile and simple minded.
3) He is often presented as being one of the kindest,nicest people ever,even taking on "Gandhi" like attributes
On February 6, 1967, Ali returned to a Houston boxing ring to fight Terrell in what became one of the uglier fights in boxing. Terrell had angered Ali by calling him Clay, and the champion vowed to punish him for this insult. During the fight, Ali kept shouting at his opponent, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... What's my name." Terrell suffered 15 rounds of brutal punishment, losing 13 of 15 rounds on two judges' scorecards, but Ali did not knock him out. Analysts, including several who spoke to ESPN on the sports channel's "Ali Rap" special, speculated that the fight only continued because Ali chose not to end it, choosing instead to further punish Terrell. After the fight, Tex Maule wrote, "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty."
Prior his fight against George Foreman Ali coached and lead the locals to chant against his fellow African American "Ali boombyay"
which is literally translated Ali...kill him
4) Ali was political leader along side Malcolm X ,and was a black rights leader not unlike Martin Luther King
fact:
Malcolm X instructed his peopleto distance themselves from the brash, Ali until after the Liston fight, just in case he lost
Ali was a simple minded person who was manipulated by Malcom X and used as a publicity pawn for the Anti-American Black Muslim movement. (This is my opinion.)
Here's my reasoning.
Ali was named after his father Cassius Clay Sr. who was named after a famous Anti-Slavery hero. This man was and is Respected and Honoured by Black Activists both then and Now. heres a bit about him.
He opposed the annexation of Texas, supported Henry Clay, and served in the Mexican-American War. He was an opponent of slavery and supported Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. In 1861, after the outbreak of the Civil War, President Lincoln nominated Clay for the post of ambassador to Spain, but Clay declined the appointment.[3] From 1861 to 1862, and from 1863 to 1869, he was Minister to Russia, where he was influential in the negotiations to purchase Alaska. In 1886 he published his speeches, edited by Horace Greeley. In 1896 he was prominent as a "gold" Democrat.
His colorful and violent career as an outspoken emancipation's (wanting to end slavery) in a slave-holding region included owning and publishing the True American, an antislavery newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky (moved to Cincinnati, Ohio), and has been chronicled in both his autobiography and in a much later biography. During the Wickliffe–Garret Davis debate at Russell's Cave Spring in 1843, Clay was attacked by a hired assassin named Samuel Brown. Brown shot Clay in the chest, but Clay defended himself vigorously, cutting his attacker's nose off and cutting out an eye with a Bowie knife. Clay sponsored his friend Rev. John G. Fee's abolitionist ministry in Madison County, Kentucky, and indirectly contributed to Fee's founding of the town of Berea and of Berea College.
Clay died July 22, 1903. Survivors included his daughter, the women's rights activist Laura Clay. His family home, White Hall, is now maintained by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as White Hall State Historic Shrine.
The world-famous professional boxer Muhammad Ali was originally named Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., who was named for the emancipation's.
The name of Ali's father and Ali Jr were taken as a sign of respect and affirmation of one heroic man's fight against slavery...however..
Malcolm X provided Clay with the name Cassius X, discarding his surname as a "symbol of his ancestors' enslavement."
When In fact it was just the opposite.
On Friday, March 6, 1964 Malcolm X announced that Clay would be granted his "X." That same night, Elijah Muhammad recorded a statement over the phone to be played over the radio that Clay would be renamed Muhammad (the prophet of Islam) Ali.
No instruction is given in any form in the Qur'an (the Muslim bible) for the "granting" or changing of names by any religious instructor over any other believer.
In Conclusion.. this discussion may be a bit "deep" for some of you younger members here. BUT always look at the facts and make your own informed determinations about things.
Statements about Ali being the greatest boxer, sports personality and even greatest person to ever live.....are simply ridiculous,stupid,moronic and totally foolish......everyone should know by now that that kind of a title for a boxer could only be applied to..... NICOLAI VALUEV!
(just kidding on the last part for those of you I lost there!)
