Speaking as the neighbour of a man devastated by Parkinsons disease, I find it unthinkable that a decent human being could feel anything but empathy for someone whose body and mind has betrayed them in such a complete way. When my neighbour Tony pushed his alarm button and his wife was at work I would get a phone call informing me he had pushed it. I would have to go in with a key and see if he had fallen and many times lift him off the floor or the toilet because he simply could not do it himself. What was even more apparent was his difficulty in communicating any wishes after Parkinson's had left him locked in a shell.

That does not mean Ali should be worshipped or his life made out to be something that it wasn't. He had great wit and had the bravery to stand by his convictions but like any man was also beset by flaws. After Muhammed refused to fight in the Vietnam war, Joe Frazier whilst holding different political views than Ali, petitioned the president himself to allow Ali to have his fight license re-instated. Joe refused to fight in the elimination tournament to replace Ali. What did Ali the supposed greatest sportsman of all time do to show his gratitude?

Accused Joe of being a white champion with Black skin, an Uncle Tom and then of being ignorant and a Gorilla. Years later Ali, infact 11 years ago Ali finally apologized to the New York Times and Joe's response was

"He didn't apologize to me -- he apologized to the paper I'm still waiting for him to say it to me."

So what was Ali's witty retort this time

"If you see Frazier, you tell him he's still a gorilla."

 He also denigrated Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall, he said a lot of stupid things calling for the lynching of interracial couples, bemoaning the lack of an American apartheid, and saying

"No intelligent black man or black woman in his or her right black mind wants white boys and white girls coming to their homes to marry their black sons and daughters."

Does that sound like a role model to you? What a guy? We all say stupid stuff, particularly when we are young but Ali made a habit of it, even admitted that he would say it just to sell tickets, because that's how little respect for the paying public he had.

You can be outrageous without being spiteful. The nation of Islam of which he was part ( not to be confused with Islam) preached hatred and racism none of the attributes that Ali is credited for. He praised dictators and is seen by many as deserting Malcolm X before his assassination.Unity and peace, you must be joking.

All of the positive messages eschewed by the foundation set up in his name have happened after he could no longer express himself and the image of him as an ambassador for peace is a media construct.

For many it will seem like Blasphemy but the facts are all out there and easy to find, even exhaustively researched pro Ali books like Thomas Hauser's biography can not be read with an open mind without seeing a huge gulf between peoples idea of Ali and the real man. He was a great entertainer and remains a polarizing character who history will not forget, but that does not mean he was a greater man than many other boxers or entertainers. I will not patronize him by thinking he is great because he struggles on despite his disability, that is not what disabled people want. There is no arguing for me that will prove he was not a great. I can not even argue that his trilogy of fights with Smokin Joe Frazier, culminating in the brutal hot hell of Manilla, do not represent the greatest televised fight series ever screened, but as a man and boxer, for me,he is certainly not the greatest.