Muhammad Ali the Greatest RIP Legend

[powerpuncher]

He is a huge reason I got into boxing. He was way before my time but my dad got me some VHS's years ago of his fights and I was hooked on boxing ever since. I will be forever grateful for him getting me into the sport I love. Even though I mean nothing to him personally, he has affected my life.

He will always be the greatest to me.

[johnsebastianmiran]

He brought freshness to an old sport and made it new again changing the face of boxing and leading others to stardom. Where it was gloomy he made it fun and just when everything seemed normal again there is a vacancy in the world where he used to live. One of the hardest things for any man to do is hold his dignity enduring dark times but he made it to the light. All the years that have past since he accomplished what he dreamed of they still call out his name and that was a dream come true. Blessings to you. There was always more than what met the eye.

[Batman]

Talking about him just yesterday at work, we were saying how he's done well to live with the parkinsons for as long as he did, I said then that he didn't have long left.

I also watched my old Ali boxset just last night in preparation.

It's a shame and a big loss but it wasn't unexpected

[Gandalf]

Ali was an amazing fighter and had an ability to think outside the box that I respect. He was one of those few fighters that could really make you think and even if you disagreed with him, you at least had to respect him for what he achieved in the ring.

[THE THIRD MAN]

The man who created the "superfight". . It's tough to argue that anyone could have embodied the 60s and 70s better than Ali, he was as famous as the Beatles, James Bond etc I don't really know what to say....IMO he was a great man.

[Mark TKO]

Nothing much I can add or say that hasnt been already.

Loved Ali a long time before I loved boxing

Was very upset when I saw the news this morning

The Greatest

[Master]

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah reads his 'Ode to Muhammad Ali', a tribute to 'The Greatest' as the former three-time world heavyweight champion is buried on Friday.

Tens of thousands of people are set to say a final farewell to Ali in his home city of Louisville in Kentucky.

The heavyweight champion and rights activist died last Friday aged 74.

A procession will take Ali's body past key sites in his life, ahead of an interfaith memorial service.

Actor Will Smith and ex-boxer Lennox Lewis will be among the pallbearers, while former President Bill Clinton will deliver one of the eulogies.

Muhammad Ali: Benjamin Zephaniah's 'ode' to legendary boxer - BBC Sport

[Master]

[Primo Carnera]

The ultimate sporting Icon, and as such, there will always be people who don't like him or have bad things to say about him, but what cannot be denied is the impact he had not only on Sport , but the whole World.
So to the people who don't like or don't rate Ali, I would ask "have you impacted with the World with your life as much as he has?"
RIP. xxx

[Andre]

[Britkid]

An excellent fighter; only Joe Louis is close to him as a Heavyweight. As a worldwide icon perhaps only Mandela and Gandhi were equals.

To quote Angelo Dundee:

"Muhammad ruined us for everybody. He was great outside [the ring]; he was great inside. We got so accustomed to it we thought we deserved it."

[imp]

The true TBE

[X]

Size, speed, athleticism, endurance, excitement, nerve and guts, chin. The complete package in the ring. Ducked absolutely nobody and defused many of the most fearsome fighters to ever step into a ring.

But it's outside the ring where he elevated himself beyond greatness. Entertainment, stunning charisma, humour, warmth, humanity and pride.

My one and only hero. Rest in peace champ. Your ghost will haunt every heavyweight for all time.

[Beanz]

The Greatest, the term itself exceeds hyperbole and yet you can no longer hear it without thinking of one man, that is how enormous the legacy of Muhammad Ali is. It is often said, (and get used to it as you will be hearing it a lot in the days that follow) that he transcended sport, that he transcended boxing, and that he was the most famous man on the planet. The 20th Century is not the same place without Ail but you can not divorce who he is , his impact and legacy from the noble art that provided him with the motivation, platform and reason to become who he was.

If you want to know more about the man I could not recommend more highly, two books, David Remnick’s 'King of the World' and Thomas Hauser’s seminal 'His life and times'. Better still watch the 41 rounds he shared with Joe Frazier and some of his other epic battles between the ropes. There is a story that Ali tells in his own book 'The Soul of a Butterfly' of a recurring dream he had when younger. In it he dreamed of running down the main street in Louisville when a truck would drive straight towards him. Rather than getting out of the way he ran straight at it and arms waving took off flying over the oncoming vehicle whilst people stood clapped and cheered. It was to become the way he lived his life. He ducked no obstacle and stood and faced challenge after seemingly insurmountable challenge, using each contest as springboard to get higher and higher until eventually he was able to soar.

At this point I have to declare that as a boxing fan I do not along with many, many others consider Ali to be the Greatest boxer, he is possibly not even the greatest heavyweight and no, I do not consider him the greatest sportsman either. He was though, without doubt an incredible human being who elevated and inspired so many other people and used his position to stick two fingers up to the establishment. He was a fantastic entertainer, a fighter whose graceful and eloquent physical prowess put him up there amongst the greatest the sport has ever seen. His quick tongue and unceasing humour even in the face of great adversity is a lesson for us all, and the world is a flatter and duller place without a character that could light up the faces of people across generations, ethnic, and social classes. He was the people's champion in much more than heavyweight boxing and in countless ways he will never be matched or transcended. He was a pioneer, a punk rock pugilist who tore up the rule book and invented a persona that fearlessly ripped apart so many sham conventions and punctured many a pompous ego. Rest in Peace Champ. There will never be another one like you.