The Thrilla in Manilla Documentary

[Lance Uppercut]

Match, I understand Vietnam wasn't popular, I understand Ali along with plenty of people (not just blacks) didn't want to go, I understand the racism that was going on at that time which is why I am anti-Ali....he was supposed to be a Civil Rights figure, Jesse Jackson hung out with him, Bryant Gumbel praised him.....but that was at the expense of Joe Frazier the epitome of who was being hurt at that time in history, and to not see the injustice that was done to Joe Frazier shows a bias that is idiotic. Joe Frazier grew up in South Carolina and I will tell you honestly one person to another, AT NO POINT IN HISTORY WOULD I WANT TO BE BLACK AND LIVE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. I would rather be in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, ANYWHERE other than South Carolina! He was poor, he got supported by a group of people that happened to be majority white (who hand the money at that point in time?) and because Ali berated Joe Frazier (a guy who helped Ali through the hard times of his being banned from boxing) Joe's kids got beat up in school just because they were Joe Frazier's kids.....how would that make you feel, being black, being shunned by people of your own race just because someone called you a name and apparently he had more credibility at the time, why I don't know.

Frazier did call Ali Cassius and other stuff but that was only in response to the stuff Ali was coming out with. It was not Ali's finest hour.

I am always shocked to find when we agree on something.


As for Joe Frazier calling Ali 'Cassius'...is that better or worse than calling a black person a "gorrilla", "Uncle Tom", or just plain ignorant. It's not like Frazier rolled out with the Family who owned Ali's relatives or anything. Muhammed Ali changed his name when he joined one of the dumbest fucking groups in the entire world the "Nation of Islam" a group of people who think that all muslims are black and the KKK is correct on segregation, and that the blue eyed white devil causes all the evil in the world...I think calling Ali 'Cassius' in hindsight ought to be considered a compliment along the lines of saying something like "I know you aren't THAT dumb Ali".

Two things about this Lyle, first and foremost, Ali grew up in Louisville Kentucky, which as I'm sure you know falls below the Mason Dixie line. There was only one state in the deep south that was clearly worse than all others, and that was the state that lead the country in lynchings, Mississippi. To say Ali had it easier than Frazier would be as dumb as saying Frazier had it easier than Ali. They were two Black men growing up in the south. And most importantly, Ali's uncle tom attacks on Frazier were fueled by the fact that he was not an advocate on Civil Rights, similarly to how O.J. Simpson came under fire for not being an outspoken advocate on civil rights. This was WHY Ali berrated him. Joe Frazier represented the establishment, in that he was allowed a shot at a title that was stripped from Ali by the establishment. Ali's mistake was that he thought Frazier was an uncle tom because he refused to speak out, but in reality he was just a simple man who did not have the social conciousness that Ali did. This is WHY Ali attacked him.

Frazier was the son of poor share cropper who used to beat him: Ali grew up in a middle class neighborhood with a nice family. I dont think anyone who knows their stories would disagree that Ali had an easyier upbringing.