Iconic sportsman and personality. His record is immense... and you think he wasnt allowed to box for what was probably his best 3 years!! He virtually invented sledging in sport. Nearly every boxer since has tried to emulate. In lesser hands it comes across as crass but with him the one-liners oozed class and charisma. Fcking funny too.
His greatest achievement was standing up to the US government. "My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me n*****, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. ... Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail." RIP.
Yep, for me he was an even bigger political figure than he was a simply a boxer. Even though he was groundbreaking in his sport, he used his platform to challenge a racist America. 'I am America' he once said. Forcing it to see a black Muslim man as one of their own.
Brilliant at the one-liners but also famous for his poetry. I remember seeing the film about the Rumble in the Jungle, and someone described how he was giving a speech to students at Harvard and when asked to give a poem, he delivered what they said is the shortest poem... Me, We
RIP. I'll probably get hate for this but... Ali in his prime vs Tyson in his prime... one winner. Tyson. However, Ali's career pissed all over Tyson's. Legend
I missed what Piers said? I think due to his recent death people will lean towards Ali. However, Tyson in my opinion was an absolute machine in his prime. No-one comes close. Monster... which funnily enough was his downfall. But over their careers you'd have to go with Ali. Tyson just exploded and went nuts.
Have to disagree. I remember Ali. Unfortunately, a lot of his prime was lost - from 25-29 fighting the US Gvt. But in his prime, Tyson would have been chasing shadows.
I'd listen to anyone older than me on the subject of Ali and I'll be 64 in a few months and been a sports enthusiast for as long as I can remember ...... And I have a good memory . The U.S Goverment made it hard for Ali to put even a bigger stamp on " The Greatest " when they kicked him out of boxing for 3 prime years ....when it was the U.S. Goverment that should have been kicked out of somewhere .
.. more disdain and incredulity than hate ... Foreman in his prime would have put Tyson away rather easily ... Ali put Foreman away (in Foreman's prime) ... and that is all.
