R.I.P. Muhammad Ali

That is sad news indeed. Possibly the greatest, a real showman and a lovable character.

RIP

Simply the greatest of all times...... he truly ''shook up the world''

Greatest sportsman of my lifetime and an inspirational human being. RIP.

''Oh my God, he's won the title back at 32!'

As a kid i grew up watching and listening to this great human being. Not only was he simply the greatest boxer i have ever seen  he was a wonderful humanitarian. He was highly intelligent, poetic and a just man. The world is a poorer place without him.

something we have been expecting for many years but still very very sad ,by some way the greatest sportsman i have or will ever see ,he had everything ,he was a huge part of my teenage years as boxing a long with football were my two favorite sports back then ,the build up to the ali fights were great memories as were the fights themselves,nowadays derby day is my favorite day of the year and it has now become the day i learned of his death rip great man and thank you for the many many happy memories

Couldn't have put it better myself Foxy. The 20th Century's greatest sporting icon whose reach and influence was not confined solely to boxing.

Absolutely Johnny Mustang - At his prime he was THE most famous person on the planet.  How many sportsmen/women could lay claim to that?..

Quite simply he was the greatest of them all

I agree with foxy about his influence & what boxing was in those days - there will never be another like him

Agreed. R.I.P to the greatest boxer ever, and a true champion, in every respect.

He had a positive impact on the world through his love and his courage. A true hero. A very sad day.

football thread doesn't paint him in such good light..........myself I always thought of him as a great person and a great boxer.......very sad day

Football forum full of knuckle dragging cretins.

Very , very sad news indeed . I hope now he's at peace without pain. Without doubt the greatest sportsman to have lived.

I am a white person and colour shouldn't come into it.. Before Ali white folk were not interested in what black people did and he changed all that and he went a step further.. White people respected a black man in the 1960s in America that was unheard off. All Ali spoke of was peace. Very sad his passing.

As Ali wrote on a golden glove for Elvis ... Elvis you are the greatest

Now they can be together again.

Seems like yesterday,I can remember my dad kennelling up the the coal fire and watching the first ever  satellite broadcast on a wee black and white telly ,Sonny Listen versus no hoper Cassius Clay.
    "I was born to be great. I am great and I will be greater - the greatest Cassius Clay"
And so he was.
"No yellow man ever called me a n1gger" was one of his reasons for refusing to be drafted to Vietnam.
For me that is his epithet.

never heard anyone say anything bad about ali till I read the forum...........always thought of him as a man of peace

if only the people of the world could have that attitude today mmmalushka.

Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was outspoken about many political issues, including his opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali was drafted in 1966 and called up for induction in 1967, however he refused to answer to his name or take the oath. This led to Ali’s arrest and conviction, later overturned on appeal by the US Supreme Court. In March 1967, one month before his scheduled military induction, Ali explained why he would not be enlisting to fight in Vietnam:

    “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

    No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.

    But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…

    If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years.”

He was'nt only just the Greatest he was much more than that.

I'm gutted. The greatest sportsman that I have ever seen. What a man.

pity he couldn't have enjoyed a more healthy retirement

The man was a genius, not only the greatest boxer ever but a master with words plus wit. He also had a marvellous singing voice.
He would have been great at whatever he chose to do tbh.
His presence was second to none. His like will never be seen again. RIP the great ALI!

"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."

"Archie's been living off the fat of the land; I'm here to give him his pension plan." Before fighting the venerable Archie Moore.

"Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons." Before fighting world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in February 1964.

"Why, Chump, I bet you scare yourself to death just starin' in the mirror. You ugly bear! You ain't never fought nobody but tramps and has-beens. You call yourself a world champion? You're too old and slow to be champion!"

"I'll hit Liston with so many punches from so many angles he'll think he's surrounded."

"I'll beat him so bad, he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on." Before beating Floyd Patterson in 1965.

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses,behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights"

"I'm going to do to Buster what the Indians did to Custer." Before beating Buster Mathis in November 1971.

"I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life." After losing to Ken Norton in 1973.

"You say I'm not the man I was 10 years ago. Well, I talked to your wife and she says you're not the man you were 10 years ago!" Ali to legendary boxing commentator Howard Cosell.

"I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won." Before knocking out Foreman in their famed 'Rumble in the Jungle' clash in 1974

Thanks for the memories Muhammed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdY4RBIF9kk

The Greatest! Enough said.

cardifffc    04 Jun 16 09:19 
never heard anyone say anything bad about ali till I read the forum...........always thought of him as a man of peace


?????

footie forum..........have you got senile dementia facts

He was an amateur magician too.

A great man.

Sad News,i am only left with One Hero Now......Hang on in there Lester.

" Im so quick, i turned the light off in my hotel room last night and was in bed before the room was dark "

brilliant

I'm so mean i make medicine sick.

"I am the greatest, i said that before i even knew i was "

No yellow man ever called him a n*gger , yet he thought it was all right to call Joe Frazier "uncle t0m ", typical double standard yank.

A great sportsman but let us not forget he was in favour of racial segregation when it came to relationships

Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest of All Time'!

R.I.P.

A great Darts player as well!
At an exhibition match at the Gipsy Stadium, in England, in July 1977, Muhammed Ali faced former Welsh champ Alan Evans. With Evans scoring only on triples, Ali won hitting a bullseye on the way out and immediately proclaimed himself darts champion of the world.

When Cassius says a mouse can outrun a horse,
Don’t ask how; put your money where your mouse is!

Classic we shall never see, hear or enjoy his like again ! He 'ruled' in a golden age of heavyweight boxing. How lucky all those were who witnessed his unique talents. RIP.

those were the days when boxing really was the biggest show in town

Ernie Terrell made the mistake of calling Ali his former room mate Clay on several occasions, for that Ali gave his opponent a most savage beating& the whole time during the fight saying to Terrell " whats my name, what's my name " this was Ali at his meanest for this 1967 fight and as someone put it "  Ali would never be that good again and, sadly, Terrell would never be the same again"

I know this will sound like bollox, but I met him briefly in a casino in brum in the 80's no more than a shake of the hand, but I met the man, to be honest he had a pretty vacant expression on his face even then, America is mourning the death of a muslim, has Donald trump had anything to say about it I wonder, RIP Champ

No yellow man ever called him a n*gger , yet he thought it was all right to call Joe Frazier "uncle t0m ", typical double standard yank.

And Michael Parkinson didn't know what the term "Uncle Tom" meant, and thought Ali was calling Frazier a "Peeping Tom"... Classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK5JEkGixS4

Skip the ad ...... uless ya skinto 

R.I.P BIG MAN

People are entitled to their opinion ... But to call him a racist.. People used to say Elvis was racist too. Ali fought for his beliefs that doesn't make him racist.

noun
1.
a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.

diff..........he was against mixed marriages..........if a white person said it he would be called a racist??

Sounds silly I know but if we have a life after this one, it would be no surprise to me if we found out he had been sent by his God to give black people back their self respect and show them a path to freedom.

I was 15 when he won his gold medal and 18 when he fought Henry Cooper. My mates and myself had our ears to the radio in the early hours and not because we all had a fiver each @ 8-1 but because we had followed him since the olympics, never seen anything like him before or since he was a hero's hero and certainly the most different man I have seen.
R.I.P

The 8-1 was when he fought Sonny Liston, it was if we had inside info we were so certain

sent by god