Muhammad Ali Called Himself "The Greatest"

Self-promotion; he knew it would sell tickets. He watched Gorgeous George, the wrestler, saw how many people hated him - and paid money to see him get beat. Ali was all about the money; fighting just happened to be the ticket, and he was frankly head and shoulders above most of his opposition ... but nobody's invincible. And Joe just had the will and the heart to prove it.

 

Ali calling himself 'the greatest' was a promotional tactic and nothing else. Ali himself admitted it later in his life. So many guys have done things similar to what Ali did, Mayweather being one of them. Nobody really believed Ali was invincible. In fact, very few people ascribed the 'invincible' tag to any heavyweight boxer except to you-know-who.

 

I have not seen many fighters go into press conferences leading up to a big fight holding up 2 fingers and demurely proclaiming, "I'm #2, I'm #2" It just wouldn't wash at the box office.

 

At 18 Ali was telling everyone he was the greatest that takes some balls, all things considered he probably is the greatest Heavyweight in history so he wasn’t lying

 

I do believe that Ali won two of the three fights with Frazier, proving himself at the end of the day to have been the superior fighter.

 

Ali saying he was the greatest of times (don't forget the s, the s is important) was a promotional tactic. Ali himself said that he doesn't believe himself to be the greatest, and that Robinson holds that title. You're whole post seems to be "If he's the greatest then how come he lost?" which can also be used against Joe Louis. It's just silly Mayweather fan esque logic.

 

For the same reason Mayweather referred to himself as the TBE. Self promotion.

 

He's a got a fair claim as actually being the greatest. I'm not sure anyone since could take him in the form he was the night he fought Cleveland Williams.

But all his boasting was to sell tickets and psych out opponents.

 

Part self promotion & I feel he believed he was the greatest

 

There's no such thing as being unbeatable, in any sport (or endeavor, period).

Not having any circumstance under which you can lose (wrong opponent with the wrong style on the wrong night) =/= being the greatest at something.

 

Being the Greatest doesn’t necessarily mean being unbeatable.

It can simply mean you can beat the most of the best of the rest as compared to other ATGs.

Ali’s a funny one.

Yes, he did admit that he didn’t believe all the stuff he said about himself - but bellowing I Am The Greatest also seemed to figure as a self affirming mantra throughout his career.

It also seemed that Ali was literally looking to a higher power to always see him through.

Even if such a higher power doesn’t exist - the pure belief alone can result in amazing and self fulfilling faith and confidence.

 

The greatest fighters the sport has ever produced, how I'd rank the top ten, Ali is p4p in that list, and Frazier isn't. I'm a bigger fan of Frazier. But one fight, one night, has never and will never be anything more than that, when comparing careers. I figure Ali is the greatest heavyweight. P4P, even as a youngish man, Ali actually, like Patterson and Louis, all said Robinson was the p4p greatest, FYI. But Robinson doesn't have any unbeatable myth, to anyone who isn't a child who thinks in fairy tales. No one does. So, I don't even know what you're talking about.

 

It wasn’t the best 70s version (73‘-74‘ was his 70s prime imo), let alone prime version of Ali. You should mention the 3 year lay off he had before the FOTC. Who knows, maybe without the exile, Ali would’ve outpoint Frazier in the FOTC?