Who was a bigger superstar: Ali in the 70s or Tyson in the 80s-mid 90s

Yes, it's amazing how many world wide people Floyd Mayweather knows.

 

Ali was worldwide larger because of his international crossover Muslim appeal but Tyson was generating much , much bigger money domestically factoring for inflation ... not even close.

 

BULLSHYTE!! Tyson packed the newly modeled Tokyo Dome against Tony Tubbs in 1988. Everyone around the world knew who he was in only his third year as a professional fighter!!

 

Ali was known worldwide, Africa, the entire Far East, the Middle East .. he would have packed city streets in Egypt, Uganda, Buenos Aires, ... you're simply wrong, Tyson was a fighter, Ali a global icon.

 

I'm quite sure Tyson is known in those same countries. Only way of knowing for sure is to take a survey with the inhabitants.

Ali is more known but Tyson's not far off. They're the 2 most popular fighters of all time. Dempsey, Louis and possibly Marciano are close behind.

 

And it wasn't just political leaders. He was palling around with the biggest celebrities of the 70s like Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, and John Travolta.

 

I loved the Rock, but I don't think he could feel a stadium in Africa or some far off country that is not America or Europe.

 

There are 1.9 billion Muslims. Of course there were less in the 1970s. Muhammad Ali was the most well known Muslim beside the Prophet Mohammed. When he met with Gandhi, Brezhnev, Deng Xiaoping, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford he was meeting with the leaders of the four most populous nations in the world who represented well over half of its inhabitants.

 

The whole notion of Aryan supremacy in sporting events was insane. Had Hitler... just not seen what happens when black men compete in sporting events? Was nobody there aware? The US had racial issues in sports for a long time, but at no point was any of it around some delusional notion of "white men are better at this stuff", it was "we don't want black men winning these prestigious events and they will if we let them compete, so let's prohibit them".

 

People knew that Jack Johnson could thump the likes of Tommy Burns. I am sure around 1905 or 04 Johnson Jeffries fight would be 50 50 either way maybe. But it was still a major risk Johnson would walk out as champ. Same goes for Harry Wills, I may think Dempsey could beat Wills, but Wills was still a major risk for other black champ. Peter Jackson may have that 61 round draw vs Corbett, but why take the risk to lose a rematch??? I think really the only white champ to prove himself was really Rocky Marciano and he does not get the credit he should get for that.

 

The only Rock who could fill a stadium anywhere in the world is Dwayne Johnson if they held WrestleMania in Africa or some far off place.

 

And as a boxing fan and big fan of Rocky Marciano, that really hurts to know the truth lol.

 

Fun Fact-When Jimmy Carter was negotiating the Camp David Accords with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat Carter and Sadat took time our to watch Ali-Spinks ll together. Oh, to have been in that room.

 

The same, but even better, was done by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

 

I don’t know about that. A Boxing match is a fight…that’s a lot more symbolically powerful than a race to me.