Yeah, I seriously doubt it's anywhere near the scale of Diana's death, mourning and funeral. Understandably, because Ali's death was no big shock or surprise, he was an old man and had been very ill for 30 years.
Diana! we are not talking about mass hysteria, whipped up by the fore-lock tugging media and the circus of a soap opera life. Ali was a Titan, not just a pretty face that I saw fight twice in person at MSG in 1971 & '72.
But .... It's all nonsense. Unlike yourself, most of the people who think Ali was great (and I'm not saying he wasn't) never saw him or met him and don't actually know anything about him. They care nothing for boxing and don't have a clue about what Ali really stood for. They are mostly sheep, no different to the hordes of people who "loved" Princess Diana.
This isn't about why someone is more popular than someone else, rather it's about the size of the funeral and the commotion regarding their deaths. You and Clinton are wrong, end of story. Diana's funeral and the TV coverage associated with it was on a whole different level than Ali's, not that I'm trying to disparage the guy. Now had Ali died in his mid 30's under suspect conditions, it may very well have approached hers.
With all due respect Van, Diana Spenser had nothing to do with boxing or Muhammed Ali. And the thread began as a thread discussing Lennox Lewis being a pallbearer at Muhammed Ali's funeral. It did not start out as being, "...the size of the funeral and the commotion regarding their deaths." We are not wrong about what we wrote. However, if you were offended by what I wrote, my intention was not to offend anybody.
I'm not offended in the least, just responding to post #115 and comments related to it. And I agree, neither that post, or responses to it, have anything to do with boxing or Ali. Like you, I'm all for honoring the guy and giving him his just praises. :good
I was just thinking, I remember when Ali was doing those Dean Martin roasts back in the mid 70's. Those roasts were absolutely hilarious.
The only thing I envy about Murica is it's ELECTED president, as opposed to Britains selected prime minister, but lets get real here. Soap Opera's do NOT go on for 600 years or more.
What an amazing scene today. I doubt we'll see anything like this for a long time. Elvis, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, it's irrelevant who was the bigger deal. They were icons that became a part of most people's lives. A person may not have been a fan of one of them but they definitely knew who they were. I can't think of anyone left with that type of appeal. I remember being a child in the 70's & 80's. Everyone watched the same TV shows. Now, we have a channel devoted to every genre. Pop culture is so segmented now. Every person has their "own thing". We have more entertainment options than ever before. That's great but it will be much more difficult for a figure like Ali, who was the center of the sports world for years, to be produced.