Can anyone tell me why Muhammad Ali is so revered outside the ring?

While Ali was part of an organisation that was seen to hate white people, Ali himself seemed to get along with white sports reporters and TV hosts just fine. Most of his hateful comments were directed to his black opponents more so than his white opponents (esp Frazier who did not deserve it at all).

I think Ali wanted to be liked by white fans and while he claimed to support segregation I think he liked the attention of all his white fans and sports writers in America and across the globe. I don't think Ali was ever rude to any white fans who came up to him . Malcolm X before he left the Nation of Islam pretty much told white people who came up to him that he wanted nothing to do with them even if they supported the civil rights movement.

I think it was his charisma and the fact he made a lot of black people feel proud about themselves at a time where they were being treated like dirt. Also at the time I believe it was any African American's right to refuse the draft regardless of religion.
Think about it you are in a country where you are not allowed the same rights as others due to the colour of your skin, yet you are expected to go fight some people on the other side of the globe who you know nothing about so they can apparently have freedom that you are not even granted in your own home country, even though your people (ancestors) helped build that country for free!

 

i think growing up in that day an age was hard on most young men no matter the race.

Ali and Malcom were very similar in some ways....that era was rough on everybody...alot more on others obviously.....so opinions and beliefs were geared towards what was going on....that has to be taken into account.

 

Do some research Ali's family wasn't doing bad when he was a kid this is my point for some reason people keep making things up that are just not true.

 

From what he did in the ring was nothing short of amazing but how he treated Fraizer was just plain ****ed up !

 

Just because they were a bit better off than others doesn't mean that Ali wasn't subject to racism. And it's not like the Clays were rich or anything, either.

 

Because on top of the controversy he could fight.

 

Ali was quite obnoxious towards Frazier.

Joe Frazier came from a rough upbringing, if anyone did.

 

Anyone saying otherwise is a fool. This was the key to his success.

 

Muhammad Ali was this big good-looking guy who was an entertaining, amusing talker, a natural showman. And he could fight too.

When you have that combination it doesn't matter if you're an idiot racist or politically ignorant or degrading to women or whatever else he might have been.

He looked the part. He talked the part. He fought the part.

 

No Klitschsko fan hiding in sheeps clothing can get people to hate Ali now. And when you bring up karma or pay back, that won't get the K brothers to ever rank higher than him, sorry.

 

Well here we go who was in a more racist situation growing up Ali or Joe?Ali was basically middle-class Joe's family was share croopers ,I wish people would look some things up and not go by what they heard.

 

Racism existed above and below the Mason-Dixon Line moron.

 

Racism is racism, regardless of socio-economic status.

Joe faced his share of racism, and faced additional hardship due to his financial situation. But if you think for one second that Ali didn't face his share of prejudice in that time, in spite of being better off, then you're the one making things up.

 

Yes it did but the degrees are different now if you can't understand that we know who the moron is.

 

I see you don't get it in the 50s as a black man would you want to be in Chicago or Jackson Mississippi?