I dunno - in the 80s, other US sports stars like Carl Lewis [for a year or so either side of the olympics]/Michael Jordan, or, in Europe/South America Diego Maradona were just as well known, in entertainment Michael Jackson was certainly better known, etc. But in the 60s, Ali's global fame dwarfed that of all other sports stars [e.g. Wilt Chamberlain, Pele, etc] and just about rivalled that of the top entertainment people.
I think Ali If his health had never deteriorated before his death? this wouldn't even be a question Though Tyson is a monster and his name is in folk lore "Feel like I went 3 rounds with Mike Tyson"
Everyone knows who Mike Tyson is, just as everyone knows who Ali is. They are equally as famous at the moment. Although give it a decade, and Mike Tyson may edge ahead as more famous. As at that point Ali becomes like Marciano is today, there is barely anyone alive who saw him fight live.
Nah, He was a controversial figure in the 60s but he weren’t that famous outside the US especially to the majority of global people who either didn’t own a TV back then or had any interest in boxing and American affairs or politics. It was only in the 70s with so many people having access to color TVs that Ali along with the likes of Frazier and Foreman was really able to capture the imagination of people worldwide and Ali especially was able to really play up to the audience that they got. That’s why they call that time the golden age of the heavyweights and the heavyweight title was called the biggest prize in sport.
Ali is definitely above, but Tyson might seem like he edges it only because he is far more recent. But there was a time when Ali's name reverberated across all media and all domains. Tyson is my fav though, the embodiment of destruction.
Another thing is that Tyson didn't really have any 'superfights', not really, not like Rumble/Thriller. Part of the reason for this is that he wasn't really all that serious a sporting figure by the time of the Holyfield and certainly the Lewis fight. Only my perception, and I was fairly young at the time, plus of course Tyson was only just getting going, but in terms of wider media interest Hagler/Leonard in '87 seemed bigger than for any of Tyson's fights - whereas it'd have been impossible for any other fight in Ali's day to come close to his biggest.
Does it depend on how old you are? I feel like the majority of people older than 45 would say Ali and those younger would say Tyson. This isn’t based on anything but my gut feeling.
Strangely enough, despite his many past misdemeanours and criminal convictions, he is probably more popular now than he ever was and it’s not just from nostalgic old boxing fans remembering what exciting impact on the sport he had when he was fighting. There does seem to be people both in boxing and outside that are genuinely pleased that he seems to have found peace and stability in his life in retirement.
Look at this paper. Ali outstrips the likes of Prince or Castro, each of whom achieved global fame: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6034871/ I ran the numbers for Tyson and he was between Alan Rickman and Harper Lee