I have been watching boxing since 1993 and since then have had the opportunity to watch many great fighters and the impact they have had. In addition, like many of you I have watched countless hours of old boxing footage from all the great from Robinson to Ali. Last night I sat my girlfriend down (doesn't watch boxing much) and I said, "Come here I'm gonna I want to show you a couple videos, I want to show you why I have come to love the sport so much". I decided to show her a couple highlight videos of Ali. In particular the following one: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnzofi_QltI[/ame] During the video I would pause it from time to time and give her history on some of the fights background information. She was impressed, she fell in love with his personality, his style etc. I mentioned to her the importance of some of the things he accomplished, about the era in which he fought etc. After watching that highlight video I showed her a more emotional video that talked about Life after boxing for Ali. It was the following video: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83VMQkKz0P0[/ame] By the end of the video you could tell she was sad. Here is a girl who before now had only heard his name. She became emotionally attached. After the video I took it a step further I showed her the following video: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgo_m6qN4I[/ame] The video is a clip at Muhammad Ali's 50th birthday when they showed his relationship with the great Howard Cosell. She got to witness some of the great interactions these two memorable individuals had with each other. At the end of video (Everyone should watch it) when Howard is talking sincerely to Muhammad Ali (Such an emotional moment) she began to cry she had tears streaming. I find it amazing how much of an impact these clips had on her. Have you guys ever sat a friend or family member and shared with them some of your favorite memories? Its going to be such a sad day when we lose Ali.
Ali is the face of boxing and the best heavy ever, of course he had a huge influence on the world and boxing and is one iof the biggest sports icons ever.
Your an idiot. Muhammad Ali is the greatest thing that ever happened to boxing and an icon of the last century. No heavyweight boxed like him before or has since and he was also the greatest at selling at fight and putting asses in chairs. How can you look at all these arrogant charisma lacking cheap copys out there today in boxing and say he didn't have an impact?
Ali's impact goes vastly beyond boxing. His refusal to be drafted and saying "I got nothing against them Viet Cong, they never called me Ni**er" was first derided by white America, then praised when more people saw the War on Vietnam as corrupt, and then some, when it was revealed that the so-called Gulf Of Tonkin incident never happened, and that the "comma-nists" (as LBJ pronounced it) did not land in Hawaii and California after South Vietnam fell. And the USA has been happy to trade and interact lately with the Communist Govt. All a sham that Ali saw through. Not falling for the brainwashing is very relevant in today's "Wars".
Preach man! He was and continues to be a great man! I saw a video where he saved a man who wanted to commit suicide... Here it is... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNuTex1jZB4&sns=em[/ame]
Yes, that was one of many honorable moments in Ali's life and character. See him running at the beginning, as every second counted in trying to save the man's life. You can also see in the video about Michael Watson's tragedy and recovery--"Fighting Back"--that Ali flew out to see Watson in the hospital and Watson credited that in helping him to recover.
You're welcome. Was that in Part 5 of the 5-parts on youtube? A great documentary on the Watson tragedy and recovery!