3 minutes in this video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waoyZNJZ7lI&annotation_id=annotation_503026&feature=iv Joe asks "now do I look like a bear?" Ali replies, specifically for Joe and not for the camera or Parki and the other guy, "that's just for publicity, you know you don't look like a bear" I presume that goes for Gorilla and whatever else.
You had to be there, Cachi. He had his faults (who doesn't). But he was a great human being. And still is. BTW, regarding Terrell and Patterson, Ali was genuinely pissed off at both of them. One refused to call him by his chosen name and the other stated he was going to win back the title for America. So yes, he tortured both a bit, and in his eyes, they deserved it. Furthermore he was a young buck then, and not the most mature or developed in his character. By the time he fought Frazier in Manila, he was 33. And he never had a moment's anger at Frazier at any stage of his career. Ali's outlook on Frazier should not be lumped in with his outlook on Ernie and Floyd. As somebody already mentioned, that river of bad blood flowed in one direction.
The point is that this guy is trying to paint Ali as a kind of person that he wasn't. You can justify what Ali said or did or not as you like, but he was a man capalble of tremendous cruelty, anger, and hubris. And everything was always, all the time, about Ali. The idea that he wanted the gloves cut out of altruism towards poor Joe Frazier is absurd ot the extreme. It was not the kind of man he was. It was not how he thought of or treated otehr people.
I don't buy the threadstarter's theory. Neither Ali, nor any other champ, is going to stop a fight at the end of 14 from compassion.
He Prob wanted the gloves cut off because one he was exsausted from the 125 degree weather and two the body work of frazier !
look at this illiterate ****ing *******, obviously can't tell chicken salad from chicken ****. if he didn't have **** for brains he'd realise that lifting weights was just an example i used to illustrate giving up under physical exhaustion (know what "e.g." means dip****?) and yes, boxing is more gruelling than weightlifting which validates my point that it's not inconceivable that ali wanted to quit, which is the whole point of this thread. he goes to a ****ing boxing gym and thinks he's sonny ****ing liston all of a sudden. he's obviously an inbred ****** who's been gang-raped by bodybuilders.