If a Prime Ali & Prime Tyson were in the same era, who would win the popularity/global fame contest?

I agree completely, as I think you see fof.
It was one thing to renege on crawling across the ring to kiss Frazier's feet like he promised if he lost the FOTC.
But after all his vicious & humiliating comments that betrayed all the kindness shown by Frazier...
To only send his son to Frazier, never beg his forgiveness in person, showed a major sin of hubris & narcissism.

 

It's Ali, and it's not even close. The man made George Foreman look uncharismatic. George Foreman!

Tyson has some sort of appeal for his quirks/lunacy, but in general he means something only to people who lived through the brief era when he seemed like an unstoppable force. He's the badass who got a tattoo on his face. Ali is an actual hero to people. In general, I doubt that even Tyson's biggest fans see him as a hero. You think Tyson will ever light the Olympic torch?

Mentioned earlier in the thread was that Ali gets a pass for some of his questionable views, especially on race, but that's the thing. Tyson is a man whose flaws are a major part of his image. Ali's stature is such that the flaws never became part of his image (part of this is that Ali had believed problematic things, whereas Tyson did problematic things).

I'll give Tyson this, though: as quotable as Ali was, he never said anything as wonderful as "He called me a ****** and a recluse. I'm not a recluse."

 

Thank you for the kind words.

Those links are truly telling of a lot of the things many people forget about Ali he was incredibly human indeed.

 

Muhammad admitted several years ago that he took his act too far with Joe. I've read quite a few reports of them both making peace with it all at some function.

As for the topic of the thread - Ali easily. Tyson's always been well known by the non boxing fan but he's never hit the mainstream like Ali did. No Tyson v Superman comics or cartoon shows.
There was also Muhammad's appeal to the female populous. He was always a sex symbol.

 

Jesse Ventura talking about Ali.

This content is protected

 

No one will ever get near globally.
We should be honoured to have lived through it.

 

Actually Stevie, Tyson did have his own cartoon show. It aired a few years ago.
Forget the name though.
Also Tyson had a video game called 'Mike Tyson's Punch Out' which was wildly successful and one of the best-selling games of it's generation. It still is popular even today.

The video game character Balrog, from the game 'Street Fighter II' was modeled after Mike, in the creator's own words.
The character was originally called M. Bison but for whatever reason they changed it to Balrog.

Tyson was also everywhere in the 80's, in magazines. I'm talking mainstream magazines, not boxing magazines. It wasn't always for the wrong reasons. If Tyson farted, it was printed somewhere.

Also we can't forget he has crossover appeal with MMA fans, which is quite unusual.

What I'm saying is, is that I don't think the gap is all that large.
If there's any two fighters that have genuine generational, world-wide fame, it's these two guys.
Whomever the next guy is, he's not even remotely close.

These are also a list of comics Tyson has appeared in, though he never starred in his own comic. (Yet)
[url]https://comicvine.gamespot.com/mike-tyson/4005-36797/issues-cover/[/url]

 

He is right, less is more.... keep well.

 

Other than Football stars (Soccer) Ali was and probably is the most recognized athlete in the
history of all sports world wide, and loved.
Tyson was a force of nature in his prime. But his personality was usually sour. ( He did
have moments of graciousness.)
Personality wise it's no contest. Ali wins that hands down. If they fought in the same era
and if Tyson did ko Ali, he'd still lose the popularity vote.

 

I hope an ending to the instigation thread may be soon, indirectly it sounds more like a scratched record of a Muhammad Ali vs Mike Tyson thread, meant to cause dissention among us mature posters, Let Mike live in peace and Ali rest in peace, enough already.

 

Tyson would always be better to watch but Ali wins the charisma and motormouth competition and its not even close.

 

Ali was not anti racist............far from it...check out the Playboy interview...........Ali WAS a racist, fine by me , it's a free world and the US Supreme Court ruled that being Racist is not a violation.

Ali was witty but not smart , big difference, always influenced by Marxists and used as a pawn by the Nation............from Malcolm X to the nation ALI was always under some kind of Marxist guidance....................Black Panthers, Weather Underground, Baader-Meinhof, Red Brigades ,IRA, BLM etc etc were/are all fueld by Marxist ideology.

Ali was never treated like a N****r. Sonny Liston was......his stance in the Vietnam war was purely dictated by Communist in the US and on US and European Universities under written by so called "Intellectuals" who are Commies in camouflage ............wearing T shirts or hanging pictures of Mass Murderess Mao and Che were/are the "in" thing to do to this day.............the threat of Communism/Marxism is very alive today and peddled by mainstream non stop.

 

There is a lot of truth in your first 2 paragraphs. Although in real life, how he acted, Ali was not racist-save for his race-baiting of Frazier.
But the third paragraph is false.
Ali was hated in part for white reactionary/racist reasons.
It is also an ancient & absurd assumption by the right that anyone on the left-or academia-are secretly communists. Using "commies" as a crude insult is a tell tell sign. In modern times, while the right under Trump is often super-cozy with dictators & monsters like Putin, they peddle insane lies such as about Antifa, such as some actually believe that they were impersonating Trump supporters when having an insurrection to overthrow the duly elected government.

You are correct that *some* on the left have been blind about Monsters on "their" side such as Mao.
Just as Conservatives support US allies who have been evil.
I do not know why you label Che a mass murderer.

 

I never realised a lot of this,Fists. Thanks for the info.

 

Tyson by a mile. He was more spectacular performer than Ali. That transcends even the biggest **** talkers. Mike's speed and power at his peak were a sight to behold..