Muhammad Ali and the balance of fandom on this site

I'd say Bokaj worships the ground Ali shuffles on. I severely dislike Ali as a person, and I think it's justified given his bashing of his competition. I'm also not really a fan of fighters clowning in the ring, although I understand it's purpose.

The negativity is a combination of a bunch of things IMO. response to some of Ali's behavior, ideological differences(muslim, liberal etc), perceptions of his skill as being overblown or perhaps incomplete, and maybe individual judgments of his opposition.

Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that there is always a perception that 60's-70's heavies are somehow objectively the best overall combination of skill,athleticism and size, and H2H ability. It's not surprising that there's some backlash against Ali as the leader of that pack and as a controversial figure.

My advice?

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I rate him up with the very best heavyweights of all-time. Joe Louis would be my number 1. But that's just preference. I also like Ali, Johnson, Dempsey, Holmes, Marciano. I don't dispute the orthodoxy or the canon of heavyweight greats. I'm not a revisionist at all.
Ali can easily be number 1.

Still, I think Ali's powers and significance, inside and outside the ring, often get exaggerated. I was a huge fan of just about everything Muhammad Ali did and said when I was 14. I also used to think Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison were God-like figures too at that age. Now I'm much older and just a regular fan. Ali was a phenomenal athlete and an interesting and outspoken figure. He's an icon of the 20th century whose fame and popularity hit insane proportions.

Some people truly are "Legends", and with any legend there is a great degree of mythology and quasi-religious reverence that simply cannot be an accurate portrait of the real person behind it all. And with a little research into the real person the reputation of the legend is inevitably diminished.
I believe there's far more substance to Muhammad Ali than to other 20th century icons such Monroe and Elvis, and he didn't have to die young to become a legend.

Of course, stepping back from the legend and my teenaged hero-worship, and sharing my adult opinions on this forum probably gets me labelled a "hater" or a man with an "anti-Ali agenda".

But Muhammad Ali is always an interesting subject so there are no losers. It's not like we have to post on topics we don't want to post on. I prefer an Ali argument, even with nonsense emanating from every opinionated ******* on this site (myself included), to much of the other arguments on this site, arguments over lists and score cards. Ali's career brings lively input to this forum. He's not the only fighter who does that, but he's certainly one of the foremost.

 

I hope my Joe Frazier threads havent contributed to this theory of yours becuase they were purely about me bumming Joe Frazier. Nothing anti-Ali at all. He's without a doubt the no.1 HW for me. And also the no.2 P4P ATG for me.

 

Hahahahahahahaha you've became what you hate, somebody who hates on the mainstream fighters!!!!!!!!!

Nightmare for you there you ****ing *****.

 

what's it called ?

 

Pachilles' nightmare.

Nah really, i can't remember, it was very interesting though, had some emotional conversations with Marvis

 

:rofl

 

Seriously, what was it called ?

 

Jesus Christ teeto, is it the breaking of the beaver dam for you or something? You've been aggressively cursing as much as i do recently and it doesnt suit you at all.

 

I'm just in a funny mood mate, i'm like this in reality though. Normally esb is my escape where i can discuss boxing in depth so i'm serious, but i've been on here for so long that i've just started to **** around a bit now. I must have posted in the lounge as much as the classic the past few months. I've went mainstream