Never heard of Wilt Chamberlain but I know that no basketball player no matter how big or athletically gifted is going to beat Ali. It’s simply a preposterous notion.
Ya, it was initially intended to happen in 1967 shortly before Ali was forced into exile i believe. The idea was brought up again in 1972 since Ali was back on the scene. It was scheduled for 10, and supposedly Ali's "trash talk" scared Chamberlain out of the match. Chamberlain had trained under Cus D'Amato at one point actually.
Roy was known more for his athletic ability than actual skill. When his athletic ability went, his skills and IQ were nowhere to be found.
Being great at basketball or tennis and being able to run or swim fast doesn't really prepare you for being punched in the face and the stomach while trying to do the same thing to the man who's doing it to you. There is a story, possibly apocryphal, that D'Amato also wanted to train Jimmy Jacobs (then a champion handball player and later Mike Tyson's manager) to win a world boxing championship in his first ever fight. The story goes that when they made the proposal to Archie Moore, Moore turned down the offer, saying: "there are two possibilities: either you win or I kill you, and both are intolerable to me."
Stop with this, any man who is at least a bit interested in sports know Wilt Chamberlain. I'm from Poland and I know a lot of people who know Wilt.
How about the female population. Ask the average woman in the U.K. who Wilt Chamberlain was and they wouldn't have the faintest idea. Ask any 20-30 something the same question over here and you would get the same answer. Now ask the above who Ali was........ It does not matter if either category had no interest in sports, they will all know Ali.....that's the difference.
I'm sure you can find a lot of people who don't know Ali either. Basketball doesn't exist in the UK basically, but it's more popular sport across the world. Besides, what is your point? That Ali was more marketable? Wilt was amazing player within his own sport (just as good as Ali) and he was magnificant athlete. Don't downgrade Wilt Chamberlain just because you live in the UK.
Sorry but I have better things to do with my time than being trolled in a circular debate by someone who likes to see his name in print.
Sometimes I wonder why I still use this site... Now I am trolling? Nobody knows who Harry Greb is but he was better boxer than Ali. Who cares?
never heard of Wilt getting scared of anything to be honest i know everyone in the NBA was terrified of him though