"The Greatest" is still with us! Happy 67th, Ali!

Great thread and tribute, great OP Prime. Agree with everything you said. For those of us who came of age during the Ali Time, there is no question that he was unique in the ring and in his life. He was/is a stand-up guy with courage of his convictions. Beatable of course, the Greatest Heavyweight of all time, debatable, a character incapable of missteps, not no, but hell no! But who is?

I was barely old enough to know anything about anything when he came onto the scene like a burst of sunshine, a figure in bold brave color in a drab, black and white world. But I knew about him. I knew he had a big mouth, or so it was said. Was cocky and verbose, a braggart and a jester, in a sport that worshiped the humility of Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. I'd heard that he was outrageous, a black man with the audacity to not know his place, to stand as tall and proud and defiant as any white man and not only that, but he actually believed, or so he said repeatedly, that he would better the singularly dangerous Sonny Liston... not once but twice!

As we grew up in those days, the Hippie days, the Civil Rights days, the Woodstock days, with an appointment in Southeast Asia waiting for us,we filed into one group or the other: those that saw this new way of thinking as an overdue dawning, and those who saw it as a travesty of a sham. Ali, as much as anybody represented the former, and for those of us who knew in our every fiber that it was truth and not con, risky and courageous not a path of less resistance, Ali was an example of supreme self-sacrifice, a guy who restored your faith. I was thankful then and I'm thankful now. We are tempted to mourn him, he is all but lost to us. But how surprised would any of us be to find out that under that oblique mask is the same sharp mind as ever. Weathered and wise, silent, not by necessity but by choice, could be Ali said all there was to say, all anybody should have to say in a lifetime...

Happy Birthday Muhummad. Thanks.

 

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About 35 years ago ,I hitch hiked around quite a bit of the world. I came across Ali's photo in ramshackle tin houses ,in countries like Algeria,Tunisia,Morrocco,out of the way goat farms in the Atlas Mountains,all kinds of places. I never saw a picture of any of the other Sportsman mentioned here.Ali went beyond Sports,and made it possible for those who followed ,like Leonard and ODH, to make the big bucks.
Calling Ali a legend is one instance where you can't be accused of hyperbole.imo.

 

yes. Happy birthday Mr Ali. You have inspired millions and I´m one of them, your fights and strong believe in your self has inspired me so much in this sport.
There will never come another boxer like you again.
The Predator

 

................Happy birthday to the greatest heavyweight ever, at least as I see it. The greatest on so many levels.

I too tire of the constant barrage of hyperbole we read and hear on the man, but it's done for a reason; he was bigger than his sport; hell, he was bigger than sports. His impact was THAT large. The single biggest sports figure in history, bar none, and he had the mettle to back up that lofty title. He brought the sport we all love into the mainstream and introduced it to legions of people who otherwise would not have noticed the squared circle at all.

Here's to a good many more birthdays for him. He truly earned his place in the sun.

 

Happy B-Day Ali.