Tyson or Ali, who is/was more famous?

The population has nearly doubled since Ali’s peak world recognition, on social media nearly 15 million ppl know Mike Tyson and follow him on Twitter , Instagram and YouTube and grows consistently . I would find it hard pressed if you met anyone who didn’t know him unless they were from poor countries and or living under a rock with no contact to the social world or any form of media .


It’s simply impossible to claim Ali was more popular it’s just not realistic in a world of averaging above or about 8 billion it’s safe to assume more than half would know of him . About 25% of the worlds population is under 15 . That leaves a hell of a lot of ppl who are going to know him ,I’d say 60% of 8 billion, so you have to assume every living person in Ali’s time had to know him for him to win this debate which was around 4 billion people ,I think Tyson has beat by a fairly larger margin ? I’d say more people know Tyson now then we’re even alive in the AIi 70”s. .

 

Ali by a streak.!!!

 

About 20% of the population was under 11 at Ali’s peak out of 4 billion ppl .

About 4 billion ppl know Mike Tyson now and that’s minimal out of 8 billion alive today .


You have around 3 billion more people who know Tyson then Ali who had about 2 billion compared to Tysons estimated 5 .


What you stated just can’t be true. Even if we gave Ali a generous 3 billion which is highly doubtful giving the population of 4 billion ..

If I had to take a guess Mike Tysons popularity is closer to 6 billion then 5 with the older age gap today , there wasn’t even that many ppl alive in the 70”s.

 

Ali Imo tyson has more followers on Twitter, and Ali has more followers on Facebook. One thing is for certain, Tyson is more recent and that helps him at this time, but once the people die that have watched tyson, Ali will be quite a lot further ahead when it comes to being famous. He's been in the most famous fights of all time and what he did outside the ring won't be forgotten. I must state as well that it helps that he's achieved a lot more than Tyson and gone down as the greatest heavyweight ever.

 

Re: number of Twitter follows, Tyson seemingly has about 5m - https://twitter.com/MikeTyson?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author, but I'm slightly suspicious of this number, wonder whether many/most might be bought.

I've no idea where that puts him in the world but you can see from this list here that it's nowhere near the top 500. It might well not be in the top 5000. Tyson is pretty much a late gen X icon [e.g. outside of hardcore boxing fans only really a huge deal to people born, crudely, say mid 60s - mid/late 70s?] the boomers don't care much about him, nor does most of gen Y. Ali was a huge deal to pretty much anyone born in pretty much any of the 40s or 50s, with very strong echoes of his peak fame rippling down for probably at least another couple of decades.

https://socialblade.com/twitter/top/500/followers

when Tyson does his 'one-man show' it's typically in c 1000 seater theatres.

 

Put in to perspective... all who know of Tyson, also know of Ali.

 

That's if you equate fame to 'most people knowing you'. Whereas I'd argue a better measure is what percentage of the global population are aware of you at a particular time.

More people may or may not know Tyson now, but he never reached the level of fame Ali did, in part because he never sustained his fame over a long enough period.

Ali was on the cover of Time magazine 2 years before he fought Liston...

 

One of Ali's big advantages is that he was so quotable - "Float like a butterfly..."; "I am the greatest...." "[Liston is] ugly... [I am] pretty...", etc, etc, etc, any of us could easily reel of a dozen of these. This is why his fame extended beyond boxing.

 

He was an important figure way beyond the sporting world and that brought him much greater fame. He became part of the Civil Rights movement, the struggle against the Vietnam War, even after 9/11 and many years of physical decline he was a national figure speaking out for his religion. I'd argue those factors meant he stayed famous long after his sporting prowess had faded.

A lot of Tyson's fame comes from his spectacular falls from grace. Inside the ring against Buster Douglas and then the protracted court cases and final incarceration. He was definitely front and back page news, but once he went away he rapidly dropped from relevance. He's little more than a novelty act now, hawking cannabis oil and shilling the latest big fight.

 

Obviously Mike is just as quotable-“I tried to push the nose up into the brain”....”I’m gonna make you my girlfriend. I’m gonna make you kiss me with those big lips.”....”I want his heart, I’m gonna eat his children..praise be to Allah!”....”I broke my back...SPINAL.”

 

Ali is, was & always will be the most famous personality EVER!! Everyone knows him. Theres a story told of him visiting the vatican & appeared on the balcony with the Pope. Someone called out " Who's that on the balcony with Ali The one with the funny hat" ? Tyson runs him a pretty close second though

 

ROFLMAO Try showing Floyd's pic to any casual fan. I'd bet 6 out of 10 wouldnt have a clue who he was

 

Agreed.

Awesome point, if I may add; Ali was known worldwide without an internet, just imagine had it exist during his era, whew!

Another great point.

True again. But I would also add that Clay was known for saying "people who show up to my fights show up to see me lose because of my mouth. And then when he submitted to Islam, whereas people who watched or showed up to see Tyson...almost all wanted him to win.


I don't know the vibe of an Ali fight other than the 1st fight with Frazier, but for sure, when Tyson fought- I wonder if there was a fighter in the history of the sport that brought such an anticipation.


Ali was famous as a boxer, as a diplomat as a humanitarian & as a Muslim.
Tyson was famous as a boxer, a criminal, an ear-biter. A man who attracted people to see-what heinous jack asinine quote will he make this time, eat one's babies? Fade into Bolivia..not close to "float like a butterfly sting like a bee.
Not close to I'm so fast...I can turn off the lights and get in bed before the room gets dark.


Ali a man whose fame is so uncompared to any athlete on the planet then and NOW.. He could go to Iraq and sit & talk with Saddam Hussein who released hostages or as comedian Billy Crystal said Ali could contact a leader in the middle east anytime he wanted..and Jimmy Carter couldn't even get them on the phone LOL!

How is that not famous? A murderous dictator allowed him in- and to leave with American..whites..even though he's called racist.

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So famous, he could not take a morning run in Kinsasha without kids hearing- showing up and run along side a man who spoke a language they didn't speak.
A man so famous (And respected with that fame) He could talk a man off a ledge who wanted to kill himself.

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A man so famous...that upon his death..Princes and rulers from the Islamic world briefly stopped their jhad or whatever they do,,,and came to America to pay their last respect.

I suspect when Tyson passes, there will be millions who will know and pay respect, but I doubt a congressman, preacher or world leaders will show up to pay their final goodbyes...simple because Tyson's fame was built on a menacing power puncher that turned bi-polar committing acts comparable to near insanity.
Ali is the KING of fame.

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Oh and Ali stayed a Muslim till his death. He turned orthodox- when his leader transitioned, whereas Tyson was a Muslim for one win. Without Islam benefiting the man once named Clay, Tyson would blow that man (Cassius Clay) out the water when it comes to fame. Clay didn't fight his 1st title fight in a packed house, Tyson did.
Once Clay became Ali, then the world took notice.

 

Depends on who you ask.
I asked my son do you know Mike Tyson? "Yes, the boxer."
Do you know Ali? "Mustafa Ali?" (he is a WWE wrestler)