Tyson or Ali, who is/was more famous?

ALI

 

Both are pretty well known worldwide, but Ali was probably slightly more well known to the non boxing fans and definitely more beloved by all.

 

Youre right on Ali but youre wrong on Tyson. He was born in a ghetto from a poor family. During his childhood and adolescense he suffered a complicated domestic situation, bullying and violence. He enter reformatory where one day encountered Ali and from there all began. That was a real passing of the torch for the struggle in support of civil rights in US and in the world through boxing.

 

Is Tyson the only former heavyweight champ to have another heavyweight champ named after him?

 

Ali's stick & move style brought a fame that produced replicas. Many HW's post Ali used the game of stick and move as a result of their admiration for how he won his fights (hitting without getting hit). Using the jab to set up- Ali proved he could win a title without being compared to a single HW's style be it Louis, Marciano to Liston.

Not too many people adopt Tyson's style let alone make it work- and his defense was used by fighters, just not as effective, Cus' prized Pupil made it work.

Inside the ring- Ali totally screwed up every successive generation's outlook for a spokesman. IMO with his big loud, but funny mouth.
Pre-Ali, few fans if any looked forward to poems from a braggart predicting the round he'd end it.
Post Ali- how many boxers run off at the mouth because they think that's what sells a fight? Tyson included.
Ali did that. That's famous when a person's actions are emulated. Had Tyson Fury's dad not named him that, I highly doubt he would be impressed- and probably would point out how often he got KO'd, how he sullen the sport with the bite fight.

Ali was/is so famous that when Naoya Inoue beat Nonito Donaire -he was awarded the Ali Trophy.
Ali was/is so famous, they named an act after him: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr1832/text
H.R. 1832 (106th): Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act

Ali has a trophy named after him, a boxing reform act, emulators inside the ring, trash-talkers on the way to the ring. From Kentucky to Phoenix, Arizona there are streets named after him.

Because of his win at the Olympics, he would be asked to carry that torch- every person who followed Olympics that year regardless of the sport they fancy- could not help but to know who Ali was as he steadied his shaking hand to lift up the torch.

Even after the Nation fell in the late 1970s he continued as a Muslim, just orthodox- as I sated before..Princes, mullahs, showed up at his funeral. As a humorous poster made me aware, Tyson may have a politicians show up-cause they know each other- Muslims who never met, Ali showed up at his passing away.
How can anyone compare that? Of all the boxers we've lost since Ali and even a decade before, nothing compared to that homecoming.

Plus there is one huge issue that pushes Tyson's fame close to Ali which is internet, instant news, messaging. The stuff he did outside the ring wasn't that much crazier compared to many boxers in the past 100 years.

Would we have considered Jake Lamotta (in this era)as famous-every time he went raging bull on his wife? Had we read the news that Jake today got sentenced 6 months on the chain gang? There were way too many boxers doing fouls stuff, that might have marginalized Tyson's act of hitting his wife, threatening to punch people over words, running his car into a tree.

Fritzie Zivac had more than a few fights where he went rogue in the ring. My point is that Tyson's acts today might not have gotten that much play when there wasnt 100 news outlets blaring dirty deeds of boxers.

20 years from today there will be next to no talk of either boxers IMO. They will be regarded right along with names like Louis, Dempsey, Sullivan.
However, if the question of African-Americans in any capacity is raised, there is a high probability the name Ali will surface.

 

I'm pretty sure he is.

 

Ali was the most known person in the mid 70s. Right know, its close between Ali and Tyson, without any boxer coming close.

 

No. James J Jeffries had Braddock.

 

Tyson Ali was definitely the most famous

 

Rocky Marciano -> Rocky Balboa. Yessir.

Re: James J. Jeffries & James J. Braddock. Did Braddock, or his parents, actually take his name from Jeffries or did they just happen to have the same first name and middle initial? I mean, I don't think Joe Frazier was named after Joe Louis, for example.

Having lived through the second half of the Ali era and, obviously, the Tyson era, I'd have to rate Ali as more famous. I don't see Tyson lighting an Olympic flame in the future or having an act of congress named after him. Ali is famous for his exile and stand on the Viet Nam war, as well as coming back and cementing his legacy. Tyson's exile was prison, and the legacy he cemented afterward wasn't exactly positive. Not that these examples are related to fame, per se. But I think Ali is now regarded more positively by the average person.

But fame is partially based on your own personal experience - when you were born, what your friends are into, the media you consume, etc.

 

Overall it's Ali. In modern times, it seems to be Tyson. Perhaps because Ali is gone & Tyson was such a phenomenon in his prime - along with the numerous fantasy match-ups between the 2 biggest stars in boxing (& sports history), it could only be Tyson who could arguably be a bigger star than Ali.

 

Muhammad Ali is most famous without a doubt, He was in the news from 1960s until his death in 2016 and even as recently as 2019 we had a documentary film by HBO called What's my Name: Muhammad Ali.

Tyson would likely win the infamy award i guess.

 

Tyson Fury

 

Second behind Elvis apparently.