No...not quite. Muslims name their sons after Muhammed the Prophet of Islam not Muhammed Ali the Boxer.
At the time height and reach advantage, great peripheral vision, cut resistant skin, catlike reflexes, high boxing IQ, great ring generalship, Mike Tyson-Jack Dempsey like aura of invincibility, awesome footwork and great self-belief. Possibly the greatest of all time. Oh and great chin and and....oh you get the idea.
He refused to be part of an evil war machine that was killing peasents for no damned reason. Also...like all other sports celebrities he would have been given a cushy position if he would have deisred it and could have kept fighting while in the Army.
Lol! Hand speed,foot speed,power,iron chin and a high IQ. Ali would absolutely decimate the hw division today klit bros included. too much speed and skill. he wouldve ran circles around them.
Thousands of others honorably fought in the war. He refused because he thought he was special somehow and it was below him to fight for his country.
I don't believe he is the greatest. And the only reason why people think he's the greatest is because his big ass mouth
the greatest heavyweight, not the greatest ever what makes him the best heavyweight - he fought the best and beat the best, with the vast majority of them being in their primes
Thousands fought and died for nothing except to make Fat, White Men Rich, and now they whine about how special they are and that they didn't lose the war. Jesus Christ...even the French lost more men in Vietnam (70,000) than the USA, but you don't see the French squeal about how they won in Vietnam and wail before a solid black Gash of Shame known as the Vietnam Memorial, do you? There is nothing Heroic about killing 2,000,000 unarmed men, women and children and dumping enough Toxic Chemicals on their country such that it is a toxic waste dump even to this day. You ought to be ashamed for ever supporting such cowardice.
In order to understand his mind set, you would have to understand the times he was living in. The civil rights movement was in full speed ahead. I'm sure the conditions of Black folks struggling for equal rights played a big part in his decision. You mistake the stand he took, as an act of being vain, but to do what he did and stand by what he did takes a great deal of courage, especially considering the consequences of his action.
Likewise, how many Professional Football, Baseball and Basketball players were called? ZERO! They (The Establishment) called Ali because he was an uppity, Muslim "Ni**er" and they wanted to put him in his place. Ali could have played the game, kept fighting and been out in less than two years....but he didn't and took a hell of a risk doing it.
Which is the reason why he holds the title the greatest of all time. His stand is what made him great. Even if they looked at him as a vain Negro. He stood his ground and won, and history will remember him for it, even after he's gone. No fighter then or now in the ring, can out shine what he did outside the ring. Including those few fighters who have retired undefeated.