Bummer news for sure. A huge world wide figure who long ago transcended just being the Champ or being a mere sports figure.

RIP....he was a great man

RIP Ali.

This hits like a ton of bricks. Anybody who grew up during Ali's rise to prominence could not avoid being deeply engaged by his out-sized personality and outspoken convictions, while being charmed by his boyish humor and demeanor. For him to then heroically accept the medical burden of Parkinson's brought on an even greater universal love as we all sadly watched the physical dissipation of such a life-affirming presence. Right now there is such an emptiness knowing Ali is gone.

BTW, my favorite Ali story. After engaging the newly arrived in America Beatles in a mock knock-out while training in Miami for his first fight with Sonny Liston, Ali returned to his sparring but first asked his trainer "who were those sissies?".

RIP Muhammad The Greatest - and he let you know it.

ALI - GEORGE FOREMAN, ZAIRE, AFRICA, 1974

[Edited on 6/4/2016 by robslob]

The Shavers fight in 1976 should've been his last hurrah -- he took big punishment but still had Earnie on the ropes as the final bell sounded in what was his last really great win

the fact is, after the Shavers fight it was only the Holmes fight in 1980 where he took big punishment -- he had the snoozers with the nobodies where he was more clowning/playing it safe, than trying hard -- he wasn't hurt in the 30 rounds he fought Spinks in '78

the Holmes fight should never have been allowed in the 1st place, but sending him out there for two more rounds when he was virtually defenseless was criminal

then it was Berbick somewhere in a cow field in the Bahamas Dec. 81
The Shavers fight would've been the right time to retire -- Ali had taken big punishment the year before in Manila as well
IMO the Parkinsons would've come along Had he called it quits after the Shavers fight

A man with the courage of his convictions -- articulate, intelligent -- someone who loved people enough to not be forced to go to war, even when it cost him his career at his prime

1 of the all time greats -- RIP, Champ

"Bet on Sonny & lose your money"

"This might shock & amaze ya
but I'm gonna retire Joe Frazier"

"he swings with his left, he swings with his right
look at young Cassius carry the fight"

THE CHAMP

[Edited on 6/4/2016 by Stephen]

quote:RIP....he was a great man

He made a living out of boxing. Boxing involves beating the crap out of your opponent until he is no longer able to take the beating and does not get up off the floor till after the count of ten OR he goes all the rounds with you but makes points for the blows he lays upon his opponent enough to say he won the match.

A barbaric, brutal SPORT.

How is someone a hero for beating the crap out of someone else? Because he does it in a systematic way, according to rules that a sports commission set up to say it is legal and sportsmanlike?

Cavemen used to throw rocks at each other to kill them till they developed wood sticks and attached rocks to them till knives and daggers were created. It all just showcases violence and inhumanity to others.

We all know Muhammad Ali for his charming attitude, persistence etc. He may have accomplished other things due to his winnings and status, and you can say he was great for those things, but the WAY he made the money to be able to do those things was not great, it used beating an opponent. Beating people is using violence to get your way, whether that way is winning a boxing match or overpowering someone in a relationship, or even in rendition during interrogation, same tactics. Uncacceptable in ANY situation. (in my opinion). Why is boxing considered a sport?

[Edited on 6/4/2016 by gina]

Wow!... aren’t we righteous!

[Edited on 6/10/2016 by Stephane]

Hopefully that's her first draft of his eulogy. Maybe on your second draft you can mention all of the humanitarian efforts he was involved in as well as raising 10's of millions for Parkinson's research. Not bad for a "caveman".

It's a free world and post whatever you like, but I'll never understand the need to express something like that while others who are fans are celebrating his life.

As a lover of music and sports, this has been one rough year. I was too young to see Ali, but have seen all of the big fights over time. One of the most charismatic men ever to live.

The ESPN 30 for 30 on Holmes vs Ali was really good, but you could see that Ali wasn't the same man from 4 of 5 years earlier.

Only gina could laud bin ladin as a great man and condemn Ali for being a brutal caveman.

The heart of a lion, the mind of a general, the soul of a childish prankster, and the conscience of a saint. Loved him since I was eight years old, and I'm 59 now. I'm not sad, I'm proud and happy for him to have run the good race and enter into the arms of God.

One of the coolest things about Ali is how other celebrities of all walks melted in his presence just like we would in theirs. Always found that amusing. RIP champ.

quote:RIP....he was a great man

Wow!... aren’t we righteous!

Righteous, no. I just condemn brutality/violence which is what boxing is. Beating someone up is a violent act. The fact that he could do that as a living and then do other humanitarian/philanthropic things with his money from those acts is what makes him remarkable.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by gina]

 

Only gina could laud bin ladin as a great man and condemn Ali for being a brutal caveman.

The heart of a lion, the mind of a general, the soul of a childish prankster, and the conscience of a saint. Loved him since I was eight years old, and I'm 59 now. I'm not sad, I'm proud and happy for him to have run the good race and enter into the arms of God.

We've been down this road before. One could describe Osama as also having "The heart of a lion, the mind of a general, the soul of a childish prankster, and the conscience of a saint." Those are some of the things inside of him. The desire for vengeance/punishment in the form of international jihad is where the the world differs with him ideologically. You and I learned that God claimed vengeance as his own right "vengeance is mine", as something that only HE could levy properly since he knows all things and others do not. Osama's understanding of jihad made it a duty for him to respond to the injustices he found in the world. His ways of responding to it differed with how others thought it should be responded to. His actions came to be regarded as extreme because they seemed to be more powerful than was needed. IF and WHEN we face the anti-Christ trying to subdue the world, then all bets are off, then nothing will be too extreme for people to do to save themselves, their souls; but for now, people just dismiss those who are in opposition to the regimes in the lands they live in as extremists.

Later on, when the anti-Christ is in power as the one world leader, sitting in the Temple in Jerusalem (as has been prophecied in the Bible), if someone puts a plane into the Temple at that time, would that person then be regarded as a terrorist or a hero? Is it okay to kill an evil person?

Is it proper jihad to put planes into buildings of countries launching aggression on others? I don't think so, but that is my belief. His beliefs were based on the US killing tons of people in other countries, civilians and then declaring that those people do not matter, so he believes if you kill our people, we can kill yours. That is a concept most should be able to understand. Others would say two wrongs do not make one right. If the US killed lots of people and did not care, others cannot retaliate to avenge those deaths killing random people.

It all comes down to understanding what God said our rights are. Killing random people does not make up for the slaughter (intentional) of other random people. That is how Mullah Omar comprehended jihad and what his men believe. All I can say is the world needs to learn, live in a path of truth.

[Edited on 6/5/2016 by gina]

Any chance you could keep your offensively moronic idiocy out of a RIP thread for a person some of us actually cared about?

Seriously, let's all follow Craig Ferguson's logic...

Does it need to be said?

Does it need to be said by me?

Does it need to be said by me now?

Just when you thought gina couldn't post anything worse than the crap she has spewed for years......

Can I request a Bellevue interpreter for Gina's posts ?

Can I request a Bellevue interpreter for Gina's posts ?

LOL 😛

Only gina could laud bin ladin as a great man and condemn Ali for being a brutal caveman.

The heart of a lion, the mind of a general, the soul of a childish prankster, and the conscience of a saint. Loved him since I was eight years old, and I'm 59 now. I'm not sad, I'm proud and happy for him to have run the good race and enter into the arms of God.

My issue was with Ali's occupation, boxing, which I said is a brutal, barbaric display of violence. The way he was described reminded me of Osama, who was regarded as a lion for his courage, he was a General for many Muslims explaining to them things they needed to do, but he also enjoyed getting away with things, being in the background waiting for the world to know he was the one who did it, but on the deepest level he wanted to reform the world globally to create an Islamic compliant world and governance. He sacrificed much to try to accomplish that, though many disagree with some of his methods and his beliefs.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by gina]

"His intent was not to murder everyone."

Well, that changes everything.

I know I will regret these questions, but I am a curious soul... Why did you feel the need to share your thoughts on boxing in a thread where people are fondly remembering someone who just passed away? Was it really that important to get in your thoughts on boxing at that particular moment?

Did you feel some sort of duty to settle everyone's hash on this topic?

I get that it is an open forum, but I never understand the need of people to do that. I also get that there is always "thread drift".

Then again, it's the internet so usually someone has to come in and rain on the parade even in a RIP thread.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by WarEagleRK]

Just when you thought gina couldn't post anything worse than the crap she has spewed for years......

I just do not agree with mourning and swooning over people who have been made into heroes if they lived their lives beating people up. His charitable giving and mentoring is commendable, but it DOES matter how he made his living, and he made his living from boxing.

Well, what is boxing, how is it performed? What is the goal to win that sport? Nobody will answer those things.

They just want to revere their hero. The world creates it's own heroes, and idols that the people can revere and almost worship. It s a false idolatry. So go ahead, mourn a man who made his life beating the hell out of others for money.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by gina]

Just when you thought gina couldn't post anything worse than the crap she has spewed for years......

I just do not agree with mourning and swooning over people who have been made into heroes if they lived their lives beating people up. His charitable giving and mentoring is commendable, but it DOES matter how he made his living, and he made his living from boxing.

Well, what is boxing, how is it performed? What is the goal to win that sport? Nobody will answer those things. They just want to revere their hero.

So go ahead, mourn a man who made his life beating the hell out of others for money.

Being that you are pretty much our resident expert on Middle Eastern culture, I'm surprised that you don't already know that the earliest known depiction of boxing comes from Sumerian reliefs from the 3rd millennium BC, in the area which is now modern-day Iraq. Other works of art throughout Mesopotamia and Crete depict boxing through 1000 BC, and the Ancient Greeks made boxing an Olympic sport in 688 BC. Needless to say, humans have been engaging in flying fists combat for several millennia.

Granted, the acts of violence committed in boxing may seem barbaric, but I reject your notion that boxing is about beating the hell out of another person, it is about two people beating the hell out of each other. Pretty much everyone can agree that violent tendencies are a part of inherent human nature, and if you wish to judge boxing, you need to judge everyone that has taken part in it since the beginning of human time.

As to your condemnation of violence, given your many writings on the (in your words) justifiable acts of violence committed by those that you sympathize with, your condemnation is quite hypocritical. Condemn one act of violence, condemn them all.

Well, what is boxing, how is it performed? What is the goal to win that sport? Nobody will answer those things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing

Well that seems easy enough. It is a contest between two individuals who compete to see who is the better pugilist. The goal to win is to either score enough points that the judges think you were better in that round than the opponent and to win the most rounds if you can't knock them out or knock them down three times in a round. If you win the greater number of rounds on the judges score card, knock out your opponent, knock them down three times in a round, your opponent doesn't return from his corner at the end of the round, the opponent's corner representative throws in the towel for him or the refs stops the fight in your favor then you are the winner. There may be other ways to win.

The rules are agreed upon by all parties prior to the competition and nobody is competing against their will. The sport is highly regulated and there are rules that have to be followed. There are medical personnel at the site of the fight if anything goes wrong.

Some call it the "sweet science" because it involves many different strategies as to how to outsmart and beat your opponent.

Likely nobody would answer those things because they figure:

a) you already knew the answer, or at least somewhat knew the answer
2) no matter how they responded, it's not likely to change your mind about the sport because your bias seems quite strong
C) they just didn't want to engage with you in conversation
IV) all of the above

I hope that helps with your questions about boxing. There are several articles online if you are still curious including rules, regulations and really anything you could inquire about. Also there are several books that you can read if you are really curious, because this was all about your curiosity about boxing, right? You were wanting a boxing education to better understand the rules and why it is considered a sport, correct? Right.

"His intent was not to murder everyone."

Well, that changes everything.

I know I will regret these questions, but I am a curious soul... Why did you feel the need to share your thoughts on boxing in a thread where people are fondly remembering someone who just passed away? Was it really that important to get in your thoughts on boxing at that particular moment?

Did you feel some sort of duty to settle everyone's hash on this topic?

I get that it is an open forum, but I never understand the need of people to do that. I also get that there is always "thread drift".

Then again, it's the internet so usually someone has to come in and rain on the parade even in a RIP thread.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by WarEagleRK]

Never intended to rain on your parade. I did edit some of the posts and deleted some.

Just when you thought gina couldn't post anything worse than the crap she has spewed for years......

I just do not agree with mourning and swooning over people who have been made into heroes if they lived their lives beating people up. His charitable giving and mentoring is commendable, but it DOES matter how he made his living, and he made his living from boxing.

Well, what is boxing, how is it performed? What is the goal to win that sport? Nobody will answer those things. They just want to revere their hero.

So go ahead, mourn a man who made his life beating the hell out of others for money.

Being that you are pretty much our resident expert on Middle Eastern culture, I'm surprised that you don't already know that the earliest known depiction of boxing comes from Sumerian reliefs from the 3rd millennium BC, in the area which is now modern-day Iraq. Other works of art throughout Mesopotamia and Crete depict boxing through 1000 BC, and the Ancient Greeks made boxing an Olympic sport in 688 BC. Needless to say, humans have been engaging in flying fists combat for several millennia.

Granted, the acts of violence committed in boxing may seem barbaric, but I reject your notion that boxing is about beating the hell out of another person, it is about two people beating the hell out of each other. Pretty much everyone can agree that violent tendencies are a part of inherent human nature, and if you wish to judge boxing, you need to judge everyone that has taken part in it since the beginning of human time.

As to your condemnation of violence, given your many writings on the (in your words) justifiable acts of violence committed by those that you sympathize with, your condemnation is quite hypocritical. Condemn one act of violence, condemn them all.

No I did not know where boxing began. Maybe you can note that it began in the era before Christ came down to explain to people how they should live and conduct themselves. (BC means before Christ). If there were no advanced weapons we might be having wars with hand to hand combat and boxing.

"It's about two people beating the hell out of each other". Well at least you recognize that. I will also acknowledge that there is strategy involved in trying to tire out and outlast the opponent.

RE: Justifiable acts of violence, understanding WHY there is retribution in the ongoing war we are in is different than justifying the response that was levied. I have tried to present the other, largely untold side of WHY the others fight us because our news media did not want anyone to know. There is not balanced reporting telling you what both sides have done. They only show you the reaction of one side and then categorize and label them to make your opinion be against different groups/people. People are being misled by a biased media and that is wrong.

The Afghans did not do anything to anyone. They were living in their homeland. They asked for proof of Obl's guilt, and said they would turn him over if it was proven he did the 9.11.01 attacks. No proof was presented. They refused to let him use their soil for any worldwide initiative. He was asked to relocate and did so going to Pakistan. The Afghans believe in the sovereignty of their own borders. They believe they are allowed to fight back when people come and shoot at them. The internal divide of opinion in how they want to be governed is something they should resolve among themselves. No outside troops should be doing that in ANY country. If the people truly want a democratic society, they should let their neighbors (from nearby lands) smuggle weapons to them and have their own revolution. We are not nearby, we should not be doing that.

Iraq was not bothering us, neither was Libya or Egypt. Yet we needed to be involved in the affairs of all those countries. Shouldn't be. Let the people of each country rise up if and when they think they need to. Our foreign policy needs to be we stay within our own borders unless directly attacked here on our soil by a foreign army. If Isis sends people, they are just dissidents of whatever land they come from. It does not justify launching missiles on civilian people in Syria. Let Assad and Russia take care of that. Assad is the leader of Syria, it is HIS problem, not ours. Russia is his ally, let them handle it. But this is probably too much foreign policy creating "thread drift'.

[Edited on 6/9/2016 by gina]

[Edited on 6/13/2016 by Stephane]

About 15 years ago I had this regular customer at a restaurant where I worked in Pacific Beach, Ca. He related this story to myself and a bar full of peeps one evening and with Ali's passing, I thought I would share it. "Bob" used to work for United Airlines in San Diego as a counter clerk selling tickets etc and found himself behind the counter one very slow evening at the Airport. Looking up he saw Muhammad Ali approaching him with a big smile. "Pretty slow tonight huh"? The Champ said to Bob. In shock, he answered "Yeah, not too many people through at this hour", Following about 45 seconds of small talk, Mr. Ali asked Bob if he wanted some company. "Sure" he said . "Well" Muhammad said "I'd have to make an announcement", "Sure" Bob replied, reaching for the microphone. "What do you want me to say"?....Ali paused and said "No, please hand me the mic, I need to say it".... "OK" Bob said and turned the device towards the Champ so he could speak to everyone in that wing. Ali leaned forward, hit the button and said "Will Muhammad Ali please report to the United Airlines Terminal, Muhammad Ali to the United Airlines Terminal"...He rotated the mic. looked at Bob and said "That ought to do it"...and within minutes that UAL counter was swamped and Ali was all smiles......

Excellent story BigV, thanks for sharing.

Nice story BigV.

Gina - It is thread to honor someone who has passed. Show some respect and go cut and paste your terrorist supportive crap in the Whipping Post.

Was watching TV with my wife the other day and they mention how devastated George Foreman is. I mentioned how much respect that generation had for opponents. She turns to me and says " Same name as the fat guy that sells grills.". I thought she was pulling my leg.

All this time she thought George was just some funny fat guy losing weight and selling grills much like tat guy from Subways.

I love my wife. Things that the whole world knows and takes for granted, she has no interest at all. Nor does she care.

When I told her that all his sons were named George then she thought I was making it all up. Her face when she Googled it was too funny.

Watched Ali's memorial service today while working out at the gym. Some really poignant moments, some great stories and memories of this wonderful man. What a huge influence on my life and how I look at things. "The Greatest of All Time". RIP Champ. You earned it.