Our Cassius Clay Muhammad Ali Loses Greatest Fight

[chainheart]

i'm from Kentucky and i drive Louisville's Muhammad Ali Blvd weekly - but the man it's named after has lost the greatest fight of his life. i had a family member that worked for one of the original "Five" investors when he became a professional. met Ali once back in the 1980's and have an autograph from him. he was very approachable and hard not to like in person. much different than many thought.

"Ali was born January 17, 1942, in Louisville as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. His interest in boxing began at age 12, after he reported a stolen bike to a local police officer, Joe Martin (old white guy), who was also a boxing trainer. Martin told the young, infuriated Clay that if he wanted to pummel the person who stole his bike, he had better learn to box.

Over the next six years, Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves championships, two National Golden Gloves championships and two National Amateur Athletic Union titles. Just months after he turned 18, Clay won a gold medal as a light heavyweight at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, convincingly beating an experienced Polish fighter in the final.

The story goes that when he returned to a hometown parade, even with the medal around his neck, he was refused service in a segregated Louisville restaurant because of his race. According to several reports, he threw the medal into a river (Ohio River separating Louisville from southern Indiana) out of anger. The story is disputed by people who say Ali misplaced the medal."

-among my favorite quotes "if you even dream of beating me you better wake up and apologize."

Louisville, Kentucky had three different world heavyweight boxing champions - Ali, Jimmy Ellis and Greg Page. All of them are gone now.

Muhammad Ali, boxing legend, cultural icon dies at 74 | Fox News


"I hated every minute of training , but I said, don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."


Post intended to remind people what he stood for - he didn't try to divide.

 

[aon1]

I've drove that same street several times......we truly lost a great

 

[gungalunga]

Rest in peace Ali.....You were truly the greatest.

 

[Marvin Martian]

"I'm gonna show YOU - how great I am!!"

Awesome fighter and even more awesome example of the power of belief in yourself!

 

[Prada]

He is unique as a boxer. He was not only a talented boxer but despite his limited education, a witty and eloquent man. He was entertaining in and outside the ring. Fought at perhaps the golden years of boxing, Liston, Ali, Foreman etc
Now you have illiterates like Mayweather taking selfies.

 

[garcia]

I remember watching his last fight against Larry Holmes. This was after I watched the "rumble in the jungle" and "the thrilla in manilla.". I was sad for him to see how far he had fallen. Not long after, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. My Father never liked him BC he was a bigot and didn't like his shameless self-promotion. I, however was always a fan. In fact, I thought of him the other day when I was watching a documentary on Steven Hawking. He was invited to speak at the intro to the Paraolympics. When they lowered a man with no legs to light the torch, I couldn't help but think of Ali, with his severe tremors, lighting the torch in Atlanta in 1996. Brought a tear to my eye and I wondered how he was doing. I guess not too well. You will be missed...

 

[Nabz]

I was always fascinated by the man, my dad is/was a huge Mohammed Ali fan.
I still remember it clear as day for some odd reason when he lit the Olympic Flame in 1996 (not sure if thats the year, but i was pretty young)

RIP Champ.

 

[Dream_Big]

I think the man truly was greater than his legend. He was a great fighter, both in the ring during his youth, and as an active advocate for Parkinson's disease research after his diagnosis in 1984. While I was never involved in boxing, hearing and reading stories about Mohammad Ali always motivated me, when I was child, to challenge myself and excel in sports and academics. May he rest in peace.

 

[thethinker48]

Go handcuff lightning in the next life Champ! You'll be missed.

 

[jolter604]

**broken link removed****broken link removed**

 

[GreenEarth]

RIP to the legend.

 

[chainheart]

Ali had many gifts.

his intellect and quick wit and prowess at self promotion had many write him off before the first Sonny Liston heavyweight bout. they wrote that his mouthing was nervous energy to blow off his anxiety about getting in the ring with someone who was literally a bigger Mike Tyson. Sonny Liston had knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round. it's written that a trainer stated he could punch harder than George Foreman or Tyson.

"Clay was widely viewed as a fast but light puncher lacking the ability to take a punch or to fight inside. The signatures of Clay's style and later greatness—the tendency to keep his hands low and lean away from punches (often leaving his opponent hitting air, off balance, and exposed to counter punches), his constant movement and reluctance to set (making him extremely difficult to hit)—were viewed as fundamental technical flaws that would be quickly exploited by an experienced, hard-hitting heavyweight like Liston."

"Several weeks before the fight, the Miami Herald published an article quoting Cassius Clay Sr. as saying that his son had joined the Black Muslims when he was 18. "They have been hammering at him ever since," Clay Sr. said. "He's so confused now that he doesn't even know where he's at." He said his youngest son, Rudy Clay, had also joined. "They ruined my two boys," Clay Sr. said. "Muslims tell my boys to hate white people; to hate women; to hate their mother." Clay Jr. responded by saying, "I don't care what my father said....I'm here training for a fight, and that's all I'm going to say."[13] (as a side note Ali's father Cassius Clay Sr. was a Baptist - and a pretty good painter. some of his paintings are still on the walls in West End Louisville churches. usually behind the Baptismal pools at the front of the church -where protestant Christians are baptized)

there is also a controversial side story of a substance that was put on Sonny Liston's glove in later rounds. "Clay-complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. Dundee used the sponge "and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever's there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. It burned like hell. There was something caustic in both eyes."

Many theorized that a substance used on Liston's cuts by Joe Pollino, his cutman, may have inadvertently caused the irritation that blinded Clay in round five. "Joe Pollino had used Monsel's Solution on that cut," Angelo Dundee said. "Now what had happened was that probably the kid put his forehead leaning in on the guy—because Liston was starting to wear in with those body shots—and my kid, sweating profusely, it went into both eyes."

"Two days after the fight, heavyweight contender Eddie Machen said he believed that Liston's handlers made deliberate use of illegal medication to temporarily blind Clay. "The same thing happened to me when I fought Liston in 1960," Machen said. "I thought my eyes would burn out of my head, and Liston seemed to know it would happen." He theorized that Liston's handlers would rub medication on his shoulders, which would then be transferred to his opponent's forehead during clinches and drip into the eyes."

Sports Illustrated magazine named the first Clay–Liston fight (Ali had not yet changed his name from Cassius Clay) as the fourth greatest sports moment of the twentieth century.[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_vs._Sonny_Liston
Post

 

[ronnieron]

I didnt grow up in his era, but have watched many of his fights. The guy was great. I respect him for the athlete he was, but cannot repect him as being a draft dodger.

 

[lhouay]

^ Go educate yourself a little as to why he was willing to spent few years in jail
Than go fight the Vietcongs.... Here's a hint; it had nothing to do with being afraid to fight a war.

Rest in peace Ali, truly one of the greatest

 

[ronnieron]

^ Go educate yourself a little as to why he was willing to spent few years in jail
Than go fight the Vietcongs.... Here's a hint; it had nothing to do with being afraid to fight a war.

Rest in peace Ali, truly one of the greatest

I never said he was afraid. But since you brought it up, yes he was afraid. Either your a draft dodger or your not. He tried to use race in it, whites were drafted as well, no? Whether his iq was truly that low or he purposely failed so he could not be drafted originally is debateable as well.

 

[FrancisK]

Great boxer and showman, rip to a dead man but that's the extent of my bandwagon jumping praise for him. In reality he probably deserves the opposite of praise but no need to speak about a dead man.

 

[Prada]

A little unknown fact about the so called "draft dodger" who, ostensibly, deserves no praise and is "afraid".

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCGrjtlCCE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCGrjtlCCE[/ame]