Minnesota Sports Forum

He was probably the most iconic sports figure of all time. He earned that moniker with both the good and bad things he did. He was enormously skilled as a fighter, but he certainly wasn't the greatest of all time. He lost some fights, and he was given the decision in some other fights he should have lost. The one thing he WAS the greatest ever at was his ability to take a punch. The man could stand in there and take a tremendous amount of punishment. It at least contributed to his health condition over the last 30 years of his life.

I wonder if he ever regretted the way he treated Joe Frazier leading up to their fights. He said some bad things, hurtful things, aimed to boost his persona and belittle Joe. But yet he could be compassionate, kind, humorous, and was great with children.

Though I rooted against him his entire career, I developed a level of respect for him in later years. I heard stories of how accommodating he could be with strangers. I'll always wonder why fate kept him quiet for the past 30 years. Almost as if the true greatest of all time would rather he not be allowed to influence a generation of people.

The world is a different place today. His death leaves an unmistakable void. I truly hope he found his peace in the ultimate resting place.

Thanks for starting this thread, cool. No, Ali was not likely the greatest fighter of all time, but he was the most compelling athlete of my life...there will never be another like him. He had an endearing childlike quality about him that was in such contrast to the violence of the sport he loved...I still remember him sitting on a stoop doing magic tricks for kids in Zaire shortly after defeating Foreman.

I have so many memories of Ali's fights. His early fights were before the closed circuit days, so my friends and I would huddle nervously around the radio cheering for our hero. I went somewhere (maybe the Minneapolis Auditorium?) to watch on closed circuit both the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manilla. For one of them (can't remember which), I was working nights at UPS and already had my tickets, so I asked my supervisor for the night off so I could go. The A-hole said no, but I went anyway and got fired. I filed a grievance and the Teamsters backed me up and I got my job back...hey, it was Ali!

He was immensely unpopular when he converted to Islam and vocally opposed the Viet Nam war, but it just made my friends and I love him even more. He always seemed to be correct on issues before most of the world, and sometimes it took some time for the world to catch up to him. Truly a unique individual.

I'm too young to have experienced his athletic greatness but it seemed like if anyone could be labeled transcendent it was Ali. I never met him but I have many friends that did and even the ones that basically we're not sports fans came away sort of awe stuck. It seemed the guy just had some presence about him that was extremely special.