Remembering Muhammad Ali: 'He Made You Dream'

95% of people who watch boxing today never saw Ali. His story is no longer relevant to the sport anymore than that of Jack Johnson or Rocky Marciano. Football and Basketball would be dead too if all anyone wanted to write about was Johnny Unitas and Wilt Chamberlain. ​ The stories have long been written - stop rewriting it.

——- Ali won a gold medal for the US at the Rome Olympics in 1960 four years before the Civil Rights Act passed. When he came back from Rome and went to a restaurant in his own hometown, he was refused service. When he placed his order, the waitress looked at him and said, “We don't serve Negroes.” He said, “Well, we don't eat 'em either.” Ali’s response and sense of humor is what defines him to this day. That day, Ali decided to throw his gold medal somewhere at the bottom of the Ohio River. Ali was all of just 18 years old. A kid. Ali sacrificed his prime years in opposition to the Vietnam war which helped elevate him in the Public’s eyes. Do you think LeBron James or Floyd Mayweather Jr would stop playing their sport for 3 years to take an anti war stand? Or anything for that matter that would cost them millions in earned income and endorsements? Ali had a lot of ring rust and lost his speed, so he had to reinvent himself and totally change his style when he came back. Many boxers simply cannot do that. He did. In 1990, Ali traveled to Iraq with the aim of promoting peace in the volatile Gulf region in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Following a personal audience with Ali, Saddam Hussein released 15 American hostages. https://nypost.com/2015/11/29/the-tale-of-muhammad-alis-goodwill-trip-to-iraq-that-freed-us-hostages/amp/ To this day, there are still old relics from the sixties that still despise Ali. They call him a coward and a traitor. To add insult to injury, we are talking about wars that can never be justified. ​ Super cool response. Thank you. Very much appreciated!

Perhaps the thing they blanked out contributed to it. It was not a swear word but rather a descriptive word of a male rooster. I was actually looking for someone to say something or point me to something good about his persona so it could change my opinion. I never said I researched it. I watched a documentary where he was down and out and Frazier gave him some money and then he said some horrible things about Frazier in the promotion of the fight. I read other times when he said a bunch of mean things about other fighters and people. I do not have much evidence and then I read articles where people say things like "he made you dream" so there must have been good. Race has nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing and I say that definitively because that is simply not a place where my brain or heart would ever go. ——- Ali won a gold medal for the US at the Rome Olympics in 1960 four years before the Civil Rights Act passed. When he came back from Rome and went to a restaurant in his own hometown, he was refused service. When he placed his order, the waitress looked at him and said, “We don't serve Negroes.” He said, “Well, we don't eat 'em either.” Ali’s response and sense of humor is what defines him to this day. That day, Ali decided to throw his gold medal somewhere at the bottom of the Ohio River. Ali was all of just 18 years old. A kid. Ali sacrificed his prime years in opposition to the Vietnam war which helped elevate him in the Public’s eyes. Do you think LeBron James or Floyd Mayweather Jr would stop playing their sport for 3 years to take an anti war stand? Or anything for that matter that would cost them millions in earned income and endorsements? Ali had a lot of ring rust and lost his speed, so he had to reinvent himself and totally change his style when he came back. Many boxers simply cannot do that. He did. In 1990, Ali traveled to Iraq with the aim of promoting peace in the volatile Gulf region in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Following a personal audience with Ali, Saddam Hussein released 15 American hostages. https://nypost.com/2015/11/29/the-tale-of-muhammad-alis-goodwill-trip-to-iraq-that-freed-us-hostages/amp/ To this day, there are still old relics from the sixties that still despise Ali. They call him a coward and a traitor. To add insult to injury, we are talking about wars that can never be justified. ​

It makes me sad that you say this. This world is so darn messy right now and only grace and mercy will fix it. I am sorry that folks have wronged you to make you jump to that conclusion. The point me and the other member are making is, you claimed you researched him and didn't like him because he was arrogant etc...but if you have researched him, he had the opposite of arrogance away from the ring and the on TY character he played. Plus his stance on Vietnam, on civil rights and minority rights in general plus his near 40 year work for religious tolerance is far more important than him calling a fighter ugly. Yet apparently you found none of that in your research.

Cool thanks. You just had to say he stood up for his beliefs and was a funny guy. That gives me something to go on. He was willing to pay a huge price for standing up for his beliefs yes. Heroic.