In your opinion, was Ali a draft dodger?

[Eff Pandas]

Unless I'm misunderstanding the term I think by definition Ali was a draft dodger.

I think more people should've done that though so it doesn't sound like much of an insult to me. I guess you can always question his actual motives, self preservation over some political stance, but again I don't really care about his motives. If a country goes to war there should be a legit reason for that war that stands up to criticism. I don't believe that war met that threshold so idc why someone wouldn't serve.

[Boxfan83]

On the real, it's kinda sad that I can't even make a thread without it turning racial. In no way was that my intention. In all reality I made this thread because my supervisors (1 white & 1 black) both retired military were talking to me about The Brown Bomber Joe Louis & how he is left out of African American History when he was a really great man. He wasn't on MLKs or Harriet Tubmans level but he represented a culture with class & pride than both of them said unlike Ali the draft dodger. So I thought about it and wanted to hear what people's (non military's) opinions were.

Now as for people's opinions about US wars, I can totally agree with the good & bad post. 1st let me say as a 2x Iraqi war vet, I did not agree with this war at all but I signed up & I did what I had to do & no I'm not brainwashed like someone posted earlier lol but i do believe America is definitely worth fighting for & if I had to enlist again I would.
Now let me say this to the racist & people who think everything has a racial innuendo. Yes the US military still is the white mans but it's not a bad thing, honestly white dudes honestly are good at war stuff, very intelligent when it comes to that stuff not saying others are not but statistically most military officers are white & most of not all are not racist because trust me no officer wants to lose a troop of any color. Some of the bravest people I met were black & Hispanic, & guess what when u r out there u realize, we r all the same, no1 wants to die, no matter what color they are, & I realized this when I was in a bunker and every1 next to me was just as scared as I was and wanted to make it home in 1 peice just like me. I will never forget my black friend (Haitian) from NY, he was willing to give me his seat on a helo ride out of Fallujah because it was safer & I had a family and he didn't. He thought my life was worth more than his, there was no color involved just 2 men wanting to get home. Long story short I told him no, his life was just as important as mine & I convoyed out safely, thank God! & he's still my friend today & a Mayweather fanatic
Now again I will say I don't think any1 should be forced to go to war but after reading some posts on here I wish some people escaped from their small self centered world & did serve. They could maybe learn something about some1 & realize there's good & bad in every culture but mostly good.

Lastly for the AB fan that brought up Mexicans fining AB, that's ridiculous, Mexico didn't fine AB the commission & WBC did. But I don't blame AB for saying what he did cuz like every1 in boxing he's trying to make that Mexican $$$.

[jmrf4435]

He was an enemy of the state ****** cleric. Wlad would batter him like a woman...

[LacedUp]

Or did/do you agree with the political stance he took aganist the war in Vietnam? How would you feel if a modern day champion refused to go to war? I know times are different but athletes prior to Vietnam and post Vietnam have gone to war for their countries.

Personally, Im a Vet but I dont believe in drafting people because quite frankly Id rather have a guy that wants to be there fighting next to me than one that is forced, but at the same time if your country needs you...

The fact of the matter is that Ali's "draft dodging" or whatever you want to call it - did not originally stem from a religious stance. It turned into that. When he was Cassius Clay he failed a draft test - the requirements were then amended because they needed soldiers and suddenly he was OK to go to war.

Now, he was sat on his garden lawn when finding out about this and TV crews and radio etc came up and told him he was going to war. Now, he then came out with the infamous quote "I ain't got no quarrel with them vietcong. No Vietcong ever called me N*****".

However, the religious stance was taken later because it is a legit reason for being conscientious objector. Other people had taken the same stance and were not pulled to court or threatened with jail. So, before all the religious razzledazzle came into play, they actually offered to go to vietnam and do exhibition fights or have some kind of ambassador role ala Jack Dempsey in his time (another one who was accused of draft dodging) - which was declined and also clearly showed that the religious belief stance was not the core of the reason why he didn't want to go.

His initial reason was out of fear and spite. He was afraid of going to war. Black people were reported to be killed in 1:7 ratio in comparison to the white soldiers. Now, further to that, he thought why he as the heavyweight champion should go to war, when he failed the test.

It was after this that Elijah & Herbert Muhammad (probably moreso) started digging into how you could avoid a draft, and religious reasons were one of them. It was then Ali started talking about these things and it really more became a movement for blacks and suppressed rather than a religious movement for ******s.

[Outwest Exp 355]

I had more of a problem with the way he belittled fighters like Joe Frazier and George Foreman. As far as the war goes it was his decision and it cost him years off of his career. Who am I to judge.

[Kenchiro]

This about sums it up "I Ain't Got No Quarrel With The VietCong...
No VietCong Ever Called Me N****r."

[strykr619]

Or did/do you agree with the political stance he took aganist the war in Vietnam? How would you feel if a modern day champion refused to go to war? I know times are different but athletes prior to Vietnam and post Vietnam have gone to war for their countries.

Personally, Im a Vet but I dont believe in drafting people because quite frankly Id rather have a guy that wants to be there fighting next to me than one that is forced, but at the same time if your country needs you...

Why are you asking this question when 99% of the people who post here have no clue about GeoPolitics, Hell I would be shocked if they even knew what the Domino theory was (nm people are smart enough to use wiki).

The draft was ended because it was proved that an all volunteer military is more effective then a conscripted one.

[LacedUp]

Why are you asking this question when 99% of the people who post here have no clue about GeoPolitics, Hell I would be shocked if they even knew what the Domino theory was (nm people are smart enough to use wiki).

The draft was ended because it was proved that an all volunteer military is more effective then a conscripted one.

I think everyone here learned about the domino theory in like the second year of high school.

[CLUE]

Legend.

[Weltschmerz]

He did the right thing, just too bad he threw away his prime years in the ring.