Muhammad Ali Dead at 74

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776

To the greatest, RIP!!!!

The "GREATEST" to ever do it. RIP Champ!!!!!!

I Never knew he refused to fight in Vietnam. Great response when he was questioned about it.

RIP, a true legend.

Ali was one of only two athletes in my life I lived and died with. And I respected no athlete as much, for many reasons.

This was a tough one for me.

Back in the day, when boxing was great, the 70's and early 80's, it was my favorite sport, by far. I loved the sport so much I made it a point to educate myself about fighters from the late 1800's up to that point in time. I obtained films of the greats, Gans, Benny Leonard, Armstrong, Louis, Johnson, Robinson and others. My love of the sport consumed me and needed to all of them, all of it. Ali was in my very strong opinion, the best fighter of all time. As he said, The Greatest. He was a heavyweight with the speed of a welter weight. His relaxes were so fast he could fight with hands down, ducking punches by a fraction of an inch, moving backwards faster than other fighters could chase him. And as they did chase him, they were lead on a death march, beaten down to a pulp. All the old boxing trainers and writers said no one could fight with that style and survive. They were wrong. It was just that there had never been an Ali before. They didn't know what they were talking about because he was something never seen before. He was so great when he was young he could analyze his opponent, figure out how long it would take to solve him and stop him and make a prediction. These predictions were amazingly accurate. He beat 7-1 odds and upset the world to take the title from the monster puncher Sonny Liston at the age of 22. He beat an even bigger, meaner more powerful monster, undefeated George Foreman, who idolized Liston, at 32, to regain the title when he was over the hill in fight people were scared he would die in. If it wasn't for Ali, Liston and Foreman would have reigned for....

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That's crazy how back then they fought so many rounds. I read Foreman fought 13 time in 1 year whereas fighters today maybe fight twice a year. Amazing. Don't make them like that anymore. His best fight to me is when he fought Ernie Terrell and just beat him down until he quit calling him Cassius Clay and called him by his Islamic name Muhammad Ali. Talk about a beat down!!!!!

Pete, Yep. "What's my name?" BAM BAM BAM. "What's my name?" BAM BAM BAM. He gave similar treatment to ex champ Floyd Patterson because Floyd made the huge mistake of saying he would take the title back for America before his title fight with Ali. It never paid to get Ali mad at you. I think Ali's two most awesome performances were two title defenses, his third round KO of Cleveland Williams in 66 and his seventh round knock out of Zora Folley in 67 where he just toyed with both men. The were indicators of what was to come as he neared his prime. A prime he and we were cheated out of ever seeing. What a sports tragedy that was. Another I rank right at the top was his title winning effort against the invincible bear, Sonny Liston. Watching a 22 year old Ali just dismantle such a formidable fighting machine is amazing to watch. Ali even fought the fifth round blind as linement put on Liston's cut mysteriously found its way on his gloves and then into Ali's eyes. Boxing back then was totally different Pete. There were great fighters in every division from heavyweight on down to flyweight. And you often saw great, great match ups on free TV, Wide World of Sports and prime time. Now boxing is a peripheral sport. Most of the best athletes go into football, basketball, baseball, Tennis, Soccer. Back then if you boxed you made way more money than top athletes in other sports so boxing had a lure, it attracted great athletes. Now in any sport if you are good you get 10, 20 or more million a year. So why get your head punched in doing the toughest sport in the world? I lost interest in boxing as the talent pool dried up. Ending 15....

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I agree with you SPQR. Fighters back then and even up to Ray Leonard, Hearns, Hagler, etc just fought each other without any of the politics. I would love to see Triple G and Canelo Alvarez go at it but the politics just turns me off sometime.

Pete, Yep, that was the last really great era. Leonard, Hearns, Hagler, Duran, Arguello, Holmes, Pryor, Lopez, Sanchez..etc. They actively wanted to fight the other greats. They wanted those fights to establish their legacy's. After that things slowly went down hill. There were still some good years after with Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis, Whittaker, Hopkins, Jones, Chavez but it was starting to fade. You know Pete, when people talk about tough athletes today, we mention guys like Kobe Bryant and Jason Witten. And they are tough, in their respective sports. But boxing was a different thing, a different level. When the fight of the century between Frazier and Ali ended, both went to the hospital. Ali was in for day then decided to leave. When the doctor saw Ali's hip x rays he thought his ambulance had been in car accident coming from the fight because his hips, bones and kidneys were so damaged. Ali couldn't walk and pissed blood for over week. That is how much punishment he took from the murderous punching Frazier for fifteen rounds. And how he got up, in round fifteen, after all that punishment, at the count of four, after taking that brutal, from the heels left hook from Frazier, who had one of the best left hooks in boxing history is a mystery. No man should have been able to do that. He should have stone cold out. Ali was the toughest fighter and athlete I ever saw. Nobody even close. Frazier was so battered he was in the hospital for over a week there. He looked like a gargoyle after that fight and was never quite the same again. He left a huge chunk of himself in that ring that night as Ali did in their third fight, The Thriller in Manilla. They each reached....

Exactly SPQR.

The closest fights I've seen to those were the Mickey Ward/Arturu Gatti fights. Those guys fought to the death. And then most if not all the mexican/latino fight to the death. Those guys have pride like back in the day. Oh I saw you mentioned Parnell Whitaker, that guy doesn't the credit he deserves. Sweet Pee was awesome!!!

Pete,

Ward -Gatti was one of the all time great boxing series. You are really bringing up memories there. I'm glad you brought it up. Neither were great fighters but both were really good and warriors made of steel. Their styles just meshed to produce sick, violent fights like Frazier and Alis did. It was a rare confluence.

That series was amazing and as you know, if you didn't see it you just can't understand it.

Sweet Pea was the man. He was the first guy to beat the great Julio Caesar Chavez but Don King and the WBC managed to get Chavez the draw. Cheating Pea out of that historic, great upset victory was sickening.

Chavez was wise not to do a rematch.

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Absolutely spot on SPQR.

I'll be glad when fights get back to that. Watched Vargas vs Salido this past weekend and they went at it!!. Vargas takes a beating but he toughs it out. It may catch up to him.

Very nice tribute ESPN gave to the Greatest. Full staff reporting the whole memorial. Nicely done ESPN.

Yeah they did a nice job