Media Usyk's Big Respect for Muhammad Ali

[Tevfik1907]

Time stamp: --16:00--

- Usyk says Ali changed history,

- He says Ali was a brilliant boxer, he was ahead of his time

- Usyk says Ali was ''the astronaut of boxing'', Ali's opponents were not even close to Ali, and Ali was showing ''insane boxing''.

- He says people look at Ali and strive, and he also relate to Ali, and he says it's such a coincidence that they both born on the same date (January 17)

I also wanted to share this since I actually see people who claimed that Ali isn't an inspirational figure to the current boxing champions, you can see those posts below;

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...rdan-of-boxing.4195147/page-10#post-165667821

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...rdan-of-boxing.4195147/page-10#post-165683513

 

[MoreKane]

dude is amazing...probably the most technically proficient boxer in the game and doesn't fight "gimme's"

only 19 fights and unified cruiser and is unified HW champion. fights people in their backyards

 

[Mr2urbo]

What a stand up guy, if only he can speak good English and had a good promoter in the US

 

[defjaam]

Ali's opponents were not even close to him?
One judge gave Frazier 11 out of 15 rounds in their first fight.
Ken Norton gave him hell for 39 rounds.

 

[burningspear]

When Ali joined the nation of islam he became the biggest hate figure in the US. Some people are different. Not only did he revolutionize the game with his skills but coupled with his indomitable will, inside and outside the ring, made a difference. A true inspiration. Usyk is the man.

 

[GeneTunney7]

When Ali joined the nation of islam he became the biggest hate figure in the US. Some people are different. Not only did he revolutionize the game with his skills but coupled with his indomitable will, inside and outside the ring, made a difference. A true inspiration. Usyk is the man.

Alot of people forget this. Ali is romanticized and widely beloved now, but he was considered a lightning rod for controversy back in the day, an extremely divisive figure. Back in his day, many of the pundits thought Dempsey, Louis and Marciano would wipe the floor with him too.

 

[12ga.]

Ali was way more than the greatest boxer he was one of greatest men of all time. Great hype man anti-war protester civil rights leader etc. also banned in his prime for his refusal to go kill yellow people. Of course he would have had a desk job in Germany or stateside or something but still sata good example and put his career on the line For what he believed. Didn't see any of these corp suck eggs modern boxers in the streets with us on Iraq run up. Guys are all about me me me.

 

[svmVR2097]

Alot of people forget this. Ali is romanticized and widely beloved now, but he was considered a lightning rod for controversy back in the day, an extremely divisive figure. Back in his day, many of the pundits thought Dempsey, Louis and Marciano would wipe the floor with him too.

well a black man fighting for freedoms against the draft, sure as hell wasn't going to go over well in the 60's and 70's. And the pundits of those days were white men around during segregation

 

[TheGreatA]

Alot of people forget this. Ali is romanticized and widely beloved now, but he was considered a lightning rod for controversy back in the day, an extremely divisive figure. Back in his day, many of the pundits thought Dempsey, Louis and Marciano would wipe the floor with him too.

It's not that surprising though considering he was a bit shaky coming up, being dropped by Cooper and Banks, and having a rough fight with Doug Jones. And the Liston fights were strange, it's no wonder that a lot of people thought they weren't on the level due to Liston's mob connections (although I personally believe they were legit).

Ali needed to come back to truly cement himself as an all-time great, otherwise he would have been a "what if?".

By the time Ali had beaten Frazier and Foreman, there was really no question about how great he truly was.

 

[TheGreatA]

well a black man fighting for freedoms against the draft, sure as hell wasn't going to go over well in the 60's and 70's. And the pundits of those days were white men around during segregation

Ali did have his supporters though, always, the British pundits liked him and frequently featured him on their shows. And he was controversial in a way that would still be controversial today, preaching race segregation and talking to the likes of KKK, endorsing that type of mentality. He also heckled a lot of other black boxers as "Uncle Toms". Not to mention the Nation of Islam was always quite strange, and was linked to violence, including the killing of Malcolm X.

He transcended the controversy though, because like Tyson Fury, it was pretty much impossible not to be impressed by his character and personality. He talked the talk and he walked the walk, and when it was his time to admit defeat, he took it in stride.

 

[svmVR2097]

Ali did have his supporters though, always, the British pundits liked him and frequently featured him on their shows. And he was controversial in a way that would still be controversial today, preaching race segregation and talking to the likes of KKK, endorsing that type of mentality. He also heckled a lot of other black boxers as "Uncle Toms". Not to mention the Nation of Islam was always quite strange, and was linked to violence, including the killing of Malcolm X.

He transcended the controversy though, because like Tyson Fury, it was pretty much impossible not to be impressed by his character and personality. He talked the talk and he walked the walk, and when it was his time to admit defeat, he took it in stride.

Which Fury never took his cheating and PED use in stride, just tried to bankrupt UKAD instead

 

[mozfonky]

Ali, the man and his career are full of contradictions. You take the 60's title reign and you have the greatest heavyweight ever but not the greatest opponents ever. You take the 70's Ali, with no legs and the best crop of heavyweights in history and that's where Ali proved himself.

As others have pointed out, he was looked at in his prime as not in the class of the greats, even as late as 75, I've seen articles saying he wasn't really in the class Dempsey and Louis. The interesting thing is, you can also find articles from the mid-sixties where he's being called "one of the greatest heavyweight champions" so, like now, every opinion is divided. Howard Cosell called him the greatest fighter ever on the night he beat Cleveland Williams and this was in the same book where he derided Ali's comeback opponents and gave him no chance against Foreman, (In hindsight, he mentioned how Ali came back time and again and said, "the man was awesome").

It's interesting, just like now with Fury, people are calling him the greatest heavyweight in history even though we don't have the evidence. Liston was called the greatest heavyweight ever before the Cassius fight. Opinions are opinions at the end of the day.