Jeff Stibling's blog
Absolutely The Best there will ever be
04:30 PM on May 09, 2008

My childhood Idol...Still awesome After all these years.




Posted by Bryce Aston at 04:34 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #1

He sure could give a beating and split those gloves. Too bad he took a pounding in his later fights...

Posted by Garry Hedrick at 06:08 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #2

There will never be another. A true hero.

Posted by Charlie Parker at 08:31 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #3

Sorry Garry,
After his countless anti-American comments in the 70's, his racist remarks, I can no way consider this man a hero.

Posted by Jeff Stibling at 09:24 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #4

Champions aren't made in gym's, Champions are made from something deep inside them- a desire, a dream, a vision. Muhammad Ali

This man stood up for what he believed in and dammed the consequences...How many weasels are on this earth that won't take a stand but would rather go with the flow...IE every politician...and who was Ali's biggest issue with...Politicians

Posted by John Dixon at 09:50 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #5

Forever this guys will be the ultimate sporting icon for me. People forget how great this fighter was in the 60s. Never has there been a boxer as great as that man was then. Even in the 70s he shocked the world when he beat George Foreman and then Frazier for the third time.

Ali was a spent fighter at 36 which isnt old for a fighter anymore. I think Parkinsons syndrome certainly aged him and even before he 'fought' Larry Holmes at 38, his speech was slurring.

In the middle of that segment there is little from a fight he had with Cleveland Williams from 66? Three rounds where williams didnt lay a glove on him, and Ali desroyed him with astonishing hand speed. Williams was no mug either.

There will never be another champion like him, in skill and certainly not charisma.

Posted by Christian Ejstrup at 10:09 PM on May 09, 2008
Comment #6

I agree with you John.He is the greatest of all time. Also a big idol of mine.

Posted by John Milton at 03:52 AM on May 10, 2008
Comment #8

Yeah, he had the courage of his political convictions.

As for the sport, you have got to be kidding. Beating Jerry Quary, for example, hardly is an astonishing win. Yeah, the phantom right to Sony Liston was a great shot and he beat George Foreman by getting into his head and letting Foreman punch himself out. More of a mind _ _ _ _ than the sweet science in the ring. I am pretty sure that the first person to call him the greatest of all time was Cassius/Ali himself.

You want the best boxers? Youtube Marvin Hagler, The First Sugar Ray, Tony Zale, Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor (before the coke days), or Roberto Duran as a lightweight. Ali was excellent but I dont know that he was the greatest. I concede he had the greatest wit.

Btw, there was a vid of him several years ago where he was in the ring with gloves on playing around and it was amazing to see how, no matter how far his tragic disease had progressed to that point, he still had the footwork of boxer just going front to back. It must be on the web somewhere; I saw it on a Dateline or some such T.V. news magazine show.


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