Inspiring speech by Muhammad Ali about his greatness (1974)

[Permalink]

1 Like

He still is the greatest.

I can’t describe how wonderful it was to watch his fights, though there was substantial frustration during the “rope-a-dope” fights. He knew how to promote himself, and was well aware of his self-promotion.

Professional boxing would still be a prime factor in the media if a similar character were to arrive, and even more so if another Howard Cosell(sp) accompanied the fighter.

The good old days…

3 Likes


I met Ali. He told me I’M the greatest!

I believe this is from When We Were Kings, although it probably appears elsewhere. That movie is 100% worth watching, regardless of how you feel about boxing. What other movie features Muhammad Ali, James Brown, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer all in the same film?

1 Like

“He was the greatest”

Woah, woah, woah… "was"?

Good thing you’re typing over there on the other side of the Internet…

2 Likes

I had read the “was” as “uh-oh, did he just die?” But he’s still alive, and was in the news just yesterday calling for Iran to release journalist Jason Rezaian they’ve imprisoned without trial since last year.

Boxing, meanwhile, is a barbaric entertainment, with a crowd urging participants to do enough brain damage to their opponents that they can no longer stand up. Doesn’t mean that the professionals aren’t tough and fast, but it’s not a civilized sport.

It reminds me of the saying about soccer and rugby: “Football is a game for gentlemen played by ruffians and rugby is a game for ruffians played by gentlemen”

I just watched that documentary this last year after Adam Savage was going on about it. It was great.

I just watched Pumping Iron last week, which was cool in a different way.

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.