:) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WillyT]

Last edited Fri Aug 29, 2014, 01:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Sweet dreams...

[polly7]

1. Two of my brothers were boxers, Muhammad Ali was their hero.

He was amazing.

[WillyT]

2. My Old Man Boxed On Navy Ships... When Being Delivered To The South Pacific...

He flew B-25's...

But he was a badassed boxer on ship.

And he loved watching two boxers after the wars...

Ali.. and Teófilo Stevenson from Cuba.

He thought that that would be a true bout, between true boxers.

The Cold War screwed that up.

[polly7]

3. I bet he was a tough one!

I had to look up Ali and Teófilo Stevenson - he would have had to defect from Cuba? That's too bad. I actually hate seeing people get hurt boxing and know the long-term effects, but understand what a thrill it must have been for those whose lives revolved around it. Who do you think would have won?

[WillyT]

4. That's What My Dad Wanted To Know... "Pure Boxers" Is Probably Something Only Boxers Know...

He just admired the footwork, the puches thrown, etc...

And was sad that it would never come to be.

I think they both won medals in the Olympics... but would never meet professionally.

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. Stevenson was a bad ass boxer!

It was too bad he couldn't be in the big fights.

[NaturalHigh]

7. No doubt Stevenson was great, one of the best amateurs of all time.

I really think he would have made a fortune in the pros.

Wasn't his amateur career finally derailed by a drunken driving incident?

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. I had to Google that.

No, he wasn 't involved in a drunken driving accident. He did get into trouble for head-butting an airline employee at Miami International Airport. He died of a heart attack.

[NaturalHigh]

10. Okay, thanks for that.

I'm not sure where I got the drunken driving thing. Most of my boxing info back in olden times came from Sports Illustrated, so I'm not sure who I was thinking of.

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. No problem.

I wasn't sure either.

[NaturalHigh]

8. Willy, I would love to have seen that fight...

but I would bet the farm that Ali would have cleaned Stevenson's clock. Stevenson was great, but in my opinion, no other heavyweight came close to Ali in his prime. I'm not convinced that we ever even saw Ali at his best since he was sidelined for five years when he refused to be inducted into the Army.

[Skittles]

15. I thought he was very handsome

I had a bit of a teenaged crush on him

[polly7]

17. Oh yes, he was very, very nice to watch.

[NaturalHigh]

5. We have a picture of that in our den.

First round, first minute. My wife picked it up somewhere because she knows what an Ali fan I am.

[LloydS of New London]

12. "Yeah, you just smile, and the picture sells"

[malaise]

13. I watched a seventeen year old American tennis player two nights ago

at the US Open. I saw something I liked and decided to do some research on him.
The kid - Jared Donaldson- was born in Rhode Island and his …'Idols growing up were Muhammad Ali (boxing) and Bill Russell (basketball)'.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Do/J/Jared-Donaldson.aspx



I found his idols really 'interesting' for a 17 year old white kid.

[WillyT]

14. :hi:

[Journeyman]

16. Some years ago, the morning Frank Sinatra died, I was getting an oil change. . .

the television was on and the coverage of Sinatra was non-stop. There were maybe half a dozen or more guys sitting around watching the tube, waiting for our cars.

In the midst of it all, one of the well-coiffed talking heads said,

"You know, Sinatra -- he's the only person in the world, you just say his name and everyone knows exactly who he is."

Television dweeb paused for a breath, and in the silence of the room I muttered two words:

"Muhammad Ali."

Every guy there just nodded his head. I could said that name in Zaire, in Belgium, the Ukraine, or Outer Mongolia, and gotten the same recognition. I don't believe Ol' Blue Eyes would have ever had half the recognition the Greatest has enjoyed.