I suppose for those of us who remember Muhammed Ali when he was in his peak in the 70s both as a fine athlete and also a fine, sharp witted mind, yesterday's pictures of him at George Fraser's funeral, a man, not even an old man, ravaged by Alzheimer's, were very sad.
Enough said.
8 comments:
Was he not a draft dodging anti white racist who treated Frazier with zero respect ?
Throbs, I suppose he's got some things he wasn't proud of. Draft dodging? The Heavyweight champion of the World going to Vietnam? I think you'll find that was probably the white establishment punishing him for being black and proud of it. Aye, he did mouth Fraser off, but at the time that was all part of the self promotion, he praised him in later life. Mind you, Fraser was a thick fucker.
Frazier went to Nam DL. He obviously didn't have Ali's connections ( or didn't think up the great idea of converting to Islam lol). Ali kept a plastic monkey that he would hit and insult calling it Frazier. He said white folk were 'the enemy' on Parky's show a few times. Another favourite nickname he had for Frazier was 'Uncle Tom'. Ironic considering how Ali loved the white lifestyle. Going to the Olympics and living the American dream of chat show bullshit. Frazier stuck to boxing and shunned all the bullshit. The deciding 3rd fight in Manilla where Ali taunted Frazier about him being the 'gorilla in manilla' was a close run thing. Frazier was stopped by his management despite Ali being a gonner. As Ali sat in his seat Frasier jumped around the ring asking why the fight had been stopped and given to Ali.
I'm not taking away Ali's bravery though. He took a hell of a beating and his brain was pulped.
Throbber I don't think it's in the least ironic that he liked a lifestyle that was forbidden to him by the fact he was black. If you had lived in 60s America where to be black was almost a crime; where white people WERE the enemy, you'd have felt exactly the same.
As for draft dodging, there were plenty of rich white kids that got round it. George W Bush for one!
Tris I agree with you. Who in their right mind would have send the heavy weight champ to Nam and aye plenty of white kids did get off with it, including the one you mention.
Ali was hardly an egghead himself DL. I've just read Frazier's bio and he dodged the draft as well so I was wrong there. He did some tv shows as
well.
Tris..Ali was well loved by everyone yet he was still hating whitey's in the 70's and denouncing the evil West.
Throbs, maybe so, but he may have had his reasons. All the same it's sad seeing a man who was a great athlete in that state because of a wasting disease.
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