backwoods
As for Bruce Lee-- well if it was boxing he would have been crucified because he was a total lightweight compared to these guys.  Tyson IMO was the greatest

I was thinking about that earlier today. Boxing, most certainly. But that isn't really fair is it, asking a little Chinese guy to beat a huge guy while forbidding him the use of his fighting tools.
 
Yet every one who imagines such theoretical fight seems to feel that the only way to go is to do a boxing match.
 
Instead, let's imagine what would have happened if Ali had been allowed to use kicks and whatever Lee was using. 
 
In a real fight, not one designed to advantage the bigger guy, I'd put my money on Lee every time. 
 
 

Rain

backwoods
As for Bruce Lee-- well if it was boxing he would have been crucified because he was a total lightweight compared to these guys.  Tyson IMO was the greatest

Boxing, most certainly. But that isn't really fair is it, asking a little Chinese guy to beat a huge guy while forbidding him the use of his fighting tools. 
 
Instead, let's imagine what would have happened if Ali had been allowed to use kicks and whatever Lee was using. 
 
In a real fight, not one designed to advantage the bigger guy, I'd put my money on Lee every time. 
 
 

It's boxing rain...

backwoods

Rain

backwoods
As for Bruce Lee-- well if it was boxing he would have been crucified because he was a total lightweight compared to these guys.  Tyson IMO was the greatest

Boxing, most certainly. But that isn't really fair is it, asking a little Chinese guy to beat a huge guy while forbidding him the use of his fighting tools. 
 
Instead, let's imagine what would have happened if Ali had been allowed to use kicks and whatever Lee was using. 
 
In a real fight, not one designed to advantage the bigger guy, I'd put my money on Lee every time. 
 
 

It's boxing rain...

That's what I say. In a REAL fight...

with guns? and if tyson had trained as a cage wrestler fighter--- who knows? i think tyson would pull his arms off to be honest

Serenarules
He punched people for a living. Scum. Consent to be punched is irrelevant.

He only punched people who chose to punch and get punched, and that's higly relevant.
If you're looking at the world through a straw, don't expect to understand much.
Some of us are poets, some are scientists, some are athletes, some are poetic athletes etc. 
People are different, life finds many paths, often in spite of what we wish. I have met a boxing professor of
biology. Combat sports are a part of human culture, nature, evolution...
Then again, I don't deny the several negative aspects of them.
 
And very often, (usually?), it's the people who like combat sports that are the first ones put their own life at risk when the poets need to be protected.
 
 
 

 To continue...
 
I think Ali was (and is) too often taken as an intellectual, which he was not. His utterances should not be taken in the same way as those of an educated scolar or a professsional politician. He was an able bullhorn for the frustrated and neglected, a child of his time and era, but surely many of his exclamations were not as thoroughly pre meditated as many assume. IMO, He should be understood as phenomenon, as a whole, not as some kind of a guru and thinker, whos words hide greater wisdom.
 

 
 
Looking back on the life of Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali presents a clear dichotomy.
 
If we judge him solely on his sporting achievements, I don't think many would argue he wasn't one of the 'greatest'; certainly at his chosen sport, and conceivably of all sporting and athletic disciplines. In that so-called 'golden era' of heavyweight boxing, the undisputed champion of the world was as well known, as important, and maybe even more recognisable than the only other comparable sporting winners of worldwide renown, those of the football world cup. I guess in common with a lot of you, I'm old enough to remember the hyped-up aura and legend of global sporting events such as the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manilla.
 
As far as his political and religious leanings go, it's unimaginable that we'd ever have even heard of him had he been 'just another' black guy who eschewed such beliefs and had converted to Islam.
 
The man himself did nothing to separate his sporting life from his political and religious view, in fact quite the opposite; he used the success of his sporting career to allow himself an increasingly public platform to broadcast these sentiments. So it's almost impossible for us to do the same and separate these aspects when looking back on his life.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rain
Even for people who aren't into boxing, it's hard not to be aware of such a legendary figure. 
 
http://www.msn.com/en-us/...pr?ocid=ansmsnsports11

I always thought that one of his best quotes was ... all this ... and at the end ... "and I'm pretty, too!"
 
Such a nice guy and a crack up! 

Quite the controversial figure was Mr Clay.  I think his treatment of Frazier was disgraceful, especially considering the considerable support that Frazier provided earlier in his career.  As for the greatest?  Lennox Lewis, hands down.  I honestly think he'd have beaten Tyson in his prime.

Boxing aside, I think that a few of you aren't able to relate to persecution by a group of people.  He(Ali), Malcolm X and several other African Americans had extreme, all encompassing views of the Caucasian people because that's mostly what they saw.  You can't eat here, you can't ride this bus, you can't get this job, you have to step aside when Caucasians walk on the sidewalk, you can't live here, etc. - all because of the way you look.  You, too, would develop a bit of an attitude, to say the least.   They later softened their views to target specific persecutors as opposed to the whole Caucasian race.
 
It's not unlike many of your grandparents or parents living though a specific time and, through enlightenment, change their perception(s).
 
I wouldn't be so quick to judge.