Filmer Paradise wrote: » Just heard about this. I remember as a kid being let stay up late to see one of his fights. ('78 v Leon Spinks). My folks were keen for me to see the great man in action. It was such a big deal & no pay per view nonsense. Hard to believe that Boxing was so accessible to us all back then. His fights really were world events in those days..
viztopia wrote: » While he may have been a good boxer i found some of his quotes overly racist and a white person would not have been able to say these things about a black person.
LorMal wrote: » Me too Filmer. He was a huge star - nobody else came close. Boxing was never the same again - ruined by greed and cynicism.
washman3 wrote: » Was he one of the Clay's from the Tulla road..??:D
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years."
Muhammad Ali wrote: I ain’t draft dodging. I ain’t burning no flag. I ain’t running to Canada. I’m staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain’t going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I’ll die right here, right now, fightin’ you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won’t even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for my rights here at home.”
“I’d like to be remembered as a black man who won the heavyweight title and who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him and who helped as a many of his people as he could – financially, and also in their fight for freedom, justice and equality. “As a man who wouldn’t hurt his people’s dignity by doing anything that would embarrass them. As a man who tried to unite his people through the faith of Islam that he found when he listened to the Honourable Elijah Muhammad. And if all that’s asking too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered as a great boxing champion who became a preacher and a champion of his people. “And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.
I ain't draft dodging. I ain't burning no flag. I ain't running to Canada. I'm staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I've been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain't going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I'll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won't even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won't even stand up for my right here at home.
marienbad wrote: » No at the time white people could just do this .
LuckyGent88 wrote: » R.i.p will never forget the time he came to his "ancestral home" of ennis and I got to shake hands with the man. Even as a 21 year old I didn't want to wash my hand for the rest of the day. I felt I had literally touched a god!!
Tilikum wrote: » Ali was the world heavyweight champion. He refused the draft for the Vietnam war resulting in the yanks taking his belts & boxing licence off him. Said he wouldnt fight a white man's war as he was treated like **** in his own country. Something like that
milehip wrote: » RIP Ali great boxer but The fact that He was once a guest speaker at a KKK rally in favour of racial segregation, along with his treatment of Joe Fraizer-who loaned him money whilst he was banned from boxing- always left him somewhat tarnished in my eyes.
marienbad wrote: » Yeah he had a cruel streak , no question about that and it wasn't just towards Frazier but to other boxers also , for example how he bludgeoned Ernie Terrell all the time taunting him with the 'whats my name ' line . .
mansize wrote: » In Ali's defence there, it was because Terrell kept referring to him by his slave name
