CASSIUS CLAY (aka Cassius X aka Muhammad Ali) IS a hot potato. When you talk about Ali you are not only talking about a sportsman.

Many people all over the world don't care about his achievements in the ring. What matters to them is his performance OUTSIDE of the ring.

• Muslims may admire him for being the only world-famous Muslim (aside from Mike Tyson, Saddam Hussein, Usama Bin Laden and Idi Amin).
  While Jews have so many world-famous faces (Elvis, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Julio Iglesias, Houdini, George Michael, Albert Einstein…) that they don't need to point out who is Jew and who is not, Muslims basically only have Ali and Tyson. But Tyson is a criminal Muslim (went to jail for cocaine possession and rape), married to a criminal woman (jail) who has a criminal mother Faridah Ali (jail) and a criminal father (Imam Shamsud-Din Ali, convicted for first degree murder). Welllll, Mike Tyson seems to be slightly less presentable than Ali. Therefore treating Ali like a treasure is perfectly understandable.
• Muslims may also admire Ali not only for simply being a Muslim but for being an outspoken advocate for Islamic beliefs and for upholding Islamic values (he divorced his first wife very fast after she refused to dress like a Muslima: "I even divorced a woman… just because she wouldn't wear dresses long enough")
• Ali is probably also the most famous ex-Christian aside from Tom Cruise (converted to Scientology) and Marilyn Monroe (converted to Judaism).
• Blacks may honor him for being the voice of the oppressed by attacking whites in the 1960s ("You're my enemy. My enemy is the white people!")
• Political activists may remember him for fighting against the government (Ali refused to get drafted and even went to the US Supreme Court) ("Vietnam legacy") ("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?")
• Ku Klux Klan members may admire Muhammad […] Read more »

NO OTHER FIGHTER divides fans and experts as much as ·Mike Tyson.

On one side are the BELIEVERS, who faithfully believe in Mike's miraculous KO powers.

"Tyson was a damn freak of nature when focused and prime. He was a physical phenom… Watch his 80's fights, it was like the opponents were in slow motion. He had faster hands than Roy Jones Jr and was a damn heavyweight bomber, UNREAL."

(original quote)

On the other side there are the many doubters who claim that Mike Tyson is overrated:

"Tyson was the product of careful matchmaking and a great hype machine; a man who was too reliant on intimidation for his success… He never fought Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield in his prime or even a comebacking George Foreman. That tells you something… Tyson was unproven in his prime."

(original quote)

or

"Look at the cab drivers and crack wh*res Tyson was knocking out to get a title shot… I mean what big name did he beat? A 38 year old Larry Holmes!?? A small and rusty Michael Spinks?! If people are gonna say Rocky Marciano knocked out a past-it Joe Louis…take a long hard look at "devastating" Tyson's early opponents."

(original quote)

or

"Tyson was a meteor that blazed through boxing, but his legend grows exponentially as the years go on. In a few years people will be talking about how Mike Tyson killed a bear with his bare hands."

(original quote)

or

"People say he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame because he never won a big super match with a big fighter of his era. The truth of the matter is there wasn't too much around in his era at the time when he was in his prime"

Emanuel Steward, Hall of Fame trainer

 

Thus if someone starts a topic on a boxing forum "Would Mike Tyson win against ((insert any opponent))?" then you immediately get these 2 types of responses:

1. "Mike Tyson would go through ((opponent)) within 1 round"
2. and "Mike Tyson is the most overrated boxer in history. Whom has he beaten?"

 

I could collect a nice sum of money would I get 1 dollar every time someone mentions the above to statements.

 

The Facts about Mike Tyson

There is no greater denial of a boxer's ACTUAL RECORD than by Mike Tyson fans (not all fans of course ) and by Muhammad Ali fans (but Ali's fans are a different story).

Sometimes you have the feeling one is not discussing "Iron Mike" but "Mythical Mike"

"Against Mike Tyson BOTH KLITS would be eating canvas"

"Wladimir Klitschko vs Mike Tyson in Tyson's prime, Klitschko would had fallen like the twin towers but worse"

(original quotes)

But, wait a sec, do these boxing fans actually know that Mike Tyson LOST sometimes?

That Tyson won by DECISION and not by KO sometimes?

Because if you are one of the guys who claims "Tyson would KO a Klitschko, no doubt about it" then I have to pop the bubble by refreshing your memories:

Prime Mike Tyson was KO'ed by featherfisty Buster Douglas

And although Tyson's KO'loss has been described as "one of the most shocking upsets in modern sports history" it was NOT a fluke: It was because Iron Mike Tyson was in reality Tiny Mike Tyson (5'10'') (sometimes even written "Mike Thaison")

Now, what he achieved career-wise DESPITE his size is remarkable. But to claim that he would beat every opponent within 1 round (including modern heavyweights like ·Wladimir Klitschko) is simply ignorance of his CAREER FACTS, because there is one major feature that unites Tyson's non-KO opponents: […] Read more »

FROM TIME TO TIME we hear fans (and experts) complaining about the "dire state of the current heavyweight division as witnessed by the amount of overweights". Then these fans may mention how in the 1970ies (the supposedly "Golden era of heavyweight boxing") Muhammad Ali's opponents were slick and slim while the current heavyweights are fat and slow.

 

Heavyweight division = Overweight division? The truth!

First of all: The claims of 1970ies-nostalgists are nonsense.

Below you see the picture of ·Joe Frazier, Clay/Ali's famous opponent against whom he fought 3 times. Frazier is far from athletic. […] Read more »

THERE IS ONE MAJOR REASON why people think this current era of heavyweight boxing ("Klitschko era") is bad.

And no, the major reason is not that boxers are out of shape ("fat").

It's not that champions are boring and slow.

It's not that opponents cannot throw straight punches anymore.

Please note: This article is part of my multi-part heavyweight boxing eras comparison:

• Boxing eras (#1) The best heavyweight era of all time -OR- Is Roy Jones Jr. a better cruiser than Rocky Marciano?
• Boxing eras (#2) Current heavyweights are fat and out of shape -OR- Ali and the mystery of the six-pack
• Boxing eras (#3) Wladimir Klitschko in the Golden Age of Heavyweight -OR- How abysmal was Ali's era really?
• Boxing eras (#4) Golden Age of Heavyweight -OR- Is the Klitschko era the first heavyweight era in history?
• Boxing eras (#5) The worst heavyweight era of all time! -OR- Americans play Basketball now!
• Boxing eras (#6) Is heavyweight boxing dead or dying?

 

The reason is rather HIDDEN and lies beneath all other reasons. It has something to do with apples and oranges.

 

Heavyweight is Heavyweight is Heavyweight

The reason is a huge mistake that was made in the 1970ies: […] Read more »

THE FIRST TIME I heard about ·Muhammad Ali (aka Cassius X aka Cassius Clay) was when a boxing expert mentioned on TV:

 

"There is no doubt: Muhammad Ali would have beaten Mike Tyson."

I was very impressed.

At that time I didn't know Ali. But I knew Mike Tyson (and his spectacular KOs against helpless opponents) and I thought: "Wow! Muhammad Ali must have been the best fighter ever. How unbelievable must he have been!"

Years later I had the opportunity to actually watch Muhammad Ali with my own eyes.

BUT, OH*MY*GOSH! What was that? […] Read more »