General Admission

Atop the ring and off it, Ali was The Greatest

AL MENDOZA - GEN ADMISSION

By Al S. Mendoza

 

NO one compares with Muhammad Ali, who died last June 3 from Parkinson’s disease complications; he was 74.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Rocky Marciano weren’t even close.

Yes, both Mayweather and Marciano were unbeaten when they retired.

Still, their feats pale in comparison with Ali’s.

In 49 fights, Marciano was undefeated like Mayweather.

Marciano retired but not long after, he died tragically after a plane crash while on a mercy mission.

After retiring, Mayweather is now busying himself with spending extravagantly a wealth that can give him more than five lifetimes.

He was even seen lighting a cigar using a 100-dollar bill.

Mayweather now boasts of bankrolling careers of upstarts, saying he hopes to one day see a world champion in his “mold.”

But what is Mayweather’s template?

Not even a fraction of if can equate with Ali’s legacy.

While Ali “floats like a butterfly” and “stings like a bee,” Mayweather does nothing in a fight but “runs like a horse” and “spanks like a playful dad.”

He won 49 straight fights virtually merely grazing his foes, including Manny Pacquiao in their “Farce of The Century” on May 2, 2015 in Las Vegas.

Marciano was a much better fighter than Mayweather, except that Marciano, while he had an unquestioned fist power, never had the flair of Ali.

Ali was one of a kind.

He wouldn’t just flatten a foe with methodical power, but he would also bathe his executions with entertainment and pomp to make boxing more than the real sweet science.

He’d dance and circle the enemy with his famed Ali Shuffle, mixing it with lightning jabs and killer combinations that were always a joy to watch.

An innovator and an inventor rolled into one, Ali shocked the world when he stopped dancing and unleashed his unforgettable “rope-a-dope” in the 1974 “Rumble in The Jungle” in Kinshasha, Zaire.

For virtually 7 rounds in that bout, Ali stayed on the ropes, allowing the super-banger George Foreman to hammer him with what seemed like killer body blows.

It was a trap only the likes of an Ali could ever devise.

In the 8th, sensing Foreman was exhausted and dog-tired, Ali recoiled like a cobra, unleashing a quick combination followed by machinegun punches to eventually floor the defending champion—Foreman never to stand up again.

It was dubbed a major upset, Foreman being unbeaten before that.

But not to Ali—and to millions of his fans.  It was like Ali annihilating Liston again.

Ali would win anew the following year, stopping Smokin’ Joe Frazier in their trilogy’s classic “Thrilla in Manila” in the 14th round of a fight described by Ali “as next to death.”

That victory capped Ali’s glorious career that saw him win 56 of his 61 fights, 37 by KOs.

But if Ali was The Greatest atop the ring, he was also The Greatest off it.

His 1970 victory to reject America’s military draft to the Vietnam War via a unanimous 8-0 vote by the US Supreme Court was the greatest single win by an individual in a fight for justice since Gandhi’s symbolic personal victory over England’s control of India.

In his death, Ali never left us.

Ali just watches over us now his adoring flock, from a perch only he could rightfully, deservingly, own.

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