Sadly 'The Greatest' on the brink...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2272798/Muhammad-Ali-dead-days.html

One of my greatest heroes is reportedly gravely ill

Irish Times

Always liked him even when he was Cassius Clay

Thanks for merging Gypsy

I'm off to watch "When We Were Kings". Talk later

Apparently the rumours were just that....

thejournal.ie

Good Geezer too

My personal thought on this is the fact that 'allegedly', boxing which is classed as a sport is the cause of his illness. Saying that it is boxing which has made him a household name. Chicken and egg? :puzzled:

Hard to disagree with you LL, the trouble is what would happen if you banned boxing? The sport would move underground where there wouldn't be any ringside medical facilities etc. The danger , although Joe Public wouldn't get to hear about it as much, would only be greater. In Ali's case, he still fought on even though it was obvious he had some impairment. Dunno if he was just stubborn or poorly advised.

3rdforum wrote:Hard to disagree with you LL, the trouble is what would happen if you banned boxing? The sport would move underground where there wouldn't be any ringside medical facilities etc. The danger , although Joe Public wouldn't get to hear about it as much, would only be greater. In Ali's case, he still fought on even though it was obvious he had some impairment. Dunno if he was just stubborn or poorly advised.

Poorly advised methinks, maybe the sport is better regulated these days. My youngest son says he wants to do cage fighting.........

My youngest son doe's cage fighting, Black and blue he is , Says it makes him relax I sit in a chair and nod off,

I don't like it. Too severe for me.

I don't even like boxing. I've never "got" people punching each other in the face...

There something primeval and tribal about it. Rugby is in the same boat.

But it’s ok to hit an innocent chickens arse and call it sport...

I boxed for a number of years. I loved it, the discipline is fantastic, the training is probably one of the most gruelling of any sport. Yes people do get hurt and some get killed or brain damaged, far fewer the Cycling or motor sport.
The other fact of boxing as a training sport, many kids who would be out on the street fighting or in gangs take up the discipline and appreciate that their hands are lethal weapons.
Most trained boxers could take an everyday man out with one punch, but do they no, why? fighting with someone who is just after a bit of an argument is not sport enough, no challenge.
Ali was not the greatest boxer ever, but he was the greatest entertainer in boxing and was close to being the greatest.
Rocky(not Sly) was the greatest on paper, never beat, but we are only talking one weight here. Many boxers use a lot more than heavy weights and for me the real Boxers are Middle weights and the divisions around them. Eubanks was an incredible fighter, cocky but brilliant as was Nigel and the last fight they had was one of the best.
Naseem Hamed good, Lennox Lewis great but people Like Sugar Ray, Smoking Joe and Tyson, tough cookies. Barry Mc was superb, we think about Ali's injuries but would he have had it any other way, injuries and boxing, or no injuries no boxing, he would have gone for boxing every time.
For me I have a few scars from fighting, broken nose scars from stitches and others, I would have a fight tomorrow if fit enough.
I don't know if anyone here knows a boxer and has ever seen them get a slap in a pub or somewhere, hilarious, don't feel it so the person belting them thinks "TAKE THAT" and the boxer may be bleeding just looks back with "my go".
Cage Fighters, different that, you blink and you got it wrong, no room for a dropped fist.
So for me Boxing is not as dangerous as many other sports. How about skiing, more get severely injured or killed than in boxing.

I like non-contact sports, like Ice Hockey

I like sports where you can get killed if you get it wrong, F1 for starters, Rallying, Motor bikes, To me footballers are nancy boys, all that diving and laying about waiting for a sponge, Fecks sake man get a grip,

My brother lives on the Isle of Man . He's seen some spectacular crashes (though none of the fatalities yet). He showed me a picture of a shed that was next to a house on a bend. The rider went straight through the bend, into the shed and hit the back wall at 80mph. They had to scrape him off apparently.