This weeks RIP's........

[Bijou Bob]

Ha ha ha ha Bite!

[bobo the clown]

Cassius Clay. Quite a character and would rightly go onto any montage about the C20th.

[Harry Genshaw]

The greatest ever. Rest in peace Champ

[TheHeatonWanderer]

Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Clay, what a true great he was. Always loved his speeches, my favourite memory of him was when he called out Brian Clough who was big headed like him and Clough said "I want to fight him"

[Montreal Wanderer]

Superb Boxer, important sociological figure, playful and funny person. RIP.

[TANGODANCER]

R.I.P.

[Hoboh]

Muhammad Ali

R I P

The world of boxing has lost it's finest

The world has lost the greatest showman, ever.

[thebish]

aye - I echo all the above - and add this thought..

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim (among other reasons) - and was pilloried for it and punished and called a coward...

[Bruce Rioja]

Superb Boxer

And complete Gobshite. Thought he was both erudite and witty because he was succored up to by obsequious types such as Parkinson.

[Bruce Rioja]

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim

Yeah. I think a man who refused to be shot at.

[bobo the clown]

aye - I echo all the above - and add this thought..

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim (among other reasons) - and was pilloried for it and punished and called a coward...

Genuine question - was he a Muslim before he decided to not go & get shot at .... or did he decide being a Muslim would coincide, indeed asdust with his desire not to get shot at ?

[thebish]

aye - I echo all the above - and add this thought..

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim (among other reasons) - and was pilloried for it and punished and called a coward...

Genuine question - was he a Muslim before he decided to not go & get shot at .... or did he decide being a Muslim would coincide, indeed asdust with his desire not to get shot at ?

before.

[Montreal Wanderer]

aye - I echo all the above - and add this thought..

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim (among other reasons) - and was pilloried for it and punished and called a coward...

Genuine question - was he a Muslim before he decided to not go & get shot at .... or did he decide being a Muslim would coincide, indeed asdust with his desire not to get shot at ?

Had he enlisted there was no chance he would be shot at. He would be treated as Joe Louis was in WW2 - that is, kept out of the front lines to give inspirational messages to troops during their R & R periods. He knew this at the time.

[Bruce Rioja]

aye - I echo all the above - and add this thought..

a man who refused to go and blow people up and kill people because he was a muslim (among other reasons) - and was pilloried for it and punished and called a coward...

Genuine question - was he a Muslim before he decided to not go & get shot at .... or did he decide being a Muslim would coincide, indeed asdust with his desire not to get shot at ?

Had he enlisted there was no chance he would be shot at. He would be treated as Joe Louis was in WW2 - that is, kept out of the front lines to give inspirational messages to troops during their R & R periods. He knew this at the time.

Nor called upon to blow people up and kill people, Muslim or nae then?! A superb boxer? Undoubtedly. Full of shit? To the brim.

[thebish]

whilst I am normally to be found in the Iconoclast's camp - not in this case - nor have I any interest in boxing at all...

It seems to me that you have to consider the impact Ali made on American civil rights culture by being who he was - and you have to take into account the times in which he lived - where being black usually meant your voice wan't heard - his was - because of who he was and how he was... and he used that to good effect.

Tyson Fury - boxing gobshoite? - yeah, absolutely..

Ali - boxing gobshoite? (and coward??) - nahh - I am not persuaded... not even close.

[Bruce Rioja]

Tyson Fury - boxing gobshoite? - yeah, absolutely..

Ali - boxing gobshoite? (and coward??) - nahh - I am not persuaded... not even close.

For me, Ali was the greater boxer and Fury the bigger gobshite. However, when Tyson Fury dies, if anyone's actually bothered, then his words will be held up for the ridicule that they deserve. Yet the fecking ridiculous primary school rhyming couplets of Ali that are being played by the BBC especially, as if they were the words of Shakespeare, are absolutely embarrassing.. Hospitalised a brick indeed.

[thebish]

Tyson Fury - boxing gobshoite? - yeah, absolutely..

Ali - boxing gobshoite? (and coward??) - nahh - I am not persuaded... not even close.

For me, Ali was the greater boxer and Fury the bigger gobshite. However, when Tyson Fury dies, if anyone's actually bothered, then his words will be held up for the ridicule that they deserve. Yet the fecking ridiculous primary school rhyming couplets of Ali that are being played by the BBC especially, as if they were the words of Shakespeare, are absolutely embarrassing.. Hospitalised a brick indeed.

aye - 'appen as like... but - what Ali achieved because of the persona he created around himself made a big impact on the struggle for black emancipation in America - so - if the rhyming couplets played a part in getting him noticed and having his voice heard - getting him airtime - then I reckon, on balance, given the struggle black people had back then to even BE heard, that that is a good thing - and I applaud the contribution he made.

[Bruce Rioja]

Tyson Fury - boxing gobshoite? - yeah, absolutely..

Ali - boxing gobshoite? (and coward??) - nahh - I am not persuaded... not even close.

For me, Ali was the greater boxer and Fury the bigger gobshite. However, when Tyson Fury dies, if anyone's actually bothered, then his words will be held up for the ridicule that they deserve. Yet the fecking ridiculous primary school rhyming couplets of Ali that are being played by the BBC especially, as if they were the words of Shakespeare, are absolutely embarrassing.. Hospitalised a brick indeed.

aye - 'appen as like... but - what Ali achieved because of the persona he created around himself made a big impact on the struggle for black emancipation in America - so - if the rhyming couplets played a part in getting him noticed and having his voice heard - getting him airtime - then I reckon, on balance, given the struggle black people had back then to even BE heard, that that is a good thing - and I applaud the contribution he made.

I just never got him as a person. If I hear Michael Parkinson bang on about him one more time I'll hurl. I always thought that he rode on the coat tales of MLK in the emancipation and general derision of blacks debate. As a kid I used to buy SHOOT magazine and they had this interview feature called 'Focus'. The final question was always 'Who in the world would you most like to meet?' To which the answer came from all but two or three - Mohammed Ali, and I just always thought - why?

[thebish]

well - I just don't ever listen to Michael Parkinson - the man has always made my flesh creep! sorted!

(I think it is harsh to claim that Ali simply rode on the coat-tails of MLK - even if he did - it still wasn't easy post MLK's assassination to have your voice heard as a black man in America. I think Ali was more in the Malcolm X / Nation of Islam stream...)

[Bruce Rioja]

well - I just don't ever listen to Michael Parkinson - the man has always made my flesh creep! sorted!

(I think it is harsh to claim that Ali simply rode on the coat-tails of MLK - even if he did - it still wasn't easy post MLK's assassination to have your voice heard as a black man in America. I think Ali was more in the Malcolm X / Nation of Islam stream...)

You listen to Five Live. I'm stunned (yet impressed) if you've managed to avoid the fellating of Ali by Parkinson. OK, I think that there must be something between riding on the coat-tails and carrying on the work of MLK. That.