Ali is a larger than life figure. His confidence and showmanship were part of it, but it was not the only aspect that made him rise above the sport. He was an ordinary man with extraordinary talent. He connected with people. He was controversial, but not because he got into fights, had domestic battery cases, had an entourage that bullied people, and because he burned money. He was controversial because he used his celebrity to call attention to the powerful issues of the day. He stood on his principles against the war in Vietnam even when it cost him a great deal financially and in the prime of his boxing career. He was active in charity, politics, and social issues.

Perhaps he was just far far superior at marketing himself as a fighter than Jones, Mayweather, Broner, or other fighters, but I think it was way more than that. Jones was a talent second to none, but did not have the charisma to carry things outside the boxing world. Mayweather has achieved more than any other modern fighter financially but his marketing tactic is to make himself the heel and the villain like those bad WWF guys in the 80's & 90's. He will be rich while he fights and maybe even after, but he does not connect to the fans. He is good to watch for his excellent skills, but I imagine just as many people are tuning in to see him lose as win, and unlike Ali, when he lost, people will not likely be as interested if/when that 0 is gone from his record. Hamed was one of the best of his time too, but he became so distracted with the fame and fortune that he basically gave up on the discipline of boxing and effectively ended his own career.

Muhammad Ali was the Original fighter to utilize this tactical way of promoting and selling tickets. Ali would call the round of his opponents impending demise and give him a name without using ignorant based profanity while doing so. Ali never made lewd gestures towards a future opponents wife, or physically abuse his wives and their children. Ali had class, if you so call trash talk then you must be the product of trash. Remember the old saying," If It Walks Like A Duck, Or Quacks Like A Duck, Then It Must Be A Duck." Ali got his promotional idea from the wrestler Gorgeous George, back in the late 1950's and early 1960's. You see Ali could back up these claims, usually and sometimes he was wrong about the round in which he predicted. You mention Nassim Hamed and Roy Jones jr, good fighters, but what is so wrong about developing your own style? In reality, you cannot be someone else, no matter how hard you try. The reason that Ali adopted this over confident behavior was, because the fans and critics would pay to see him possibly lose, he laughed all the way to the bank. It is like Adrien Broner wanting to emulate his God, Floyd Mayweather. The experienced and mature boxing fans wonder if Broner is mentally defective. As a parent, you teach your children to be themselves, and it is okay to do so. They say "That Imitation Is The Best Form Of Flattery". What if everybody in the world was exactly the same, what a boring world we would have, no individualism. Remember in the boxing world Ali was the original braggart. And lastly, remember when the first time you saw a Bruce Lee movie, when you left the theater, you were certainly feeling like Bruce. This is a normal juvenile reaction to what was projected into your mind and sub conscious, but if you were a mature adult, you would realize that it was just an entertaining movie. Rocky Marciano idolized the great Joe Louis, he cried when he knocked out an aging Louis, on Oct 26,1951, in round 8, but Rocky had his own style, that is a sign of maturity. It would be great, if the fighters today would be creative and invent good positive gimmicks.That is how you teach your young about the dangers of peer pressure. And not falling prey to it, be a leader, not a follower.

********* is never accepted unless it is backed up Muhammad Ali backed it up and so did Hamed at least until he faced Barrera.....Ali though transcended the sport and did more than just act cocky, Ali was more than just a sports figure he was an icon and will always be viewed for more than just a great boxer.

The thing with Ali is he could back up his bragging. He trash-talked but he never ate his words. In fact, he was the one who made both cynics and skeptics eat their words. When he said he'd beat Sonny Liston, sportswriters and other boxing purists thought he was nuts so when he stopped Liston and won the heavyweight title, he yelled at them: "Eat your words!" Ten years later, when he knocked out George Foreman, he berated the sportswriters for making him an underdog. He said, "never again make me an underdog until I'm 50 years old. Then you can get me!"

As Ali have said, "it ain't bragging if you can back it up."

Cokeenesscomes in a lot of forms like confidence.you can either be both with no common sense or you can be both with smarts upstairs

- Apparently I cant say ********* because its blocked lmao.

Ali was c0cky and now decades after his retirement, he's arguably the most popular boxer of all time, everyone knows his name. His trash talking, unique style and c0ckiness made him popular.

But how come he is known worldwide when other fighters such as Roy Jones and Prince Naseem Hamed have the same attributes (trash talking, c0ckiness and unique Style) ?

What did Ali do to make him overshadow the boxing world?