Jersey-Joe Walcott, the boxing great who also refereed in the Liston fight, predicted as much, but no one believed him in the 60s. He said at that time Ali was better than any heavyweight of history by a wide margin. And Walcott was a few feet away when Ali threw the famous "phantom punch". Walcott said it was a real punch.
Ali was also a charismatic,larger-than-life entertainer and street poet.
He turned boxing into something the public actually wanted.....entertainment. Ali played the hero role, whether you agree with all his politics or not, and people supported him in that role.
Ali cast all his opponents in the villain role, and they were not the intelligent actor Ali was.....so,his scripting always worked in his favour.
Above all, and, as mentioned, he was a great boxer, perhaps the greatest.
As Tyson said when asked if he could beat Ali,
“There’s no man like him. There just isn’t. Everything that we have, he supersedes us in it, even our arrogance and our ego. He’s fast but he really doesn’t have any great qualities that you could see besides his agility and not [being] afraid to let punches fly. But other than that, he never threw a body punch in his life, he doesn’t have a good defense ― his speed was his defense, he moved.”
“He’s like a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a pretty face. He’s just mean and evil and he’ll take you in deep waters and drown you. He’s very special. The best in the world…nobody beats Ali.”
Because he's a very nice fellow. He loved his fans (even non-fans) and the media and is very generous with them to this day. Ali, after being snubbed for an autograph by Ray Robinson, vowed never to refuse an autograph or a photo-op and he didn't. He's generous to a fault, doling out money, giving away cars and houses, especially to poor people. More importantly, he stood and fought for his principles, and for that he's not just beloved but respected as well.
Actually Joe Frazier was more loved back in the day and Ali was mostly hated. Ali gained more respect and appeal towards the end of his career or after his career was over.
Ali was the most famous man on the planet
coz he defeat some of the greatest fighter at that time,same with pacquaio when he defeat almost all the champions in his career.
In the 1960s, he was hated. But come by the time he beats Foreman, a U.K commentator actually says ''I think it's time we admit, he really is the greatest'' or something like that.
When Ali was insulting Frazier, Ali's WHITE fans gave Frazier DEATH-threats! Sounds crazy, white Americans giving Frazier fans because of their love for a BLACK fighter (Ali) that was hated in the 1960s.
White Americans give Frazier death threats because of their love for Ali.
My theory is that his anti-war beliefs became universally popular by the end of the 1960s (My Lai Massacre really turned people off) and against Foreman, it was Foreman that was the villain.
