Sunday, April 08, 2007
THEORY CORNER SPORTS PAGE: MUHAMMAD ALI & SECRETARIAT
Just to show Ali's method, here's (above) a quick win that he scored against Brian Lamb in 1966.
Above and below Cassius Clay (Ali) vs. Sonny Liston. Liston hated Clay and on one of the rounds they kept fighting even after the bell. What a battle!
The fight was stopped by a doctor after part three, so if you're in a hurry you can skip part four. Watch it if you can, though; it's a fascinating glimpse into what the people who ran the fights were like in the 60s.
Above and below two races by Secretariat in the early 70s. These are hands down the best races I've ever seen. Seabiscuit certainly was an interesting horse, and I liked the film, but could he do this?
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22 comments:
Zero comments! Then this is the record setter; the most unpopular post ever! Either that or the site isn't accepting comments, which happens sometimes. I thought some of the readers would be fight fans. I'm surprised and amazed!
They got fed up of your macho posts filled with porno and violence.
I watched a couple of them- Ali is really impressive. I don't think I have ever watched him before. I'm amazed! Thanks Eddie! You pleased me- that's one blogger!
I'm trying to make out the announcer in the first clip. I've listened a dozen times. It sounds like he says Ali hit London with "a fuselage of punches."
You might expect "barrage," but no. Ali took every seat, person, and all the bags in storage from first class to coach and smashed them in London's face like a cigar. That's what I saw.
GREAT boxing post!
>Then this is the...most unpopular post ever! Either that or the site isn't accepting comments, which happens sometimes. I thought some of the readers would be fight fans. I'm surprised and amazed!
Well, Eddie, we were all recovering from celebrating the Resurrection of our Saviour, but now that my Spirituality and Religion is refueled, I can continue my regular life.
I'm glad to hear you love boxing, Eddie. I love it, but it's gotten so bad lately, that the only fight I'm looking forward to, and in a long time, is Oscar De La Hoya's last fight on May 5th. That seems like boxing's last hurrah, unless Rocky comesw back for a 7th.
Ali was a good fighter but I think he was overrated. He talked too much and I don't like cocky guys like him.
haha i love old boxing fights. i could watch them for a long time. Its really cool to see how each fighter has their own stategy. Ali just moves around a lot. Liston holds himself in and tries to lay down heavy punches. Liston's fight with floyd patterson is also a good one.
I watch alot of old Ali fights. You should see some Mike Tyson fights, he is out of this world, man.
Ali was a good fighter but I think he was overrated. He talked too much and I don't like cocky guys like him.
Overratted?!? BWAHAHAHAHAW!
The greatest fighter of all time.
P.S. He woulda killed Tyson.
>The greatest fighter of all time.
George Foreman?
Sugar Ray?
Rocky Marciano?
Dempsey?
JOE LOUIS?
What I love about boxing is that the meat of it, the actual fights, haven't changed much in 100 years, so you can pit past boxers vs. new ones.
There's no reason why new boxing can't be just as good as the classics.
I used to live a few streets from Ali's mother's house,in Kentucky.
See Eddie? Everyone loves Eddie everyday of the week!
I loved that the first Secretariat clip ended with Gile Mear in the music track, one of my favorite tunes. Made it even more thrilling. (Least I think that's what it was -- the disco beat kinda covered it up!)
Eddie! You should do one on Celtic music! The Fitzgerald name by itself is enough to qualify you.
Secretariat and I have something in common with our racing style( although I raced bicycles, and not horses). We both came from behind to win. Drove one coach I had nuts.
Kali: Thanks!
Lester: I don't know much about Celtic. What's the best stuff? By the way, since you're interested in philosophy, did you see the new book called "Stoic warriors?" It's about Epictitus. I thought of the stoics when I saw the recent Will Smith film about the out-of-work dad. Smith never blames anybody, he just stays focused on the problem.
David, Jorge: true, so true...except...do you really think Ali was over-rated? If all the good fighters were getting old and there was no one first-rate to oppose Ali then that's something to consider. Even so...
I never do any work when I look at your Blog Eddie! Another terrific post.
Still the sexiest Blog on the Block. You always amaze me- it gets better and better, like a fine Chianti. Why don't you run for President? You have a cartoon one currently, so why not have a great Cartoonist instead!!
Seriously you have all the attributes. You are interested in:
History, Women, War, Humour and Bridges. In that order.
Air Force One is waiting for you.
Eddie,
Celtic music is thriving today and has many fine exponents. Ones I have especially liked include the Scottish fiddler Bonnie Rideout, and (of course!) The Chieftains. The literature is vast. Some of the most powerful tunes are what I guess you could call "ballads of Irish bitterness and revenge," like Gille Maer, The Wild Swans (the "swans" in the title are warriors, not birds), and The Minstrel Boy (aka The Moreen). Its takes all Stoicism I've got to listen to a good rendition of one of these without crying like a baby.
I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard of Nancy Sherman's book, because it's just the sort of thing I am interested in. I do like "The Pursuit of Happyness" though and discuss it in a talk I'll be giving in a couple of weeks at the American Philosophical Association, where I use it as an example of a different Stoic idea from the one you are referring to: the idea that virtue is good for the person who has it.
The song I meant to refer to above was "The Wild Geese," not "The Wild Swans." Getting off to a slow start today!
lester: Thanks for the music advice! Virtue, the way the ancients defined it, is such an interesting subject! I don't pretend to know much about it but I think I'll post about it sometime soon..
Nice.
Louis: "Kill the body and the head dies."
There's no way to overrate Muhammad Ali. He simply was the Greatest. Look at the heavyweight era he fought in- he had to go up against Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman AND the U.S. government.
Ali was awesome in every imaginable way. He still is.
haha
as i started reading this blog - eye of the tiger started playing out my winamp.
awsome. i used to box super heavyweight on the anmateur circuit. did alright but damb its too much discipline. try being an animator.fighter !!!
ali was great, but im a rocky maciano man !! slugger
Ha ha I bet Liston "hated" Ali like Jerry Lawler "hated" Andy Kaufman. Ali claimed multiple times that his act was stolen from "Gorgeous George" the wrestler, but Freddie Blassie claimed Ali actually stole the act from him, and had admitted that to him privately. Boxing might have been banned in the US by 1977 if there weren't someone to make it look hip. I bet alot of boxing is real, but didn't Liston throw the fight the next year to Ali? http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/dunn0507.php
Alot of people wonder if some of Ali's fights were hoaxes. He was a great performer-- I actually think part 4 is the only one of them really worth studying, haha. He's like Tony Clifton in that last one, he's so entertaining!
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