Muhammad Ali, RIP -- June 5, 2016

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Muhammad Ali, who may have been The Greatest of All Time, is dead.  He inspired some great documentaries.  When We Were Kings told the story of The Rumble in the Jungle, Ali's 1974 fight in Zaire against George Foreman.  No one expected Ali to win.  Some people expected Ali to die.  I still get the chant "Ali, boma ye!" stuck in my head.

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Facing Ali allowed several of his opponents to tell their stories.  I was sad to see the condition of many of the men, who I remembered as young and strong.

I remember a program he did on ABC's Wide World of Sports where Ali sat with Howard Cosell and watched movies of past heavyweight champs.  Ali said he would have beaten each one.  I wonder if he would have beaten Jack Johnson or Joe Louis.  In either case, it would have been a heck of a fight.  I would like to see the show again.

And of course Ali's 1975 fight with Chuck Wepner, the Bayonne Bleeder, inspired the movie Rocky.