Welcome to another edition of What If?, as fates are decided in the heavyweight tournament group stage. Read the intro and method here. Catch up with the 1930s and 1970s group stage in Episodes 4 and 8. Previously, on What If: What's in a name? Or, perhaps more germane, what's in a nickname? Muhammad Ali is known to history as the Greatest of All Time, but thanks to a … [Read more...]
What If’s Excellent Heavyweight Adventure Part 8: Styles Make Chaos
Welcome to another edition of What If?, as the first round of the heavyweight tournament group stage continues. Read the intro and method here. Then catch up on the first group-stage fights from the Thirties and Seventies at this link. In the words of the Grateful Dead: Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me, Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me What a … [Read more...]
What If’s Excellent Heavyweight Adventure Part 4: Only Legends Need Apply
Welcome to another edition of What If?, as the first round of the heavyweight tournament group stage continues. Read the intro and method here. Life is like a box of chocolates. You may get some different flavors, but for the most part you know exactly what you're going to get: chocolate. Last week, we saw this principle in action. Floyd Patterson couldn't beat Sonny … [Read more...]
The Day Muhammad Ali Made the World Rumble
40 years ago today the world was witness to possibly the most bizarre, fantastic event in the long and colourful history of the sport of boxing. The event took place in a 19- foot ring, set up at the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire, which was surrounded by a crowd of about 62,000. At the center of it all was Muhammad Ali, who inside that 19-foot ring square that … [Read more...]
Heavyweight Boxing – All Nobility Gone
Nobility is an oft-misused word, generally confined to tales of ancient Greek or Roman origin, to refer to deeds done in subjugation of the individual ego in favour of the greater good. Hercules performs 12 tasks to save a nation; Jason battles for the Fleece to preserve the future for his people. I used to use the word in the seventies to refer to heavyweight boxers. It … [Read more...]