"BLUE" JIMMY: BOXING ANALYST
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"Look at your body fly like the beat,
you're the real thing the only chance for me!
whiplashing legs can shake the nation ...
just drive him in the corner, use a combination!" - "Rally With Ali" by Humble Pie
you're the real thing the only chance for me!
whiplashing legs can shake the nation ...
just drive him in the corner, use a combination!" - "Rally With Ali" by Humble Pie
"BLUE" JIMMY: I guess the only thing that could knock Muhammad Ali down for the count was the Grim Reaper ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: 'Cause no one else could!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: My first memories of Muhammad Ali were of seeing him on black & white TV with his huge mouth open, taunting and clowning. This was in the '60s. By the '70s I saw him put his money where his mouth was and witnessed incredible, entertaining fights against guys like Floyd Patterson, Ken Norton, George Foreman and those duel-to-the-death battles against Joe Frazier.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And this was on regular TV! No paying $100. bucks on pay-per-view to see Floyd Mayweather run around the ring for 12 rounds and win a decision on points!
"BLUE" JIMMY: No! These were (at that time 15 round) gladiator fights where people at ringside would hold newspapers over their face to keep from getting splashed with blood! Don't get me started now, about how the heavyweight division in boxing don't have the kind of talent no more. The truth is, the entire sport of boxing don't have that kind of talent no more! I've always been attracted to flamboyant entertainers: Elvis, James Brown, KISS, OZZY in music; The Showtime/Shaq/Kobe Los Angeles Lakers in team sports; Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. in acting. Ali, obviously stealing a little from Sugar Ray Robinson who fought in an era slightly before him, made boxing a supreme spectator sport and gave it a hero/villan/spokesman at a time when pro boxers were considered broken-nose neanderthals who could barely string a few sentences together after a fight. Ali gave pre and post fight interviews which are legendary ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: Howard Cosell: " Muhammad, you aren't the same fighter you were 10 years ago ... " Ali: Howard, I talked to yo' wife and she said you ain't the same man you was 10 years ago, either!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: His boxing skills are also legendary. Where most boxers could hit an opponent with a jab at intervals, Ali could hit opponents with two or three jabs before they even realized they were hit. His footwork mesmerized and confused, his inhuman reflexes made other fighters punch at air and when he did get hit, he clowned, taunted and asked opponents, "Is that all you got?" His training regimen and conditioning no doubt, inspired Sylvester Stallone when creating the "Rocky" character and oh yes, he did have the knockout punch!
BLIND DOG OZZY: BABOOM!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: One silly argument I have heard in recent years, is that a Mike Tyson in his prime, could beat a Muhammad Ali in his prime ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: OH, S**T!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: For those with memory loss, let me set the record straight. Ali faced many killer, knockout punchers in his career. Most notable among these were Sonny Liston early in his career and George Foreman late in his career. Both times he was told, "Don't do it, champ! They're too big, too strong ... you'll get killed!" Both times he sent these "unbeatable" fighters to the hospital. End of argument.
BLIND DOG OZZY: !!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: But Ali had just as much impact outside the ring as he did within. Becoming involved with the Nation Of Islam and Malcolm X early in his career, he abandoned his given, "slave name" of Cassius Clay and adopted the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali. After refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army to participate in the Vietnam War due to his religious beliefs in 1967, Ali was stripped of his Heavyweight Title, arrested and made the term "conscientious objector" a household word. In the three years he was stripped of his title, he toured colleges and universities, made many public speeches and became a national and worldwide figure in the civil rights movement which at that time, was unheard of for a professional athlete. Being a former Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1960 Rome Olympics and World Heavyweight Champion in professional boxing, his presence gave teeth to a movement which was perceived as being dominated by kooks and radicals.
BLIND DOG OZZY: The most radical thing about Ali was his "Ali Shuffle!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: Ali condemned the 911 attacks, calling the perpetrators, "fanatics" and despite being hampered by Pakinson's disease, spent the latter part of his life promoting civil rights, charitable causes and unity. But despite the seriousness of the various causes he was involved in, my best memories of Ali are still the ones where he was clowning before, during and after a fight, defeating opponents with showmanship and funky style after being told he was "too young" or "too old" or "too Black."
BLIND DOG OZZY: "I can't lose with the stuff I use!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: And in the end, it is fitting that a man who overcame so many obstacles in his life and helped others overcome theirs, chose fighting as his career. Yes, he was a fighter.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Amen, brother!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
BLIND DOG OZZY: 'Cause no one else could!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: My first memories of Muhammad Ali were of seeing him on black & white TV with his huge mouth open, taunting and clowning. This was in the '60s. By the '70s I saw him put his money where his mouth was and witnessed incredible, entertaining fights against guys like Floyd Patterson, Ken Norton, George Foreman and those duel-to-the-death battles against Joe Frazier.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And this was on regular TV! No paying $100. bucks on pay-per-view to see Floyd Mayweather run around the ring for 12 rounds and win a decision on points!
"BLUE" JIMMY: No! These were (at that time 15 round) gladiator fights where people at ringside would hold newspapers over their face to keep from getting splashed with blood! Don't get me started now, about how the heavyweight division in boxing don't have the kind of talent no more. The truth is, the entire sport of boxing don't have that kind of talent no more! I've always been attracted to flamboyant entertainers: Elvis, James Brown, KISS, OZZY in music; The Showtime/Shaq/Kobe Los Angeles Lakers in team sports; Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. in acting. Ali, obviously stealing a little from Sugar Ray Robinson who fought in an era slightly before him, made boxing a supreme spectator sport and gave it a hero/villan/spokesman at a time when pro boxers were considered broken-nose neanderthals who could barely string a few sentences together after a fight. Ali gave pre and post fight interviews which are legendary ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: Howard Cosell: " Muhammad, you aren't the same fighter you were 10 years ago ... " Ali: Howard, I talked to yo' wife and she said you ain't the same man you was 10 years ago, either!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: His boxing skills are also legendary. Where most boxers could hit an opponent with a jab at intervals, Ali could hit opponents with two or three jabs before they even realized they were hit. His footwork mesmerized and confused, his inhuman reflexes made other fighters punch at air and when he did get hit, he clowned, taunted and asked opponents, "Is that all you got?" His training regimen and conditioning no doubt, inspired Sylvester Stallone when creating the "Rocky" character and oh yes, he did have the knockout punch!
BLIND DOG OZZY: BABOOM!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: One silly argument I have heard in recent years, is that a Mike Tyson in his prime, could beat a Muhammad Ali in his prime ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: OH, S**T!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: For those with memory loss, let me set the record straight. Ali faced many killer, knockout punchers in his career. Most notable among these were Sonny Liston early in his career and George Foreman late in his career. Both times he was told, "Don't do it, champ! They're too big, too strong ... you'll get killed!" Both times he sent these "unbeatable" fighters to the hospital. End of argument.
BLIND DOG OZZY: !!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: But Ali had just as much impact outside the ring as he did within. Becoming involved with the Nation Of Islam and Malcolm X early in his career, he abandoned his given, "slave name" of Cassius Clay and adopted the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali. After refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army to participate in the Vietnam War due to his religious beliefs in 1967, Ali was stripped of his Heavyweight Title, arrested and made the term "conscientious objector" a household word. In the three years he was stripped of his title, he toured colleges and universities, made many public speeches and became a national and worldwide figure in the civil rights movement which at that time, was unheard of for a professional athlete. Being a former Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1960 Rome Olympics and World Heavyweight Champion in professional boxing, his presence gave teeth to a movement which was perceived as being dominated by kooks and radicals.
BLIND DOG OZZY: The most radical thing about Ali was his "Ali Shuffle!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: Ali condemned the 911 attacks, calling the perpetrators, "fanatics" and despite being hampered by Pakinson's disease, spent the latter part of his life promoting civil rights, charitable causes and unity. But despite the seriousness of the various causes he was involved in, my best memories of Ali are still the ones where he was clowning before, during and after a fight, defeating opponents with showmanship and funky style after being told he was "too young" or "too old" or "too Black."
BLIND DOG OZZY: "I can't lose with the stuff I use!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: And in the end, it is fitting that a man who overcame so many obstacles in his life and helped others overcome theirs, chose fighting as his career. Yes, he was a fighter.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Amen, brother!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
