Ali's opinion of Louis

[Holtol]

I've got quite a few pictures of Ali and Louis together at different periods of time, they're both always smiling when together and seem happy, same with Robinson.

Ali had a lot of respect for him I think, here's a video of him at a event honouring Joe


Here's another where Louis shows respect for Ali and vice versa, start at 3:10 or so.


I don't think Louis actually thought much of Ali though because of the whole war thing and"draft dodging" while Louis himself went.

I watched the videos after some time Ali may have let go of his grudge. But if I remember correctly his feelings were hurt if the book was accurate.

[NChristo]

I watched the videos after some time Ali may have let go of his grudge. But if I remember correctly his feelings were hurt if the book was accurate.

Fair enough, I do remember reading that Louis said some bad things about Ali because of him not going to war and like Scott said he kept calling him Clay instead of Ali which certainly wouldn't of made him particularly happy, with time came respect for one and other it looks like.

[JAB5239]

What I heard was that Ali requested an autograph from Sugar Ray. The Sugar Man said he was too busy to sign an autograph.

This sounds like the Basilio story where Carmen approached Ray and Robinson gave him the cold shoulder. He absolutely hated Robinson from that point on.

[GrandpaBernard]

This sounds like the Basilio story where Carmen approached Ray and Robinson gave him the cold shoulder. He absolutely hated Robinson from that point on.

I remember listening to Basilio explain this event in Sugar Ray's documentary. I'm no Sugar Ray expert, but he seemed like a society climber from everything I read about him.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

He said Louis was great from the waist up. Which is partially true. Louis wasn't flashy with his feet like Tunney and Ali were

He wasn't, but you cannot be anything short of excellent in your footwork if you routinely find yourself in the positions Louis did, within the ring & relative to his opponent. People talk all day about Louis being this or that from the waist-up, but any trainer would tell you, those gifts don't mean a thing if you're not in position with your feet to unload.

Louis had exceptional footwork (along with nigh-on exceptional everything else). You have to to score so many perfectly-placed punches, & scintillating knockouts. Too many within the masses mistakenly associate good footwork with back-peddling, moving side-to-side, & fighting in the mould of a Tunney, or an Ali, & opine as if they feel Louis was in-place to land his shots as though by accident. It is much broader in its definition than that, & not Louis or anybody else scores the shots he always did if they don't have excellent footwork.

[Miburo]

He called him the mummy, which was pretty amusing. And he was right - Louis was a waist-up fighter.

[JAB5239]

He called him the mummy, which was pretty amusing. And he was right - Louis was a waist-up fighter.

I think he called Foreman the mummy.

[Great John L]

An older, more reflective Ali later in his boxing career said Joe was the Greatest Heer are two quotes.

"Joe(Louis JR), your father was the Greatest. TRULY the Greatest."
"When Joe's in the room, I'm not the Greatest."

And I have a difficult time accepting this as Ali being humble. He was never humble in his career early on. But this is much later when Ali was older and wiswe. The Joe Louis Jr quote was done for the Book Joe Louis: 50 Years an American Hero.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

He called him the mummy, which was pretty amusing. And he was right - Louis was a waist-up fighter.

Not true in the least. It was Foreman, not Louis, who was labelled by Ali a Mummy anyway, as already stated. You don't score the knockouts Joe Louis scored if you're not in proper position with your feet.

[NChristo]

Not true in the least. It was Foreman, not Louis, who was labelled by Ali a Mummy anyway, as already stated. You don't score the knockouts Joe Louis scored if you're not in proper position with your feet.

No it was Louis he called the mummy as well.


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