Manila, R.P.– Muhammad Ali is the greatest boxer ever because he upset the boxing world when he defeated the dangerous and then heavyweight champion Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964 with his graceful hand and foot speed movement — in spite of the blinding chemicals allegedly put by Liston’s corners to undermine the visuals of Ali.
BOXING REALLY DIDN’T MAKE ALI THE GREATEST
But Ali’s greatness was punctuated after he joined the mass protest movement questioning the immoral policy of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration of sending young Americans to Indochina to kill Vietnamese. For that, Ali famously protested, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. They never called me no nigger.” He argued that he Vietnamese people were fighting for self-preservation and independence.
ALI ON VIETNAM INSPIRED MANY
In April 1967, Ali’s reluctance to join the US Army caused his arrest and an eventual guilty verdict. He was stripped of his World heavy weight crown, and the government revoked his license to box, a move that would cost him nearly four years, not to mention his athletic peak. On June 28, 1971, the U.S Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals that convicting him of war evasion.
IMAGINE WHAT THE SONG “IMAGINE” MEANS!
John Lennon is the greatest because he wowed the world because of his genius in composing anti-war songs like, All you Need is Love, Revolution, Give Peace a Chance, War is Over, and Imagine. “Imagine” is timeless as it is being played as the final song in just about every New Year’s Eve celebration around the world. It is iconic because it made us ponder a world sans violence.
JOHN WAS NO POLITICAL HACK
Lennon’s greatness was punctuated after he found himself on the receiving end of the U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and Naturalization Service who wanted him out of the U.S because of the fear that then President Richard Nixon might not win reelection. Lennon was an active and influential leader of the street protest movement against Nixon and his Vietnam policy that cost U.S taxpayers billions of dollars per days and 58,000 American lives, this for a war the U.S could not win.
In short these men used their popularity to fight evil, while Manny Pacquiao has yet to even lift a finger. Even if Pacquiao defeats Floyd Mayweather, or even Rocky Balboa next year, he could not still be at the level of Ali and Lennon because he lacks political awareness. Ali and Lennon fought political immorality, while Pacquiao succumbed to it as evidence of his association with the unpopular President Gloria Arroyo– whom every one knows –except Manny probably—would go to jail after she is sued with non-bail able crimes of plunder after she leaves office in June 30, 2010.
While Ali and Lennon denounced the malfeasance of President Richard Nixon, the gullible (or maybe not so) Pacquiao said before a national TV audience that Arroyo’s (deceptive to me)` State of the Nation Address, it inspired him. That he would willingly ask the president to raise his hand for posterity in case he runs for political office next year, this to me illustrates a serious flaw in Manny. Thus, this is what makes him oceans apart from Ali and Lennon.
Note: Although the author has no problem in listing his name, I do as I don’t want this guy ending up dead in an alley. You can leave your comments below, but for now the writer’s name will remain a mystery.