How much Longer Will Ali live...?

Not looking too good lately. Not sure whether that's a sign that the end is nigh or not.
So what do you think?
under 5yrs/ under 10?/ Longer perhaps...?

 

I HATE to think about it, but the thought does cross my mind alot. Hard to say. He could go within the next year or two, or he could last another 8-10 years.

I suspect he'll live another 3-5 years, but maybe thats wishful thinking.

I will say this. Ive never really given a flying fuck when any celeb, or athlete has died. But the day Ali dies I truly will be sad.

 

Yeah. Will hit the world very hard. He represents so much to so many but to my 60s generation he was not a draft dodger to Canada but one who was willing to ruin his career and go to jail rather than to kill the innocent, and history has proven this the correct position.
Actually in the early 70s when he fought Frazier he lived in a house that still stands today less than a half mile from me. I last saw him at the Garden when Layla was on the card..forgot who was the main event..he was in a motorcar, came for her win, and left right after. Guessing that was a bout 5 years ago? I also saw him live when I lived in Manhatten circa 1971 after his fight there at a seafood restaurant on third avenue and about 69th street called Oscars Salt of the Sea..he was so handsome..the women adored him. Sad what has happened but he is a man of faith and if there is a hereafter he will be a leader. I hope he lives with some quality the rest of his years. Michael Buffer introduced him as "the man they called the greatest and perhaps he was"..that night at the Garden 5 years or so ago...but to me in so many ways...He is the Greatest.GS

 

Precisely how I feel X. Every word.

 

Ali has been well hidden away these past few years so its hard to get an accurate gauge on how badly he has been declining, or at what rate. I can't help feeling that "Brand Ali" has played a large role in keeping him out of sight, preferring to maintain the image and marketability of 60's and 70's Ali, rather than portray the reality that has been his life since the early 1980's onward. I saw him live on TV in 1996 and he was pretty bad then.

 

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im sure some of us here will die sooner

 

Judging the last 10-15 years the rate ain't bad, he's holding up pretty good...

 

I met Ali last December by chance at a breakfast place in Scottsdale. He moved very slowly and needed assistance walking. Everything he did was extremely slow but you could tell he was mentally still there.

I saw Ali, his wife, one of his daughters and another guy walking toward the door (I was sitting in the waiting area waiting for my table to get ready then I jumped up and held the door for the foursome. As he walked in I said, "come on in champ."

Ali's daughter helped him take a seat in the waiting area and I wound up standing next to his wife. I turned to her and said, "if it's not too much trouble would you mind if I took a picture with the champ?"

She turned and gave me a puzzled look then said, "ask HIM!"

Ali was perhaps five feet away, I walked over and said, "Mr. Ali would you mind taking a picture with me?"

I couldn't read his eyes due to the huge sunglasses he wore, he simply lifted his hand and waved me over.

I sat next to him and shook his hand as I sat down and was surprised by a few things.

First, his hand was fairly narrow...not as large as I would have expected. However, handwraps are a bit like a cast (especially if you're Felix Trinidad) and I suspect on your hands it has the same effect as geisha's having their feet bound.

I'd previously had the same feeling when meeting other fighters, save for Hasim Rahman and George Foreman. Those guys had HUGE fists and were geniunely big men.

Ali's shoulders were not as wide as I'd expected and he was very frail and slim. Despite the initial surprise at the size of his hands I was equally as surprised by the firmness of his handshake.

I could tell the Parkinson's had made his hand (right hand) stiff as though it were a claw but when he shook my hand and applied force to return the handshake the strength in his hands easily rivalled that of Foreman and Rahman (both of which I'd met the same night six or seven years prior).

Another item I found odd, when sitting next to Ali he slumped which gives the impression I would tower over him...which isn't the case. If you look at his earlier fights especially, it's clear he's not proportioned in the sense he has extremely long legs.

Despite his slumping when sitting, once he stood...even in the stooped manner in which he walks he's still over 6 feet tall...I'd say perhaps 6'2". I believe he was officially listed at 6'3" to Foreman's 6'4" but that night in Zaire they appeared to be the same height.

With all that said his face is pretty much a mask with very little facial expression. After I took my seat and placed my order he and his group were seated at the booth in front of mine. Ali spoke very little and in a very soft tone where the other at the table needed to lean in to hear what he said.

I couldn't catch any words he spoke (of the few times he muttered words) but there were a few times it was obvious whatever his replies were they were comical to the point the others either laughed outright or smiled.

 

He was in Ireland too. Brief glimpses. Let's see him for 4 or 5 hours straight, sat up in a chair, being asked questions. It would be worse than any horror movie.

 

The decline is physical. Luckily, at least in my opinion, once your mind is preserved, you can struggle on. Physical decline is bad enough but if the mind goes too then the physical decline is accelerated. His mind is still there, its the ability to put into action his minds decisions that is affected. He doesn't have dementia, well he may have some dementia, but he doesn't have what Quarry had. Quarrys was brain damaged. For Ali, its more sophisticated than that, his boxing career accelerated an already extant situation.

 

i'd guess 3 years

 

Not long...but he's basically had his threescore and ten. He's achieved everything and more that any normal man could hope for. A long life only prolongs his suffering. If he dies, he dies. Would be sad as any death is, would be a tremendous story but it's no big deal.

 

Let's face it...........other athletes have had it worse, or been killed doing their thing, and not just boxers. Its not how he would have wanted to end his life, but Ali made his own decisions and still had something to fall back on.

 

I hope Floyd dies this year.

 

No big deal either...if it is AFTER the Pacquiao fight. Still Floyd is still young and has young kids. It would be more tragic. Ali's lived his life to the full...how does old age benefit him now?

 

:laughing:

 

Ali's death and funeral will be more stage-managed than a Shakespeare production, believe me. It will make Yasser Arafat's death look like a nothing event.

 

foot-binding was a chinese practice, and so not performed on japanese geishas you IDIOT!!!

 

i enjoyed reading this account

 

opcorn:

 

Not much gets rooster angry but a vague understanding of 19th century far eastern history's too much even for him!issed:

 

'Preciate the Insight, MUZSE...

The Closest REED's Come to Meeting Ali was Meeting Joe & Marvis Frazier, Nearly a Decade Ago...REED's been BLESSED Enough to Meet Quite a Few Fighters Over the Years; Got a Pic Taken w/Floyd, Took a Pic of Sweet Pea, been Up Close to Pacquiao, Kicked it w/Roberto Duran...GREAT Times...

But Meeting Ali would SHIT on Being Around All of those Other Guys, PUT TOGETHER...Ali is EVERYTHING to REED...His Passing will Affect REED as Much as the Death of a FAMILY MEMBER Would...

Meeting Ali Even SURPASSES Meeting Roy Jones, to REED...

REED:34:

 

Am I a bad person if I don't really care how long he lives? His business.

 

yes, bad person and probably a racist

 

:: ::

Ali's Great Grandfather was Irish. :cheer: Must be where he got his mouth from.

 

Nah, just a person who grew up in a different time.

 

Like John Connors???

 

Yep.

 

Ima outlive all you bitches