JOHN B
"He was pretty and he couldnt possibly be beat"

Maddog
I grew up in that period and could never see that he was much of an influence at all, tho he certainly was a media sensation. A little of it was his talent and a lot of it was the talking in verse and his boastfulness, especially the arrogant and oft-repeated line "I am the greatest!" Of course, the draft dodging became a national issue. As a boxer, he couldn't hold a candle to earlier fighters like Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. Clay's "scientific style" of fighting (his "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" approach) consisted largely of dancing around outside the range of his opponents' fists until they wore themselves out. And most of his opponents were no-talent bums anyway (including Liston; this was in the day when pro-boxing was largely run by Frankie Carbo and the Mob, the fix was in and even minor thugs like Liston could become the World Heavyweight champ). I wouldn't pick a fight with Ali and do feel sorry for him in more recent years for his physical condition but he was never an influence to me or anyone I can recall from the time. I was opposed to the Vietnam War too early on and missed that party myself but I just lucked out there. I knew many who felt the same way about the war but went over there and fought anyhow and some didn't make it back. To most of us back then Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali, was just an overrated boxer and a rich draft dodger. I hated the thought of his returning to the sport or reclaiming his title and a lot of others felt the same way at the time.