A Rassler In High Heels Was Muhammad Ali's Acting Coach Gorgeous George Made An Impression

Philly.Com ^ | July 7th, 1992 | Claude Lewis

[LRoggy]

Yeah, I remember reading many years ago about how much Ali worshiped pro wrestling as a kid and I knew that was something that had been forgotten along the way and wanted to remind people of how much he patterned his boxing career off that.

[sparklite2]

Gorgeous George
Wild Red Berry
Lou Thesz

... ah, the fakery.

[MarvinStinson]

And many of his fights were also fakes, just like in professional wrestling.

[03A3]

Norton beat the draft dodger in their first match up, an
d actually beat him in the third. The decision was a joke.

[Flag_This]

It’s like he’s floating, not unlike a butterfly.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Yeah; you guys are right.
That Ali guy was just a fraud. He was a terrible boxer and never won anything important.
Just a media creation.

/sarc

[PghBaldy]

People like him trick people into believing islam is about peace.

[Mears]

“He was a terrible boxer and never won anything important.”

---

I never said he wasn’t a good athlete. Never.

He was an old athlete,who died,and the press is over the top.

.

[Joe Bfstplk]

>>Gorgeous George
>>Wild Red Berry
>>Lou Thesz

>>... ah, the fakery.

My favorite was Dangerous Danny McShain.

[Williams]

Yes and the talented Ali beat Frazier their next two fights, and knocked out George Foreman who had demolished Frazier.

[OddLane]

"...in the phony game of rough and tumble wrestling.

LIES.

[trisham]

Thank goodness for remote control.

[atc23]

Fake? Let’s see you get into the squared circle with Sammartino, Nature Boy or Hitman Hart. You’d be crying like a little baby

[sparklite2]

Of course it was fake. There was a pro wrestler in our area of Texas named Tommy Martindale who became a friend of the family. As he might have said, wrestling should have a label on it that says, “For entertainment purposes only.”
That makes it morally superior to boxing, though, in that actually pounding someone unconscious ranks somewhere below putting on a show for rubes.

[GOPJ]

Cassius mused, "I discovered that even though I won the Olympic title, I wasn't making any money. I was the only champion that didn't have no jack jangling in his jeans. So I studied Gorgeous George and began doing his act better than he did it.

"Before I became champ, I used to go in the ring and fight and when I went to the dressing room, people didn't pay much attention to me," Ali recalled years later. "One night, I was watching Gorgeous George on TV. He was jumping around making a lot of noise and threatening his opponents and I said to myself, 'this guy's on to something.' I think I'll put some of that in my act."

Boxing fans plunked down their hard-earned cash to see Ali get knocked out. But alas, he had become as fine a boxer as he was a showman, and routinely whipped his opponents - "as if I was their daddy," he enjoyed saying. He also told reporters he probably owed Gorgeous George a lot of money: "Wasn't for him, nobody would have heard of me," Ali insisted.

Great story... great post.