"I'm Going to Show You How Great I Am" Quiz

Answer:

Born in 1942, Muhammad Ali was nicknamed 'The Greatest' when he broke into the boxing scene (and it wasn't his only nickname either, only his most famous). He was a heavyweight champion through most of the 1960s, winning the Olympic Gold in Rome in 1960, and after refusing the draft in the Vietnam War, his career waned and resurged until he took on some of the greatest names in the sport throughout the 1970s, being one of the most famous sports figures in the world.

Ali's quote-- the one in question-- was a speech that he gave while speaking to the press at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in September 1974. The speech preceded the Rumble in the Jungle, an event held in what was, then, Zaire in late October of that year wherein Ali, an underdog considering his recent past, faced off against heavyweight champion George Foreman in the ring. The event was, then, the most watched television broadcast in the world.

But the speech here is one of Ali's most memorable and indicative of his personality out of the ring. Ali was a notable and charismatic figure who could command a room with his voice. It's his confidence that came through in these moments; his track record proved his abilities as 'The Greatest'; his history to that point had already established him as a man of his word, having been a conscientious objector to the war and a convert to the Nation of Islam. It's especially notable because Ali was known to have notable learning disabilities (determined to derive from a diagnosis of dyslexia).

Nevertheless, Ali was massively successful in and out of the sporting world. His general trash talking, considered by many to be eloquent, launched Ali into the spoken word poetry scene. In 1963 he released the comedy album "I Am the Greatest"; it was meant in a lot of earnest despite the comedic take. Many critics, in hindsight, regard it as a seminal hip hop album, influential to many rap artists in the decades to come.