Scott Stephens: It's become a bit of a regular public ritual, hasn't it? Over the past few years we've witnessed the deaths of a number of great public figures. Even if their death was somehow expected, when the moment arrives it tends to fill you with a tremendous sadness.

It also unleashes an interesting pathology.

Just think of a number of the public figures we've recently lost: Prince, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, even someone like Nelson Mandela.

There's a mass outpouring of grief mixed together with an innocent, dewy-eyed adoration. That's certainly what we've seen this last week with the death of Muhammad Ali, but here's my question: which Muhammad Ali are we venerating?

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