Sunday was a day to remember for Kevin
Maurice Garnett as his No. 5 jersey has been retired by NBA side Boston
Celtics. In an emotional ceremony, Kevin Garnett was honoured as his No. 5
jersey being retired and hoisted to the rafter at the TD Garden in Boston.
Garnett was a Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA First Team, five-time
All-Star and four-time All-Defensive Team member in his six playing seasons for
the Boston Celtics.

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He powered Boston Celtics to the NBA
title in 2008.

The highlight of the event was long-time
rival Ray Allen reuniting with Garnet, throwing away the bitterness and feud
that prevailed after Allen went to Miami Heat. Both players gave each other a
tight hug.

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After the superstar shooter left the
Boston Celtics in 2012 to join their rivals in the Miami Heat, his former
teammates Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce did not like his decision. As a result,
Allen was repeatedly left out of celebrations of the Big 4 and was scorned by
Garnett and Pierce. While Allen might not have held any ill-feeling against his
former teammates, it was clear that Garnett, Pierce, and Rajon Rondo did not like
what he did to Boston Celtics.

But time heals all wounds. For all of
Garnett and Pierce’s pettiness, the Celtics duo seems to have come to terms
with the fact that Allen did what was right for his career.

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As the sports’ one of the longstanding
feuds came to end, Opoyi takes a look at the five biggest rivalries in the history
of sports.

Joe
Frazier vs Muhammad Ali

Two of the greatest boxers of all time,
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier hated each other like anything. Neither they respected each other in the ring nor outside the ring.

This was not like any promoted heated
rivalry meant for commercial benefits. Ali and Frazier fought in the ring for
self-respect as the winner took away the esteem while the loser was drowned in
utter humiliation. Before the fight in the ring, they would spit venom against
one another. This was classic heavyweight boxing.

They were so influential that their
powerful boxing would polarise the whole of America. If you hated Ali, you
loved Frazier. If you loved Ali, you hated Frazier.

The hate didn’t end after both fighters
retired, either.

After years of being called ugly, a
gorilla and an Uncle Tom, Frazier didn’t pull any punches when Ali, struggling
with Parkinson’s disease, lit the Olympic torch in 1996.

Chris
Evert vs Navratilova

In the history of women’s tennis, Chris
Evert and Martina Navratilova notched up an epic chapter because of their
rivalry on the court. They had played each other 80 times over 16 years.

They each won 18 Grand Slam titles. Evert and Navratilova were among the very first rivals in women’s tennis, in general in women’s sports. Their rivalry peaked at a time when the sports arenas were dominated by male athletes.

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50 years after those high voltage playing
days, Evert said the fight was for recognition.

What made their rivalry so enthralling
were their diversities. On the one hand, Evert was America’s sweetheart,
Navratilova, from what was then Czechoslovakia, the flamboyant shot-maker who
was never afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve. The pair was on magazine
covers, in TV campaigns, the faces of the sport.

But unlike many other feuds in sports,
Evert and Navratilova never talked ill about each other. Off the court, they
were good friends. In February 2020, when Evert’s sister died Navratilova was
there by her side the whole day.

Usain
Bolt vs Tyson Gay

The rivalry between legendary sprinters
Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay heated a degree or two in 2015 when Bolt suggested his
American counterpart should be banned for life for doping. Gay tested positive
for a banned substance in 2013 but had his punishment reduced to one year after
cooperating with authorities.

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As an eight-time Olympic champion and
the fastest man in the world, Bolt shared a rivalry that always saw Gay, the
American sprinter, finishing second behind the Jamaican.

Though Bolt’s achievement made him the
greatest sprinter of the 21st century, Gay was seen as the one who could throw some challenges to the Olympic gold medallist. However, in the 2010 Diamond League in
Stockholm, Gay surprised the Olympic and World champion with a resounding
victory, beating him with 9.84 to Bolt’s 9.97 seconds. This was only the second
time Bolt had lost a 100 metre final – the first occurring in July 2008 against
Powell at the same venue.

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Joe
Louis vs Max Schmeling

This rivalry was set up at a time when it was United States vs Nazi Germany,
the Brown Bomber vs the Black Uhlan of the Rhine. Two fights between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling permanently cemented themselves in far more than
sports lore.

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Schmeling won the first match in 1936 by
a knockout in round 12 but Louis won the second bout in 1938 with a knockout in
the first round. The two fights came to embody the broader political and social
conflict of the time.

Ayrton
Senna vs Alain Prost

When we talk about the feud, the rivalry
between F1 driver Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost is perhaps one of the biggest
examples. This teammate rivalry began in 1988 when Alain Prost joined Senna on
the McLaren team.

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The heat gained momentum at the
Portuguese Grand Prix, where Senna tried to prevent his teammate from taking the
lead by forcing him towards the track wall. The rivalry only got steamier at
the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix, where the two had agreed not to get in each
other’s way.

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It didn’t quite work out that way, as
these two would collide. Senna was killed in 1994 after his car crashed into a
concrete barrier while he was leading the San Marino Grand Prix at the
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy.

In his highly successful career, Prost
won 51 Grand Prix while Senna won 41 Grands Prix and 65 pole positions.