I know the fact that he knocked down foreman debunks this, but in a sense he wouldn't fight stupid and risk getting KTFO. Thoughts? Sry can someone move it to the classic?
just because Ali knocked down the puncher doesnt mean he never respected his power. he waited until he was completely gassed to go for the kill... however he did hype it up like he didnt have real power by saying frazier got up 6 times and norton kept getting back up, among others who were never out for a 10 count....but he was just getting in foremans head
he definitely respected his power, he had absolutely no choice but to respect his power. you didnt see ali with his chin exposed to foreman blows. ali dared to be great once again, in this matchup, absorbing foreman's blows to the body in hopes of him gassing out, which he did.
Ali took a hell of a beating to get that win. Foreman claims at some point Ali said in the ring "I made it" and what he meant was that he took all Foreman could dish out and the steam was coming off the punches, and now it was his turn to go to work on the exhausted Foreman. That was his whole strategy of the fight, take a brutal beating until the over anxious Foreman was punched out. Or so the legend goes. I'm sure it was not a fun 8 rounds of getting beat on, and I'm sure he respected Georges power immensely, rather he said so or not.
Any fighter from that era that didn't respect Foreman's power was an idiot, and Ali wasn't an idiot. Short answer: YES
He for sure respected his power.. He felt it as well, he was hit cleanly quite a few times.. One of the greatest wins of all time...
i was only thinkin bout this the yesterday when i seen a glimps of Ali V Foreman on Fox, and imo if the fight was held in america ALI would of got his arse handed to him, lets face he had a lot more haters than followers at that time, he was islamamic, he refused he was still unpoplular with the public for not joining uncle sam's quest to get those viet kong , he was lucky the fight was held over in zaire imo he had a following, like i keep saying if the fight was in america the place would of been packed but of people keen to see ali hit the kanvas...his win in africa against the odds helped his legacy and wins aginst fraiser, norton, spinks, shavers, liston are wat makes him the legend he is today
The real question is, Did Foreman respect Ali's power? And the answer to that was NO. Foreman kept saying Ali had no power. That's why Cus D'amato told Ali to go out and hit Foreman as hard as he can to make him RESPECT Ali's power. Ali did just that, hitting Foreman with Right hand leads. That's when Foreman realised that Ali wasen't as feather-fisted as he first thought
Of course he did, he was moving away great the first couple rounds, picked George with right hands. Then he kinda settled in and just let Foreman wear himself out, I think after a few rounds he KNEW that he would be able to see Foreman's best shots coming and brace himself, because he did take a few big ones.
ali's strategy would have been the same regardless where the fight would have been held, and the outcome would have been the same. george foreman would have done exactly what he was known for, because it was all he could do. "his arse handed to him"? you've got zero basis for that. are you kidding me?:-(
I agree dude. Aussie Opinion also needs to realise that the whole fight is up on Youtube - and he should consider watching it before making blaze comments.
Of Course he respected his power, but not his stamina. Rumour has it that Ali had the ropes loosened so they could absorb the power from Forman's blows even more. I think he also had his training partners whale away at him to toughen him up for the fight. So Ali respect Georges powers so much that he created a brand new strategy to deal with it. Big George had to much confidence in his own power and thought he could just blow threw Ali. This lose was so devastating to George he would never be the same again