Is Ali's win over Foreman a tad over rated?

Foreman destroyed both Frazier and Norton....2 fighters Ali had serious problems with.

Plus, extremely "strange things" seem to occur around Ali's major fights up to that point in time.

 

No. All the other fights you mentioned didnt have people genuinely fearing for 1 of the boxers lifes.

Foreman was considered practically unbeatable at that stage and as the poster above said, had annihilated Frazier and Norton, who had given Ali fits. Doesnt take a genius to figure out what 90% of people thought was gonna happen.

A great win

 

Foreman was really beatable but only a few knew how to do it....a Big win for Ali and would have been a great win for any ATG, Foreman was beatable but not by any means an easy guy to beat.

 

Foreman was a force of nature. His extreme strength and physical presence in the ring coupled with his punching power, durability and will to win made him a wrecking all of a fighter. The night he fought Ali very few would have stood up to him. Alis ko of Foreman Is in no way over rated. One of the great upsets in boxing history.

 

Not whats so ever. Ali came into that fight am 8 to 1 underdog, Up to that point Foreman had only been past the 3rd 4 times cause he was killin guys. Ali puled off the impossible so my no means is it overrated. In fact its in my top fight favorite fights ever.

 

Foreman was looked at as being Sonny Liston and Joe Louis combined at the time. Most thought that the best Ali would do was to last longer than Frazier and Norton. Probably five rounds. It was an incredible legacy sealing victory for Ali. Not only by winning,but by doing it in such an unorthodox manner.

What still makes me laugh is that before the fight,George was viewed as an unbeatable monster,but afterwards he was criticised for being 'amateurish' and having no stamina And the victory was on the level. No matter what bull**** comes out of some people's mouths.

 

:deal

 

The win isn't overrated but the upset is. The odds the night before we billed as 3-1 (pre-fight issue of Boxing News printed a day or two before the fight), this seems the most accurate but various reports have seen this reach 7-1 and so on- the post fight report (sports illustrated a week later) seems to suggest it was 3-1 at fight time also, but i'm sure this will be around 14-1 by the time this thread reaches page 20.

Ali was way too popular a fighter for everyone to pick against him, especially in the world of sad, starry-eyed fandom that follows the super-famous like Ali. But in this case, it wasn't just fanboy nuthugging- Ali was tipped by some neutrals as a 'live underdog' over here and very decent writers in Boxing News in the pre-fight issue, one, Harry Mullan, got the fight almost spot on. In fact of the five hacks who gave pre-fight predictions in BN- 3 picked Ali. That said, overall it is definitely an upset but nowhere near an upset on the Douglas-Tyson or even the Curry-Honeghan levels, some people just want to believe it is.

 

Yes, let's laugh along...

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Sonny Liston was seen as much more unbeatable before fighting Ali that foreman had ever been.
foreman his stamina problems were already known, Liston was known to be dangerous for all rounds.

Looking at who was the most intimidating in his era, Liston would smash foreman.
Liston beat smaller men, but nobody knew the hw division was still growing in size then.

 

it's great to see some of the old usernames back here :good

Still massively grateful for those rankings you emailed me a year or so back MDWC

 

Times have changed. It's commonplace now for fighters to remain at the top well into their thirties. When you look at Ali's predecessors as champion, only a handful of them continued defending the title past the age of 32.

 

I recall Colin Hart of The Sun predicting an Ali win too.

 

Thing is,these sharp minded pundits were in the minority,Conteh. Many,the likes of Jerry Quarry and Joe Louis included,all went for Foreman within four rounds. Ken Norton plumped for Ali,though.