Foreman's zaire defeat.

he looked relaxed against Norton because Foreman knew his punches were hurting him. The same could not be said about Ali.

 

George demoralized by the crowd reception....which was so pro-Ali as to be threatening. Ali was so tough also in his ability to take George's punches that this also affected George's psych.

 

Silly...the crowd had no effect on Foreman that night. It was a magnificent performance by Ali...one of his best....to become the only fighter ever to ko George Foreman....for a 10 count.

 

I could n't agree more,Houdini.

 

Here I go again. The powers that be, and the money, put the fight in Africa, right in Ali's 'wheelhouse'. IMO Ali the greatest HW of all time (never saw him for over three years, summer of 67-summer of 70) but the controversy continues over the Zaire scrap. NO ONE can dispute those loose ropes! Heavy humidity in Africa. A drugged George in Zaire? Probably not but the rumours persist. Never gave George a rematch. Ali fried the young man's brain in that fight. What next for Ali? The Thrilla in Manilla (two ageing has-beens battling it out?) Walking away from Norton III with his head hanging knowing he may have been the loser? As I've said previously, in retrospect, his '2nd career' was, in large part, orchestrated.
Bums of the month, etc...
Perhaps Ali could have beaten Foreman in 74 at any venue, but the fight SHOULD have been held in the Astrodome as we can all agree that Ali, not Foreman was the champion going into their scrap so he got all the perks and breaks, HW champ George was set up to be mere fodder for their eventual bout. My $0.02

 

Just ridiculous.

Ali fought a who's who in his second reign....Foreman, Lyle, Bugner, Frazier, Norton, Shavers. Has any hwt champion ever fought this many true top notchers over the course of FOUR years? In between he did fight a few soft touches but so does every long term champion.

The drugging suggestion was started by Foreman and if it were valid there would be no vacillation. However George has stated that he was not drugged...it was just him trying to make excuses as to why he lost. He stated on the Art Rust radio show in 1987 that Ali was a 215 pound strong fighter and there was just so many punches he could take.

Fights are not a huge conspiracy theory...they are economic business decisions. Zaire was chosen because it offered the best business deal. That's it.

Ropes were loose because they were the wrong size...to long for the small ring. Dundee stated he had no idea Ali would use the ropes right up until the day he died. If you watch the fight do you really think loose or tight ropes would have changed the outcome? Ali was hit by Foreman many times that night but he never appeared hurt. In fact Ali spent only a small portion of the fight laying on the ropes. Most of the time he was side stepping at the rings perimeter, counterpunching, spinning George away from the ropes etc.

What you state is revisionism in it's worst form.

 

de grin part iz excellent.
I du not rul aut de posibiliti det 4man woz sretend end henc 4ct 2 srow de fait .
Hi ceim dehydr8ed 2 e very hott atmosfir
posibli dragd
lus rowps
Ali woz elawd 2 chit
4man got e fast caunt , meid it bat it woz samhaw ruld "KO"
de pleic of de fait woz anjastifayebel

evrising ebaut dis fait scrims circas act 4d basuraic pablic

 

Huh?

 

Agree with the above.

The fight in Zaire never felt entirely right to me.

Foreman seemed sluggish indeed.

As for Foreman beating/not beating the count, it wouldn't have mattered. He was a beached whale at that point.

 

Nope.

Back then Foreman was just a brawler and a bully (sure enough a superb bully). He tried to bully Ali and get him down with a masssive swarm of punches.

George's plan backfired badly because Ali didn't go down while he just managed to get himself out of air.

On an aside note: Foreman DID damage Ali, indeed. Sure he was unable to knock Ali down that night; but his punches made everlasting long term damage. Ali's kidneys were never the same after the rumble on the jungle.

 

Kamizaan ikfloomf hokaj

 

Of course Foreman seemed sluggish ! After being bamboozled by Ali,who WOULD N'T be ?

 

Nope, that fight never felt right to me. (and I didn't give a rat's ass who won)

I think something was wrong with George. As someone noted, his punches became pushes, almost as if he was in a drugged state.

How come Ali wanted no part of a rematch with George???

 

It would have been good to have seen a rematch. Even if it was just to shut the conspiracy theorists up

After the third Norton fight,Ali did n't fancy going to the well again,which at 35 years old you can't really blame him for,but he should have retired. If Foreman had been up for it,I sincerely believe that Ali would have rematched him in '75.

 

It's been many years since I watched the film of Foreman's bout with Peralta, but I recall he looked similarly tired in that bout.