Foreman was self arresting post-1974. I remember the period well and do not recall Ali avoiding a "deserving" Foreman. George was busy rebuilding his self confidence and momentum. The Lyle fight didn't help. Ali did not avoid Foreman because George was still in pieces...and then Young disassembled him further...which IMO...would have been a relief to Ali...who was operating on fumes after the Norton rubber match.
Crazy to say that Foreman was undeserving. He was the number one contender and no one else was close. Ali knew that duplicating his prior feat would be a massive undertaking, so he avoided it. George was the Ring Magazine's Fighter of the Year in 1976....to say he was hiding in the background is ridiculous. In fact, George had a pretty high profile campaign to fight Ali again. The whole Toronto Five thing was designed to make a statement, which Ali and Cosell undermined. George was on the cover of Sports Illustrated calling Ali out, plus did so on national TV a number of times. But Ali was too busy with Coopmans and Dunn to risk his neck. Ali ducked Foreman...accept that your hero wasn't perfect and move on.
George was up and down like a toilet seat with Lyle, later manhandled by Young. The near 18-month spell of inactivity, post-Zaire, his first return and then Young....those factors eclipse the Frazier rematch. I remember the period well. Nobody was clamoring for Ali/Foreman II leading up to March 1977....the period when George came apart. Not saying Ali wasn't happy about it. There were other worthy contenders Ali was facing. Foreman was not avoided. BTW.... where did I state "Foreman was undeserving"???
We know by the drivel you are trying to shove into people that you aren't so clever with the written word, so how are you with reading dates? From 30 / 10 / 74 until 24 / 01 / 76 your hero was a dribbling basket case who didn't know whether he was Arthur, or Martha. Are you also such a dribbling basket case that you expect the world of boxing and Ali in particular should jump to attention when the big fvckwit eventually worked out which end of a broom you sweep with? He had his chance but he CHOSE to stay home sulking like a big girl for 15 months instead of take his beating like a man and get back in the ring. At that moment his credibility was about as good as your argument for him. Worthless.
What kind of statement was the 'Foreman fights 5' thing making ? Not exactly the kind of gesture that displayed an ex champion hungry to regain the title. George should have done in 1975 what he did the following year - Have PROPER fights. When Ali lost to Joe Frazier,he got back on the bike straight away. Same with Frazier when he lost to Foreman
Foreman's method of campaigning for an Ali rematch was, in retrospect, wrong. In the 20 months between November 1974 and June 1976 he made loads of excuses to the press, made a ton of TV guest-star appearances, did the Toronto exhibitions, and fought once (looking very vulnerable). Yes, he was very much in the public eye, but by not actually fighting much, it (possibly) gave Ali excuses to avoid a rematch. Foreman could have and should have made his excuses and clamored loudly for an immediate rematch in the Spring of '75. If and when the rematch didn't happen, he should have legitimately climbed back in the ring by April '75. He would have earned more points, and less ridicule, in the eyes of the fans if he'd fought, say, Boone Kirkman for real in Toronto. He could have followed his KO with another fight in June and so on. But Foreman didn't do that. It wasn't until June 1976 that we saw any kind of sustained in-the-ring effort from George (Frazier II, LeDoux, Denis, Agosto, Young). By that time Ali-Norton III was a highly-anticipated done-deal for September. Foreman did the right thing by staying active in the Fall and Winter, but then he blew it in the Spring. While losing to Young didn't help him, he could have taken it as a learning experience (as he did after losing to Holyfield) and climbed back on the horse later in '77 and earned his title shot. I do think that Foreman deserved an immediate rematch after Zaire, even if he was decisively beaten and KO'd. Liston, Patterson, Johansson, Walcott, Charles, and so on all got rematches. In my view the fault lies more with Foreman than Ali that we didn't see Ali-Foreman II.
Foreman claims that Ali told him there would be no rematch unless Foreman rehired Dick Saddler as his trainer. Ali's manager, Herbert Muhammad, supposedly told Foreman the same thing. If that is true, then nothing else Foreman could have done would have gotten him a rematch.