Foreman's punches on Ali

Yes I'm sure some of them hurt. The whole notion that Foreman never really hit Ali clean is false. He did, but it wasn't often and Ali also nullified its affect by leaning, rolling, blocking and grabbing. He was never in danger hurt, but I'm sure he didn't think he was being tickled.

 

I think some body shots would’ve hurt quite a lot, head shots no not really

 

I thought he said he was out on his feet at one point, or was that JUST in the FOTC when he conned Frazier in the 11th into thinking he was faking it?

 

George connected on Ali but Ali was in control of the situation. When he was hit Ali was ready for him. He rode the punch.

It’s the punches you don’t see that hurt the most. Ali saw every damn thing George was doing. He was that focused. -And he took George a whole lot more seriously than he did little ol Cooper.

However, I have absolutely no doubt Henry Cooper hurt Ali a whole lot more in 1963 than Foreman ever did.

It dosnt make Henry a harder puncher it just means he was able to hurt Ali more.

 

Well I know In "Champion s Forever", Foreman said at one point he hit Ali so hard his eyes rolled back in his head ,or words to that effect. But I've no doubts some punches must have felt like being hit with a bag of cement. As Birmingham mentioned, more so the body one's.

 

I thought Foreman said he hit Ali a good punch, good enough to take somebody out, and Ali just looked back at him with an angry stare at the end of the round. As if to say wow this guy is tough! He means business! -At least that’s what I took from it. You might be right.

Ali was stung a few times when he couldn’t get quite out of the way but I think Ali was so mentally strong, as well as physically, that anything he saw coming wasn’t going to effect him in the way a blow he didn’t see would. Ali was really in the zone.

Those body blows, a lot he took on the hips. He would have felt them I am certain.

 

U may be correct in Foreman s words Choklab,it's that long since I watched it .But yep ,his hips must have being well bruised surely.

 

Agreed. Ali was recklessly clowning with Cooper and got caught clean. He clowned with Foreman to, but with a purpose, and was far from being reckless with it.

 

There was a right hand that caught Ali during the fight that was thunderous, it would never have landed on the Ali that beat Williams though.

 

Well Williams was leagues behind Foreman.

 

Foreman never landed a direct shot while Ali wasn't against the ropes.

Most of Foreman shots were body shots.

The punch by Little Cooper was a solid shot.

Two different circumstances and surely a more aware Ali against Foreman.

People also forget he went to Cus Damato to study video footage of Foreman...hmm !

 

Ali got hit with a few clean right hands. One thing that made Ali special was his ability to hide how hurt he was, and recover. He was like Robinson in that regard. His chin was good but it was much more than this. Ring IQ comes into play as well.

 

Replace wilder with foreman? Are you crazy?

This may sound blasphemous, but i would fear for Alis life if he tried to rope a dope wilder. It wouldnt work. Wilders ridiculous power combined with his tall height and freakishly long arms means he could lopp shots around alis guard. He could fin cracks and force his way through.

Look at the stiverne ko. Stiverne was BLOCKING and even saw it coming and still got dropped because wilder saw one tiny gap and forced his way in. Wilder is quite possibly the hardest hitter of all time.

Do i think wilder beats ali? Hell no, but you asked me to envision a scenario where ali lays on the ropes and tries to make wilder get tired by blocking, slipping, and rolling with shots. That simply doesnt work on a guy like wilder who is out for blood, throws with mean intentions, and can find gaps in guards with surprising accuracy and looping shots to get around a guard.

I think ali would abandon that strategy and would instead choose to school wilder with his ring iq and counters at mid range. The reason the rope a dope worked on foreman was because foreman was so damn predictable and angry the whole time. He was drunk off his own power and was convinced "any minute now, he'll go down" and thrre the same obvious wild hayemakers because thats what always worked. Wilder could be wild too, but even he was more patient than pre zaire foreman and wilder knows to save his energy if he cant get the guy out of there.