Foreman never hit Ali with his best shot, right?

Yes, I cannot really think of any other heavyweight who could have withstood Foreman that night.

The more I watch the fight - whether in its entirety or, by way of a highlight here or there - the more I see a certain nonchalance in Ali, driven by the power of his will. It really is the rarest kind of self-mastery.

 

And that will, coupled with extraordinary physicality, and skills made him
the best heavyweight in history in my opinion.

 

Far better to have bet on Buster Douglas.

 

That was one of Ali's biggest strengths post-exile -- he was a great "grappler". Ironically, Foreman himself became really good as an older guy, I wonder if the Rumble is what motivated him to learn?

 

I'd have to agree.

 

Very convincing argument.

Yes.

 

No, because I would have picked Tyson to win going into the fight.

 

Ali didn't always make exaggerated movements when hurt. Case in point, the first Liston bout in the second round.

Ali himself admitted he was hurt and out on his feet at a point.

Their's literally nothing more to say, than this is just completely untrue. Ali is usually seen as holding a styles advantage over Foreman.... which is what brought him to victory in their bout.

 

As many of you posters pointed out that George Foreman did not lay a glove on Muhammad Ali in Oct 1974, but besides the Parkinson's, who ended up neurologically deficient as the results of the head shots afterwards for overusing the Rope a Dope? It was not George Foreman.

 

There's more to strength than brute force. Dwight Stephenson is a Hall of Fame center. He weighed 258 pounds . He stood up 300 pound plus defensive linemen on the regular.

 

You would have had to have found a house to take the bets. It was virtually but not totally off the boards. That's what an upset it was.

 

Most people fight like they train. Foreman's heavy bag routine was ridiculous, but apparently impressed whoever was narrating the video. It was ineffective in the ring. Ali took Foreman to the ropes and made him fight on the inside. GF appeared to know little about body punching or inside fighting. GF stood with his feet parallel, swung wide, like in the video, and Ali controlled the distance, probably turning many of GF's punches into slaps. Ali could push or pull GF whenever he wanted because of GF's stance. The narrator of the video (clueless) was impressed, too bad for GF, Ali was not impressed. GF could have used that heavy bag time to learn to throw useful, short, body punches instead of the cartoonish punches he was throwing in the video.

Easy work for Ali, after the fight he looked like he had been for a short walk instead of in a fight.

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At no point in the Liston fight did he ever look out on his feet because it's quite obvious when someone is.

Tip 1: Stop believing what Ali says about what happened in a fight, because he will create anything to make what he did seem more impressive or larger than life. He fed into the rope-a-dope narrative for this reason because it's a much better story than what really happened.

"Usually seen" By who? Most people picked Foreman to beat Ali because they thought he was all wrong for him and there's tons of people who think he'd win in a rematch for that same reason too. "Oh, Foreman wouldn't fall for the rope-a-dope act again. He'd be much smarter in the rematch" is what you'll find. In fact, most people think Ali won that Foreman fight because his tactic was better (tiring him out), not because they think his style is wrong for Foreman.

 

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If these are the best shots before uppercuts, then they are not. Muhammad Ali fell from Frazier's hook; he would fall from this too. But he didn't receive the best shots from Foreman, but he did from Shavers.