Here you go: So Ali was just a kid, probably only had to put in mediocre effort to get in heavyweight championship fighting shape after having an invasive surgical procedure ... but Sonny, poor, Sonny, he would require extreme effort to merely stay in shape since 99.9% of the work had already been done.
Mentioning it as fact during or in the lead-up to the fight is a far different thing, to me, than citing it as an excuse for why Foreman lost (or lost how he lost) and having it literally repeated in every thread that ever mentions Sonny losing to Ali. It's like there's this -- one poster used the word cult -- thing where we cannot just acknowledge that Ali was far, far better than Sonny when they fought ... it has to be explained away: inactivity (lol), he was 50 years old, his arm was nearly severed and hanging from his shoulder by a thread, he threw the fight for the mob, the second fight was postponed (didn't seem to bother him when the Patterson fight was), etc., etc. Can you find places where Ali-Foreman is discussed where multiple people explain away the result by saying it was because Foreman hadn't fought enough rounds recently?
There's an awful lot being taken out of context on this thread. Seemingly deliberately too, which is a real shame.
Well first, I illustrated that it can be considered as a reasonable factor, notwithstanding when that factor (even in potential) is addressed and factored in. And yeah, I’ve read it previously on a number of forums (forums just like this one) re the relative low number of rounds Foreman had under his belt going into Zaire. The definition for the term excuse is malleable and open to interpretation. You can have either valid or invalid excuses. Generally the interpreted connotation for the term excuse is negative = false explanation. Highlighting the lack of rounds isn’t trying to explain away a loss - it is simply a fair and reasonable consideration in so far as it’s possible negative influence on performance. As to Cults…I don’t see the problem. Wrap your ears around this classic number:- https://youtube.com/shorts/MXNU6pQFkok?feature=share
Liston was a very great fighter who came up against a very much younger kid whom so happened to be the best heavyweight who ever lived. If we want to cut right to the bone, that's what happened imo.
I cleverly anti-Rick Roll’d you by Blue Oyster Culting you instead. The key is, you didn’t see it coming. It’s not what you were expecting. Fear the Pugguy. He’s never gonna let you down.
In terms of exposed, I do think the way Liston quit raises questions about his mettle. Especially since there's reason to believe he quit again in the rematch.