Can anyone supply some? I've only heard Ali in interviews diminish Foreman's power but it was clear he was just doing his typical sh*t talking. I never read his autobiography and was wondering what he said specifically about George's power and how it compared to the likes of Shavers, Frazier, Liston, etc. Thanks!
His autobiography does describe Foreman as the heaviest hitter he'd ever encountered, although this book was written before he met Shavers. This is from the account of round 2: I taunt George. I goad him. "You ain't got no punch, you phony!"..."Show me something, sucker!" George roars in like a mob. He's throwing punches with tonnage I never thought a fist could carry. A crowbar in George's right hand crashes through my guard into my head, knocks me into the room of half-dream. My head vibrates like a tuning fork. Neon lights flash on and off.
Ali had an ability to eat huge punches, get buzzed and somehow maintain his composure. When Shavers blasted Ali early with a huge bomb Ali started play acting hurt ,that caused Shavers to hesitate and Ali was Seriously hurt! I believe he said he didn't remember anything for the next few rounds. George Foreman is without question one of the top ,if not the top heavyweight puncher of all time and that Ali was able to lay on the ropes and let George Foreman just blast away was astonishing, you'd think one's natural survival instincts would kick in and get away from such a painful onslaught. Ali may have been the most mentally strong heavyweight in history
Muhammad acknowledged that as far as raw power went,George was number one out of all his opponents. Earnie Shavers,also a big puncher,may have hurt Muhammad more but that was mainly because Ali had slowed up a lot between 1974 and 1977 when he fought the latter.
Imagine having ungodly speed like Ali did then when that starts to slow with age his unnatural endurance carries him through the second half of his career Truly one of a kind and out of the following categories scores 10/10 more than any other fighter Speed Chin/endurance Stamina Ring IQ Heart Mental toughness The only area he came up short was power but having stoppage wins over Liston, Frazier and Foreman is still extremely impressive I would put Ali as the most complete Heavyweight fighter ever
oh, i agree with you! just saying that a certain person on here would erect a temple to a certain boxer from england if he could, would have a heart attack reading this! LOL!
Well like Holmes said to King about fighting Tyson for 3.5 million ‘Where is this Mike Tyson’ ‘Where is this Miniq’
'74 Ali would have stomped Shavers pretty easily. It would not have been that grueling battle that went the distance like they one they had. Would have looked more like Holmes-Shavers 1.
There's footage of him telling the story. It's funny. King shows up at his house to try to convince him to fight Tyson. He said "I can't beat this guy." King says "3.5 million". Holmes responds "Where's Mike at?"
During the fight, Ali was playing his mind games to beat George psychologically. Said something while George was pounding on him like: “They told me you could punch. Don’t disappoint me, George.” The minerals it takes to stand in front of a bombs-away George Foreman and say things like that. Referee Zack Clayton said that in the round where George shifted his attack to the body with wrecking-ball shots (I think it was the fourth or fifth), Ali was talking to Foreman saying something like, “Is that as hard as you can hit with that hand? Hit me with the other, let’s see if you can do better with it.”
