It is a bit disappointing that Moore didn't come up with something, why was he even there if he couldn't interject his experience/ring IQ, although he probably realized there wasn't much that could be done with Ali manhandling Foreman in the clinch and his lead rights, Moore himself getting smoked by Ali in just 4
The 11/11/1974 article of Sports Illustrated had an article abour the Rumble which I believe was written by George Plimpton. It had quotes from Archie Moore. You can't access it because the clowns that bought the magazine can't properly maintain the archives. What a shame, a ----ing shame.
Foreman's strategy was seek and destroy, and he had good reason to think that nobody could survive his power. Loom at what he did to Chuvalo and Frazier. He probably assumed that he could do the same to Ali. I suspect that Ali's plan was to dance and out box in the usual manner, but when Foreman started cornering him, he switched to his plan B. As others have said, Foreman's corner were not seeing a disaster unfolding. They probably thought that it woudl work.
Foreman and his corner simply came up against a phenomenon they did n't understand. Rationale being that Ali lost to Joe Frazier,he gave him an absolute war but he did lose to him and only overcame him in a competitive rematch. The same applied to Ken Norton. Foreman blitzed both men in a couple of rounds apiece. George found out that it does n't always work out that way.
Two things are true. Foreman's corner let him down, but it made zero difference. Ali's own corner were trying to talk him off the ropes, so what hope did Foreman's have? Slowing down just prolongs the inevitable.
Angelo Dundee said it He would have told Foreman to stay in the center ring and tell ali if he wanted the title to come get it .I covered the foreman/Jimmy Ellis fight in Reno Nv/(this Jimmy Ellis was not the one M Ali fought. This Jimmy Ellis was out of Idaho. It was truly amazing seeing Angelo Dundee in Foreman's corner I managed to get big Georges autograph for a young patient of mine caught him post fight conference in the hallway. Foreman a class act Doc Quam from rusty Rubins ring sports magazine
Dundee was screaming for Ali to get off the ropes, wasn't he? You can only assume if he was in Foreman's corner he would have been licking his lips at Ali being on the ropes.
Well obviously pace himself better instead of shooting his wad inside 6 rounds.Similar to what he did in his reincarnation during his comeback!
Use his jab more,ration his big shots and fight ,"within yourself,"if you set a frenetic pace of ,"seek and destroy," and your opponent is still there at the mid rounds stage , you have to drop the pace of your attacks to avoid emptying your tank. Seems fairly obvious to me! Of course this is with the benefit of hindsight! I did have £25 on Ali to win by a ko,and watching the fight on CCTV at Leics Sq Odeon it was clear to see after 5 rounds,that George was emptying his tank,and fast becoming oblivious to the danger from Ali's counters.George's hands were down ,his chin was up in the air , it was as though he had forgotten Ali was allowed to hit him back! Neither corner gave any input of any value,imo.
But his corner must have seen what was happening. It was evident very early on that doing what he was doing wasn't working. George coming back to the corner losing his energy, whilst Ali is just.... still the same and actually getting those shots of his in more. Yes Ali pulled off a great masterpiece in doing what he did, a different corner might have made it more equal.
Yea Foreman's team let him down by not training him for the possibility of a long grueling fight. George had said that he never ran more than 2 or 3 miles in those days. Once he's in deep water there's not much they can do.
Archie Moore said afterwards that it was difficult to give Foreman useful advice because Ali was constantly changing his tactics. "You'd say something to George and he'd say 'Yes,' and then the next round there was something new."
As I said, I don't see how. Sure, at least after the 5th it was clear that it wasn't working. But if they said "don't exert alll that energy, stand in the middle of the ring and let him come to you", Ali would just have boxed his ears off, as he did every time they were in the middle of the ring. All the success Foreman did have was when Ali was on the ropes. In the middle of the ring, Foreman was easily outboxed by Ali even when fresh.
Before the fight Ali and Moore were exchanging poetry. I'm laughing as I type it. Ali defined my childhood and young adulthood. If you knew me you knew I loved Ali. Anyway Moore wrote to Ali, "Foreman in four, hello mandible, goodbye jaw." Sometmes I think psychological warfare is overrated but maybe there's something to it. Ali even got a grizzled veteran like Archie caught up in the hoopla.