Was Foreman Let Down By His Corner In Zaire?

Foreman tried that approach vs Young and it didn't work.

Ali would've just outboxed Foreman if he tried to fight a more tactical fight.

 

Lyle was more successful with it,but of course he had the advantage of having seen the Rumble.

 

Honestly I think Ali was just sleepwalking in that fight as he often did in his title fights from 1975 onwards.

Ali did virtually nothing until he decided to open in the 11th round and finish Lyle off.

Ali was also quite heavy vs Lyle at 224 pounds compared to 216 pounds which he weighed vs Foreman.

I think the Foreman fight was the last time Ali really got in great shape for a fight.

 

I'd say Manilla, Norton 3 and Spinks 2, as well, but apart from that he really half assed it.

 

It felt like he could have fought a smarter fight but not sure about let down.

 

George was just a dumb fighter at this stage of his career though. Ali’s ring IQ was not of this world.

Brains beating brawn and I’m not sure George’s corner could course correct a guy who knew only one road home at that stage of his career.

George Foreman is one of my three favourite fighters ever but he got done in by a genius. Nobody could have stopped it from happening.

A rematch would have been interesting, if only to find out if George was a fast learner but even then I suspect Ali would have had plans B, C and D prepared for him.

 

Archie Moore said in the SI article that we can't retrieve due to the new owner's incompetence that they couldn't believe they got Ali right where they wanted him.

 

He shouldn't have fought that night.

 

What could they tell him? From the day that fight was signed they told George that he needed to get Ali on the ropes, stay on him and work his body. The fight unfolded exactly like that. At what point do they start telling him that what they programmed him to do isn't what he should do?
Here's the other thing...What else was George Foreman capable of doing? You have a fighter that had been matched carefully and deliberately to make the public believe that he was a devastating ko machine, and it worked. To this very day it still works. And it worked on the fighter, too. His experience was limited, maybe 200 rounds amateur and pro combined, he had always relied on his power and he was never matched to go rounds, the Peralta fights excepted. And I would suggest that the first Peralta fight was not expected to go like it did, and that occurrence made the rematch necessary.
There is nothing that Archie Moore, or anybody else, could have said between rounds that would have changed that fight because George, as he existed in the ring that night, could not have done anything else. Ali was no super hero, he wasn't invincible, not that night or any other but George Foreman didn't have the ring smarts or the skill to solve the puzzle he saw in Zaire. If you could give 74 George the understanding that 1992 George had, he may have had options, but you can't. And he didn't.

 

Spot on! I recall Ali saying after the 1st round that he decided to change tactics as he realized he couldn't dance and stay away as George was fantastic at cutting the ring off. And Ali did land some sizzling straight rights early that Foreman ate like candy. Ali's mental toughness is legendary.

 

You’d have to think that they and George would expect Ali to crumble eventually even with mostly scuffing shots Foreman landed enough punches clean to deck almost anyone else, Ali was a tough SOB.