Shavers, among others, seemed to believe Ali was out on his feet late in their fight. He faked that he wasn't, and his bluff paid off. Always find it weird that people cite Shaver's as never knocking out anyone with an iron chin, yet he seemingly can within an inch of knocking out of TKO'ing Ali. Bob Foster also seems to believe he stunned Ali badly, and I wouldn't doubt it looking at Foster land multiple one two shots on Ali, where, once again, he starts clowning around. Thoughts?
Exactly. I never really ever seen Ali out on this feet. You can't say he was against Cooper because he got up relatively quickly. He wasn't ever out on his feet against Frazier in the first fight for the same reason, he got up ridicliously quick with little trouble. He didn't even look out on his feet in Manilla, Frazier was taking a beating that night. I don't recall seeing Ali ever out on his feet.
watch ray leonard vs hearns in the rematch. leonard takes a huge right hand to the face and he get backed up and does a cocky knee knackering which hearns calls his bluff and comes straight at him and pile drives him to the floor. you can be totally rocked but still have a bit of mind state to bluff. my brother was booted in football not long ago and when he got the doctors over they said "where you from" he said sarcasticly "what you think copacabana"!....but he said after he couldnt remember where he lived at all and just tried to act clever . anyways you can be close to getting koed and still have enough sense
wHICH Which is my point. Fighters don't get any more savvy than Ali or Leonard, and I think Ali himself has stated he was god damned near dead on his feet at the end of the Shavers fight.
He may have been in round 11 of the first fight, that was probably the most hurt he ever was. Though I'm not sure if he was "out" on his feet.
Ali said in his fight with Shavers he didn't know where he was throughout the fight. Ali - Frazier I; the 11th round, Ali was in big danger of getting stopped but fortunately for Ali, Frazier didn't have much of a right. Ali recovered very fast though.
I agree with you guys,,the 11th round of the first Frazier fight Ali seemed to be on ***** street, not out on his feet but very stunned.
The most hurt I ever saw Ali was against Frazier in the 11th, as said here. He was definitely on ***** street in that round, having been badly rocked and buckled by some hooks. I also saw Bonavena buckle and make him slightly woozy in the middle of their fight - perhaps the 9th round or so. But Ali had wonderful survival and recuperative powers.
I don't recall the round, but Shavers hurt Ali BAD, but Ernie was convinced that Ali was faking so he failed to move in for the kill. I saw Angelo Dundee and Ernie Shavers talking about this on ESPN Classic recently. Boo
Ali used to call it "going into The Room." He said when you were caught by a huge punch, it was like going into an alternative reality; a crazy room where apes were banging drums and crocodiles were blowing trumpets. Ali said ones instinctive reaction is to try and get out of the room...but that isn't possible until your head stops ringing. So Ali said the way to survive is to put on one of the masks that hangs on the wall of the room, and dance to the crazy music until your head clears and you can leave. It certainly worked for Ali...he survived punches that would have put most other fighters down and out.
the most hurt I have seen Ali was in the 11th round of the 1st Frazier fight, Cooper had him really shook up with the KD in there fight but Ali disguised a lot of times he was hurt so that the other guy would not get him in further trouble but he was really hurt in the 11th vs Frazier
The 2nd round against Shavers and the 11th round against Frazier was the only times I've seen him wobbled. Interesting story about going into the room. When wobbled Ali clearly did everything he could to get out of the room. He moved, grabbed, shielded, played to clear the cobwebs. In contrast, look at Frank Bruno. When he was stunned, it was a complete short-circuit. He just stood there like a deer in the headlights. Everyones body works so different. Scartissue
if the bell hadnt rung versus cooper you would have seen ali out on his feet struggling to survive, he was out of it with his eyes doing summersaults on his stool and they used smelling salts to bring him to.
Off of the top of my head- 1. He was very hurt after getting up too quickly against Cooper in their first fight. 2. The famous 11th round of the Frazier fight. 3. Ali reported the Foster fight as being one of the two occasions where he was most seriously hurt. 4. Ali reports being out on his feet a few times in the Foreman fight. I'm not sure if I believe him, though. 5. He was, of course, very hurt in the Shavers fight. Boxers get hurt, even if they have very good chins. Ali's chin was great, but it wasn't the invulnerable titanium that some think.