Ali-Foreman: Why?

I cant even justify that with an answer...Do your homework before asking a question like that....Pick up a little DVD called Champions forever (youtube it), and youll have your answer

 

Foreman was never the most skilled fighter out there.

He looked great when the opponent went, but not so much when the opponent didn't go. Ali refused to be stopped and Foreman never had any plans of winning by a decision, he was a knockout "artist" (not that there was much art to it) to a fault.

Ugly as it may have looked, Foreman did honestly seem to try everything in his own power to make his plan come to fruition. He did batter the body, he tried to rough Ali up with traditional Saddler tactics, he threw every kind of punch in the book (though not by the book), but the knockout just wasn't going to come that time.

When it didn't, Foreman ran out of gas and got stopped himself. He looked every bit as ugly against Jimmy Young, even Gregorio Peralta, and during his second career struggles. His style looked ugly enough in most of his wins, yet it brought him his preferred outcome 68 times.

 

Foreman was knocking guys out in round 1

Ali knew he stood a great chance by making him go towards the distance

Ali got on the ropes let Foreman wear himself down and tried to keep the scores pretty even if not ahead

Then around round 8 Ali knew he should either go for the KO if the time came (which it did)

Or just start outworking the gassed out Foreman

geniusss

 

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Let me say this again, IMO Ali is THE greatest HW of all time simply because we never saw his summer of 67-summer of 70 greatness. He came back and re-established himself, what other fighters could have done as much given the circumstances...but, the public was thirsty for his return.
Quarry 70? A good first bout but lucky to get Jerry out of there early with the cut tho Jerry could never have beaten him in any scenerio.
Bonavena? A tough fight for Ali, he ignored his people and went for Joe less than 90 days later!? IMO had Ali waited until, say, June of 71 he would have copped a wide tho brutal decision?
In retrospect, he simply wasn't the same fighter when he came back.
His bouts were "hand-picked" after the Joe loss.
His second Joe bout was certainly not a crowning acheivement.
Why the Foreman bout in Zaire? Because Ali controlled all the cards. They should have fought in the Astrodome, but no, he gets a world stage Africa bout. Loose ropes? Yes, can anyone dispute that. The drugs? I don't know, the whole fact that Foreman defended in Africa cries out for an Ali advantage.
Never gave George a rematch, why should he? He's on top of the world.
Lost his third fight with Norton.
The Thrilla in Manilla was a great scrap but it was between two over the hill legends.
Look at all his defenses post-Foreman. Calculated, arranged for a maximum advantage for the champ.
And his post-Manilla defenses? In most cases much worse than Louis's 'bums of the month club".
He was the Greatest but, in his comeback thinking about it now, he played us all for fools.

 

That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that Ali didn't really miss out on a single big fight during his early 70's to mid 70's campaign. Late 70's turned into a farce, he was old yet there was too much money in him to let him hang up the gloves. He was allowed to hold onto that belt for a while as a bit of a gift for what he had done for boxing, but ultimately the most deserving heavyweight came out on top and that was Larry Holmes.

 

Nobody can fault Ali's resume circa 1970-75. He met and beat all comers and avenged his only two losses up to that point.

 

Still one of my favourite DVDs !

 

A post-Foreman Frazier.
A split decision against Norton.
He basically controlled boxing from the time he returned, until the time he bowed out.
As I said, I've got him number one but now years later sitting around with my herbal tea on chilly nights, thinking about his return?...he played us, plain and simple despite his Greatness.

 

The split decision in the second Norton fight cannot be looked upon in the same light as the controversial one in the third. Why ? Because by 1976,Ali was the biggest money spinner in boxing. At the time of the second bout,three years earlier,this was n't the case. George Foreman was indestructable,was n't he ? And there was no way Muhammad was going to beat HIM ! So there was no reason,at this point in time,for 50/50 calls to go his way.

 

Ali was constantly hanging on George foreman (which drains your energy)
Very loose ropes.

Not a fix but those things did give Ali a sharp advantage by a fight that was decided in the end by foreman gassing out.

 

Thus Ali's improvisation played a large part in his victory. That's what it's all about.

 

On another note, I definitely think that Angelo Dundee loosened the top ropes right before the fight started.Norman Mailer mentions personally witnessing it in his book,'The Fight'.Basically Alli could lean back there and avoid George's right uppercut.


In the book on Ali by Thomas Hauser,I believe it's mentioned that Angelo Dundee had the top ropes loosened before the FOTC as well.Someone ringside asked Joe Frazier's trainer Yank Durham to check the ropes.Basically Yank went crazy went he found out the ropes were loose and he had them tightened again.



Answering the OP's question.I think the delay after Foreman got cut really affected him, as he didn't do any roadwork for a few weeks and his conditioning deteriorated.This together with the heat and humidity did it in for him in the fight.

 

Wasn't Ali's leaning on a fighter and holding behind the neck a standard strategy? Probably the strongest heavyweight in the clinches there's ever been.