Someone was quite adamant here about Foreman never backing up. Uh, what about this, dude (I'm not sure but I think there is at least one other instance of this, besides the knockout).
it's painful to watch how confused this young Foreman was .. when you consider just how ring smart the myth older version became.
The last 30 seconds of that round and the moment when Ali springs forward from the ropes with his teeth set after taking a pounding for the previous two minutes - the fear that Foreman was suddenly getting to him in a big way - makes every hair on my body stand on end. It's ****ing awesome and I think the point from which Foreman was mentally beaten and aware too late of what he was up against. The crowd cheering every zinging straight blow just adds to it. I remember watching it from between my fingers as a little kid with my Grandad, not knowing who won and being dumbstruck when Ali just exploded from his shell and blitzed George with that sequence. And my Grandad, who had mixed feelings about Ali, saying quietly " he was a bloody brilliant fighter, Ali". You can't sum it up better.
He didnt. Ali stiff armed him with his left arm and pushed him back. Yet despite getting nailed by like 8 flush shots to the head foreman kept pressing forward and swinging away anyway. It's both praiseworthy (for how good foremans chin was) and worthy of criticism (incredibly stupid to get nailed by all those right hands, having his head snap and his neck turn yet become even more aggressive).
Agreed. Foreman wasn't really staggered here and he maintained his strategy of trudging forward without much regard for what was coming back at him. Foreman was confused and quickly tiring by this point, but he wasn't hurt or forced to retreat.
It doesn't look that way to me. Both in the first round and that one Foreman was rocked (I'm probably forgetting at least one other incident). He didn't know any other way to come in, that's the only reason he seemed to recoup fast. I saw the fight on closed circuit the day it happened and nobody watching with me thought Foreman was going to win after four rounds. I personally thought Ali dominated to some degree throughout, mostly by shaming the hell out of Foreman and discombobulating him by taking on the role of bully (George never had that happen before, and it seemingly, permanently lowered the threshold on his histrionic Liston-persona pretensions).
