In 1973 George Foreman looked pretty much unbeatable with his 6 knockdown destruction of champion Smoking Joe Frazier on January 22nd. Meanwhile Muhammad Ali had his jaw broken at the hands of ex marine Ken Norton, losing a split decision to Ken. Ali did not appear too impressive in his rematch win over Norton on Sept 10th, then Ali beats a nobody in Rudi Lubbers before the year is up. In 1974, George crushes Ken Norton on March 26th in Caracas, Venezuela, in round 2. Meanwhile Ali danced 12 rounds to defeat ex champion Joe Frazier in a battle of ex champions on January 28th. Many experts including Howard Cosell predicted a quick end to Muhammad Ali on October 30th. Ali was 32 years old, his legs and stamina were not peak 1967 form. But in the back of Ali's mind, he knew what he had to do to beat George Foreman, and with the help of his new invention, the Rope A Dope, he did and the rest is history.
All has been explained on this one but there were still one or two who forecast an upset. Ken Norton being one of them. This fight was my most joyous moment in boxing.
Me too, I was a sophomore in high school, we went to school year round with weekends and holidays off. I was on my three week vacation, listened to the Ali vs Foreman fight on the radio with my brother. After round 8, the announcer said there has been a knockout, we just frowned at each other, then he said, Muhammad Ali has joined Floyd Patterson as the second man in history to regain the title. We both jumped for joy, man were we happy that night.
I think active fighters often pick the fighter they'd rather fight. Not sure if that's the case here or not.
No one had ever faced anyone like Ali until they faced Ali himself. Frazier was a great champion and who had proven himself against Ali and Foreman went through him like a hot knife through butter
Ali had lost to Frazier and Norton. Foreman had gone through both, like they were wet tissue paper. If that fight was happening tomorrow, would you be brave enough to say "styles make fights?"
I know it's not a popular position here as so many love George but I truly believe that the 1970's Foreman is grossly overrated .. he matched up perfectly against an aging Frazier and never beat a slugger Norton ... the fact that those two victories came when they did jilted reality .. I believe Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, both Klitschkos, Holyfield, Holmes and many others beat the 1970's Foreman ..
In 1996 i saw young foreman fight for the 1st time. I distinctly remember fearful bowel movements watching frazier decimated in 2 and norton practically clotheslined half way across the ring. I felt excrement soil my trousers as ringside i heard a visibly shpcked ali talk tough about the upcoming rumble in the jungle and how he wouldnt go the same way. All this i felt....even though i knew the result of ali-foreman.....thats the awe Ali's achievement still holds
I agree and disagree on the notion of Rope A Dope and why Ali used such a tactic. I have always maintained that if you look at how Ali started round 1, he stood more square and moved diagonally to draw Foreman onto the first right hand lead, but he very quickly realised that he couldn't outdance Foreman. On the canvas, with Foreman's footspeed, size and ring-cutting ability, Ali was pressured into a situation he didn't want to be in. However, I've seen training footage where he's just absorbing body shots - in the 1st Chuvalo fight, he deliberately opens himself up to body shots as the thought at the time was he was a soft touch. My point is that Ali knew that he could take punishment and he backed himself. The popular narrative is that George punched himself out, whilst Ali withstood the barrage like a punching bag and then outlasted George. Everytime I watch the fight, George is dangerous, but Ali is clearly beating him to the punch with straighter punches whilst George throws his arcing hooks, which Ali takes well enough, blocks with forearms or rolls with against the ropes. No matter what happens in Ali's rematches with Frazier or Norton, Foreman would always be long odds-favourite and rightfully so.
With all due respect, your point was well taken. But Muhammad Ali lacked 1967 form as well as stamina. He took to laying on the ropes because he could no longer dance for 15 rounds anymore as he once did in his peak years, 1964-1967, He did beat fighters back then that tried to cut off the ring on him, namely Sonny Liston in 1964.
Even in his prime years, he always danced to the ropes, but he was able to dance off them, using pivots and ducking under punches. He had great stamina in his peak, but he always had to take his breathers and slow down his pace to maintain distance. Foreman was too good at cutting the ring for him to get away with trying to dance all night - Ali simply had to engage. I completely agree that he lacked 1967 form and stamina, but I do think that Sonny didn't have the size and ring cutting ability advantages that Foreman brought to the table. The version of Sonny that Ali fought would always get beat and so I wouldn't use the Sonny fights as stylistic evidence that Ali could best Foreman (not saying that you are trying to do so, of course).
