Foreman never hit Ali with his best shot, right?

Again with the ropes tomfoolery. Ali wanted a twenty one foot ring. Foreman obviously wanted something smaller. They agreed on a nineteen foot ring. Somehow they ended up with a sixteen foot ring. Muhammad Ali would have been within his rights to refuse to fight. The referee Zach Clayton said he couldn't believe Ali agreed to fight in a phone booth. The reason the ropes were loose was because they were made for a nineteen foot ring. Everything I said is there for the googling.

 

This is a somewhat contentious question.

I remember Ali's autobiography, where he said around the 5th or 6th round George put him into the bats-playing-saxophones realm of unconsciousness with an uppercut. Pretty sure we can see that on the film (I haven't watched it in one month, 12 hours, and 5 seconds lol).

Yeah, Foreman hit him with some flush shots, but Ali was just ridiculously smart and durable. Perhaps only Holyfield and Frazier could equal Ali in the Warrior Pantheon.

Ali's victory was most certainly a cerebral one as well. In the press he seemed honestly outraged, INDIGNANT that anyone should think George could beat him. He believed his own outrageousness, and to a large part that's how he beat a seemingly unbeatable Monster.

To CONVINCE yourself of being impossible to defeat, to be fine with sacrificing your life toward proving you were RIGHT all this time. It's so inspiring, and I think educative as well.

Ok, so ya got me started on Ali/Foreman. Sorry, I could talk about that fight (and the fighters) all day, and I've embarrassed myself enough lol.

 

I am still so bewildered by the constant Foreman apologism on this forum. Ali defeated Foreman handily using strategy and skill (he landed approximately 100% of the leads and combos he threw), made George look like an amateurish fool and proved his superiority tenfold. Why are people unable to grasp this? It's as definitive a victory as one can be and yet it's still being debated.

It's akin to making excuses for Tyson's loss to Douglas, in my opinion.

 

Ali was a coward and an overrated bum and a disgrace to the country. Point with the ropes was they were loose!! Dummy. Ali, Ali, Ali, Ali yeah ok

 

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Agreed.

The shot Foreman knocked Roman out with was probably the best shot I can think of that Foreman landed on anybody. An absolute wound up bomb right on the chin. He never landed anything close to that to the head of Ali from what I saw.

 

I thought Carnera had everything

 

I think Muhammad Ali probably had just about the best chin of all time

 

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IMO this question boils down to this: "Did Foreman hit Ali with the same punches he missed Jose Ramon?".
And then my answer is - it is not.

 

Some of the best body shots Foreman laid on Ali were akin to those we’ve seen Foreman hit and cave in the heavy bag with in training. That is frightening.

Also, Foreman was very adept at cutting off the ring anyway, but to be also aided and abetted by a 16 foot ring? Again, frightening.

Ali still had terrific hand speed in 74 - and he definitely needed it against George as well as the enormous courage he displayed.

He was absolutely beating Foreman to the punch but he was very prudent in choosing when to fire also.

Ali slayed a legitimately proven and perceived beast.

Despite the false controversy re the ropes - the lie of the land wasn’t perfect for Ali either - but he adapted himself to the given environment and used what he could to his advantage.

Terrific boxing IQ.

 

Meh I think Foreman landed his hardest ever shots on Frazier.

 

I don't think he landed very many flush bombs to the head. Ali did a brilliant job slipping at the last second, rolling with the punch, blocking, or using head movement to dodge completely. Foreman had an extremely hard time landing to the head. He did have some success with the jab a bit and landed a few grazing or looping shots, but few serious bombs. Ali's defense and counters combined with his usage of the ropes was so good Foreman was way off balance attempting bombs to the head.

That was basically the whole reason Foreman focused on the body. It was the only clear target, and the idea was to drain Ali's stamina so he wouldn't be able to use his legs. Nobody realized Ali had abandoned the idea of using his legs in the first place and wanted to stay on the ropes on purpose to drain Foreman and reduce his power as he had to overextend his shots. It was a brilliant performance, but Ali did have to suffer some serious damage to secure the win. His ability to take a body shot was 2nd to none.

 

He definitely cracked Frazier with several good shots, but his best single shot? I'd still go with Roman, though it's kind of hard to tell. A punch can appear more devastating landing on a guy like Roman as opposed to Frazier.

Maybe it's just my imagination, or something to do with the playback speed of the video, but Foreman's hands looked faster than usual vs. Roman. Definitely faster than what was displayed vs. Ali.

 

Fair enough. I've admittedly not watched the Roman bout in quite some time but I do remember him looking substantially better and faster against Frazier and Norton than he did against Ali, even putting styles aside. He also committed to his jab much more in the aforementioned two bouts.