A Lukewarm Look At The Rumble In The Jungle (One sided?)

There’s a section in his fight where George started throwing sledgehammers to Ali’s body on the ropes and I don’t care what anybody says, those probably cave most fighters other than Ali. I think it’s a series of rights and then he switches to the left (or maybe it’s the other way around) and Ali is smack-talking him iirc, so I guess some people shrug that off as if those blows weren’t damaging or wouldn’t dent other fighters.

But those were ridiculously hard body blows that I think would have been the beginning of the end for any fighter George could have been facing that day or most in history.

Surviving that was testament to Ali’s toughness, mental and physical. I remember Ken Norton saying hitting Ali in the body or on the arms was like hitting a slab of concrete. That’s what we’re seeing in that sequence. And Muhammad convinced Foreman the body shots weren’t affecting him so George got away from the body attack, one of many examples of Ali winning the mental game during his career.

IMO, Foreman was the superior guy but Ali was the superior fighter. His will was iron. He got his body into incredible shape, allowing him to weather whatever George brought, and his mind was going to enable him to walk through whatever hell it took to break Foreman.

Lukewarm? I don’t think so. There was a Sports Illustrated story on what it was like to get hit by George Foreman, and the word that kept coming up was ‘numb.’ He’d hit you anywhere — body, head, arms — and they couldn’t even feel that spot after. Evander got hit in the chops and said he thought Foreman had knocked out his teeth … that was because his mouth went numb and he couldn’t feel them.

Stop and think for a moment about what that must be like, and what ones to be made of to shake that off and keep going … even taunting George after. Ali said at one point to him something like: “Is that all you got? They told me you could hit hard. Don’t disappoint me, George.” Muhammad’s balls were bigger than bowling balls to basically say to one of the hardest punchers in history, “C’mon, show me what you got — hit me harder!”

Ali took all of that and would not allow it to dissuade him. I think that Foreman on that night beats most heavyweights ever. Ali was just made of something different.

 

Challenge accepted

 

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Round 1: Ali dancing, lands a 1-2. They clinch. Ali pivots and breaks out. Ali misses a 2 punch combination and foreman stalks. Foreman ducks a left hook from Ali. Ali lands a 2-1. Foreman lands a left hook to the body and the wrestle. Ali with a lead right and moves back and forth laterally. Ali lands another right. Foreman works the body in the clinch. Foreman ducks a left hook. Foreman lands a left and throws another looping left and Ali avoids it and holds on to Foremans head. Foreman walks him downs and Ali lands another right. Ali slips a right cross and ties Foreman up. Foreman lands a left on the side of the head and Ali smothers him. Foreman slips a jab and Ali ties him up and Foreman flails to get out of the clinch. Foreman smothers a 2 punch combination from Ali. Ali tries to tie Foreman up and Foreman throws a massive uppercut, throws a right hand in the clinch. Foreman works the body again while Ali has him tied. (This isn’t going to change, Foreman worked the body all night). Foreman throws a left hook and then works on the inside as Ali clinches. Ali disengages and Foreman throws a left hook. Ali counters foremans jab and clinches again. Foreman walks Ali down and jabs. Ali and Foreman trade and Foreman ends with a left hook that Ali leans from, and tries to tie Foreman up as Foreman works the body. Foreman throws a left and a right. Ali clinches and Foreman lands a right. End of round 1

Close round

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Round 2: Ali on the backfoot, Throws a jab and a combination that Foreman tries to parry before punching in between punches, then Ali ties him up and Foreman works the body. Foreman throws a left and Ali smothers it. Foreman throws 2 left hooks to the body and Ali ties him up, pushing his head down. There is an obvious pattern here. Foreman throws a 2 punch combination and the right lands. Foreman hooks to the torso as Ali clinches. They jab. Foreman throws a looping left and Ali gets out the way and ties Foreman up. Ali backs up to the ropes and shells up, Foreman jabs the guard, Ali measures him, Foreman hooks to the body and punches around the guard. Ali throws a 1-2 off the ropes, jabs and avoids a huge left hand. Foreman jabs, hooks around the guard and an uppercut slides off the gloves. Ali lands 3 jabs and ties Foreman up when he hooks to the body. Ali lands another jab. Foreman throws 2 left hooks and Ali dodges the last one and tues Foreman up. Foreman walks him down and tries to punch through Alis guard before hooking to the body. The commentators described Foremans punches as "vicious, awkward, but very powerful" which is an excellent live description of Foremans style. Foreman throws a power jab. Foreman backs Ali up and tries to time a left, Ali gets out of the way and clinches. Foreman slips a jab, Ali fakes a right, George jabs to Alis body, Ali lands a 1-2. Foreman lands a 2 punch combination to the body. Ali clinches. Ali jabs, Foreman slips a follow up right. Ali lands a right hook, they move around and Ali gets the better of an exchange before clinching and Foreman works the body. Foreman missed a huge left. Alis left jab gets through.

Close Foreman round.

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Round 3: george probes, Ali lands a 1-2 and clinches while Foreman works on the inside. Ali lands a jab to the head, Foreman counters with a jab to the body and lands combinations on Alis torso. Foreman misses an overhand left. Foreman lands a right hand, Ali ties him up and Foreman works the body. Foreman throws a jab, Ali leans from a Foreman right and lands his own right. Ali throws a 2-1. Foreman lands 2 left hooks to the body as Ali ties him up. Both jab as Foreman tries to feel him out. Foreman thows a left, Ali counters with a right and gets tagged with a follow up right before tieing Foreman up. Ali lands 2 jabs and they exchange. Ali ties him up, they reset and Ali jabs again before Foreman unleashes a salvo on Alis body. Both of them get into an awkward exchange. Ali jabs and takes the sting out of a lead right. Foreman lands a combination and they clinch. Ali jabs and clinches. They reset and Ali smothers the offense of Foreman. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it's Alis constant smothering tactics made Foreman look far more awkward than usual. Journeyman92 doesn't acknowledge this. Anywho, Ali avoids a 2 punch combination and ties Foreman up. Ali jabs twice and parries a right hand. Ali lands a right and ducks a left hook. Foreman misses a huge right hand. Ali lands a combination. Another left right left right.

Ali round.

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Round 4:

Both can't find any openings and awkwardly clinch. They swap jabs. Foreman thows probing jabs and Ali lands a quick 3 punch combination. Throws 2 hooks and Foreman clinches. Ali lands another right. Foreman leads with a left and missed a long right. Ali clinches. Ali lands a right and ties him up. Foreman attacks the body and uppercuts through the guard. Foreman taps the guard and Ali smothers him. Ali lands a combination. Foreman throws hawmakers to the body and head and Ali ties him up. Foreman counters over Alis right, Ali slips a follow up right hook before they clinch. Foreman slips a left hook. Ali leads with a right cross. Ali leans back from Foremans overhand right and they clinch. Ali jabbing, Foreman misses a left and hooks to the body once. Foreman lands upstairs and downstairs with a left hook. Foreman tries to push Ali into position and thorws 2 massive rights one on the guard and one haymaker. Ali land a 1-2 and gets out of the way of a leaping left hook. Round over.

Ali round

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Round 5: ali jabs, Foreman lands a 3 punch combination to the body. Ali clinches. Ali takes a right hook. Ali throws a left and Foreman counters before they clinch. They reset. Foreman leaps with a jab and lands a right to the body. Lands a sloppy 2 punch combination as Ali smothers him. Foreman pushes Ali on the ropes and lands a right to the body. Foreman parries a jab. Ali jabs to the body, lands a left hook and gets out of the way of a left hand, and gets hit by a follow up left hook. They clinch. Foreman lands a thudding combination to the body and tries to punch around the guard. Ali blocks 2 right hands, Foreman punches around the guard again. Foreman taps the guard and also throws 2 wild right to break alis guard and fails. Foreman digs a right to the torso follows up with a right hook to the side of the head and misses another right. Foreman was a gunslinger and who put everything into his punches for maximum damage. Foreman follows up with a left hook and Ali pushes him away. Ali blocks Foremans combination and then Foreman jabs through the guard before going downstairs with a right hand. Ali ties him up. Foreman gets a couple light shots in and a right slides off Alis gloves. Foreman batters Ali upstairs and downstairs. Ali lands a light 2 punch combination. Foreman tries to frame Ali on the ropes and gets tagged silly. They exchnage and Ali gets the better of it.

Foreman round but Ali picked it up at the end
https://youtu.be/OgC5QbHDR-U?t=1403

Round 6:
They both jab. Ali jabs twice off the ropes. Both of them are feeling eachother out. Foreman slips a right. Ali lands 3 jabs. Foreman goes to the body and Ali leans down on him. Foreman hooks upstairs and downstairs before punching through the guard with a right hand. Ali ties him up and foreman works inside. Foreman is losing steam but still hooks and Ali keeps blocking shots but a couple get in. Ali jabs and then throws a lead right, avoids a huge left. Battars george from the ropes. George slips the jab and pushes Ali on the ropes, then works downstairs.

Close round
https://youtu.be/OgC5QbHDR-U?t=1590
Round 7:

Getting lazy so won't summarize but close foreman round and he landed a huge uppercut on Ali. Round 8 doesn't need an introduction. Overall All the commentators thought it was an even fight before the stoppage. Ali was in control but took an ungodly amount of punishment, the body blows were crippling but they did nothing and Foremans gameplan backfired. I don't agree with this niche of boxing fans who disparage Foreman because he was a gunslinger and frankly I find it asinine to suggest he wouldn't do well in the modern era when we have undefeated Kabayel and Chisora

 

Norton tried moving around like Peralta and got battered though.

 

I forgot to add one exchange they had. It was the 2nd exchange after the 1st one:

Ali tries for a 1-2, but it's intercepted by Foreman. He then tries for a quick, lunging left hook, but Foreman evades it by ducking - allowing Ali to headlock Foreman. No damage (2:44-2:40).

 

C'mon pal. Don't be ducking the smoke now because of a slight disagreement. Dissect my whole analysis of the round. I'll concede. Ali did minor damage, but Foreman shrugged it off & charged at him like nothing happened. Also, he didn't clinch Ali. After Ali landed the right, Foreman tried to get control of Ali using his long-guard to grapple him. However, Ali was quicker, being able to immediately grab hold of Foreman's head, push him down & spin out. I slowed it down.

 

I was so mad when it ended. I'm like "Where's the rest of it?"

 

Foreman was not hurt. Stunned a little bit, but not hurt. I already conceded that (minor damage). Just before he lands it, Foreman puts his arms up in the long-guard position to try & catch Ali's shots before they came. Ali was too quick, & nails him throw his guard with the right hand after feigning a left. As Foreman had his arms up & Ali was coming forward with his punches, he falls into to Foreman's arms. Foreman's arm drop to Ali's waist after Ali is able to get his arms above Foreman's & because he is at a higher vantage point also. He then grabs Foreman's head & spins out. There was no clinching/hugging. Atleast not intentionally. It barely lasted 2 secs for it to be a clinch.

 

The man was on a roll!!!!!! We all enjoy a good breakdown when it's bang on. Escudo i think it was, used to be a killer on them.

 

Cheers pal. I try my best.

 

Ali voluntarily took the body punches because they didn't bother him. If the body punches did bother him, he wouldn't have laid on the ropes.

Let's create a mythical fighter who didn't want to get hit in the body. Let's call that guy Timmy Jung. I'd bet the house that Timmy would spend a lot more time in the center of the ring than Ali did. And Timmy just might beat Foerman there because Foreman was a crude fighter with no plan B.