Could Cassius Clay Rope-a-Dope Tyson and live to tell about it?

He would live....after getting ko,d within 5

 

Tyson doesn't hit as hard as Foreman and Tyson gasses in the US as it is. Tyson would be done after 2 rounds in the Zaire heat.

 

Ali would kill Tyson.

 

Ali would rain insults on Tyson for 2 months pre-fight so that Tyson's psych would be minimized. Tyson would have to get Ali out of there in the first 5 rounds....otherwise Ali just wears Tyson down with his grabbing and holding tactics.

 

Cassius Clay never did the rope-a-dope. Prime Clay/Ali would handle Tyson easier than Holyfield did.

 

Tyson wouldn't have survived the fatwa Ali would have put in his ass.

 

In one of the early Ali era books, Ali talks about the long sparring sessions where "Cassius Clay" practiced defense while against the ropes anticipating late rounds against Liston, and Liston pounding his body trying to make him quit. Those "rope-a-dope" skills were always in his back pocket....just that Cassius Clay never really needed them.

 

Cassius was susceptible to uppercuts and body shots.

 

AFAIK he isn't a practicing member of any mainstream sect of Islam.

He converted to NOI in prison but later disavowed them. He adheres to Sufism, which is a mystical tradition closely related to Islam (but at odds with it throughout most of the modern Islamic world, facing heavy persecution). This explains his face tats, drinking, and whoring long after his release from prison, etc. So he is a Muslim in the same respect that Madonna, with her immersion and fascination with Kaballah, is a "Jew".

Ali himself actually began as Sunni but later converted to Sufi.

 

Ali would be smart enough not to use that tactic against Tyson. That was one of his strengths, to find the best tactic for who he was facing.
He could use that against Foreman because the man is slow but accurate.

 

the difference in the two is in the mind.

 

I think tyson would have chinned Ali.
About the only fighter id choose to do it.