Does the Ali vs Ron Lyle fight show what Ali vs Foreman 2 could look like?

The second he got serious he ruined Lyle, and if he’d come in prepared he’d have ruined Lyle a lot sooner than he did. But people act like Lyle was already buckling the belt around his waist.

 

As has oft been said over the years - Muhammad made Lyle look good for six rounds or so simply because he was in a lazy mood and giving rounds away to Ron on workrate. So many talk like Ron was putting on a boxing clinic. As soon as Ali got serious,the writing was on the wall.

 

The revisionism behind this fight boggles my mind. Lyle wasn't doing much either. Just marginally more than Ali.

 

Idk but the right that ali stunned lyle with is the most beatiful, non telegraphed punch that ive seen. You literally just see lyles jaw recoil like he got shot

 

Ali took little damage, the only powerful blows Foreman landed were body shots.

 

Not really.

 

I'm sorry I didn't realize, body shots don't do damage.

 

They do, but Ali was able to see most of them and lean back on the ropes to lessen the impact.

 

I agree. Even with the reduced impact, he was still out on his feet by his own admission, and pissing blood for a month.

 

That’s another example for people who thought Ali couldn’t hit. He could, even fat and unmotivated.

 

Ali was as tough as they come, and he was able to take a lot of punishment and for the most part was able to mask how much hurt and pain he was absorbing. I agree that Ali took a good beating against Foreman which started to accelerate his decline. A fighter can win a fight big and even win every round like Pac did against Margarito and still take a lot of career shortening punishment.

 

I was always a bit underwhelmed with the way Lyle froze against Ali .. the same guy took bombs from Foreman and Shavers and folds over a decent but nothing great ( in my opinion ) right from Ali ... that aside if Foreman used his punishing jab and paced himself he could upset Ali but I feel he was still too weak mentally ... Foreman Version 2s brain in Foreman 1s body would have been insane.

 

Ron had won over 12 rounds against Ellis and Bonavena when he challenged Ali, who he sparred with during Muhammad's preparation for the FOTC.

He was extremely smart in how he approached it. He understood that giving Ali punching room with the GOAT's speed was suicide. So he got in close and unloaded short punches. Still, although a "young" fighter with little ring wear, he was nonetheless still older than the Champ, and Howard Cosell noted how heavily his legs were perspiring compared to Muhammad's right before Ali had the punching room to unload his trademarked perfectly placed long right.

Foreman simply wasn't that smart. He telegraphed. He looped his shots. He couldn't pace himself. Unlike Lyle, he wasn't learning oriented. George wasn't that fearless either. What kind of guy isn't afraid to get embarrassed against Young TWICE, then takes on Shavers AND Foreman in his bid to learn more about boxing to make up for lost time in jail?

Big Ron decisioned the likes of Leroy Caldwell, Bob Stallings, Goyo Peralta, Larry Middleton, Joe Bugner and Stan Ward, all finely skilled boxers. He came off the deck to win over Earnie Shavers and Scott LeDoux (in a match where each repeatedly wobbled the other). Came back at age 54 in a bid to get Foreman into the ring again. What kind of guy wants to rematch Foreman? Someone with balls of brass. Frazier and Lyle fit the bill, as did Peralta.

Lyle had late round knockout power, producing a pair of back to back tenth round stoppages. Interestingly, chose never to win a professional bout in the opening round, thus never caught anybody cold.


As an amateur, on camera, put out Duane Bobick for five minutes. That was the second time he floored Duane for the full count, something Teo Stevenson, Ken Norton, John Tate and Kallie Knoetze failed to do. (Duane was on his feet when the referee waved off the latter four defeats.)

George Foreman did not knock out the hardest puncher in all of boxing history in a classic war. Lyle did just that to Shavers in Denver.



Okay. I don't think George attempts rope a doping Ali in a rematch, but as Foreman has made clear, he wasn't able to be competitive in mid ring with both standing still, as he didn't have the necessary hand speed or straight punching to match Muhammad away from the ropes either. Sparring with Ali helped Lyle immensely in their title bout, as did his 12 round UD over the fast and quick handed Ellis. Foreman never attained a fraction of Ron's experience during the 1970's.

 

Quite amazing as to how many have suffered "Revision-itis" over this fight,is n't it?