Emanuel Steward talks about Heavyweight History

Yeah, a little bit of variety had been nice.

Problem is, he had to attack in order to defend himself. Due to his poor defense Ali could hit him at will when he wasn't on the attack.

With that said, he did without a doubt look robotical and one-dimensional. But, of course, then he was.

 

I've seen this fight numerous times, and really the big issue is just pacing. Had Foreman slowed up and spend more time aiming his shots and saving his energy, i think he would have won.

As it turned out he basically punched himself out. He probably thought that nobody could with stand the amount of punishment he was capable of inflicting on someone if they just leaned on the ropes, and normally he'd be right. Few could have taken those bodyshots he landed against Ali.

Now had the ropes been tighter, perhaps he also could have landed more headshots which could have changed the dynamics of the fight, but we'll never know. Either way, he should have slowed his pace down, after the first couple of rounds and never. Course the other mistake was throwing every punch like it was going to knock a hole throw a heavy bag.

 

Thank you very much for this ,very insightful.
While I am at it ,special thanks , for the tournaments ,you are a big asset to this forum .:good:good:good

 

He was never gonna beat Ali, even at that point. Ali was just too damn good against punchers. However, i have a hard time imagining Foreman using a strategy where he'd lose even faster than he did now. He knew his body. He knew he couldn't keep throwing 60 power punches a round. As he said himself: "After round 2, Ali rattled me a bit, i thought: i'll knock you out next round. After the 3rd, i thought: i'll get you next round. Then we're in the 8th and i have nothing left".

I don't think he could've beaten Ali, but he fought a stupid fight. He did get hit a lot more than people perceive, though. Over the years, for added drama value, it turned into a "Foreman was beating Ali all over the ring for 7 rounds until he tired and got KO'd". He didn't. In fact, i think i gave Foreman only 2 or 3 rounds. Ali was landing consistently and even though he wasn't a big hitter, you can't let a 220lbs, athletic boxer hit you that often and expect to walk through it.

 

I haven't seen the fight in years, but from what I recall, Ali use to flurry in spurts that were usually near the end of the round.

 

Frazier and Dempsey to boot.

 

When did he say that?

 

Like usually a lot of silliness coming from this thread.

Foreman has great ring IQ. A lot of this came from experience though. His first career was a brute with an ego about his huge power. Strategy? Adaptation? I can destroy with either hand... that was his mindset. And post Rumble in the Jungle he was just shot mentally. He had confidence issue and an identity problem. And this Foreman of pacing post Ali was the worse fighter fighting with the worse strategy... probably.

Comeback George had calmness, and experience. I would say Foreman is easily in the top 10 among HWs in terms of ring IQ. Most of the people critical of him can't make a long list of HWs that were smarter. They say he didn't have the ability to adapt... but neither did Louis really. He needed rematches. If they do, there list will get torn down.

 

well the facts speak for themselves. ali after having his first loss to frazier continued fighting. foreman losses his first fight to ali and goes into big deep depression and can't face having another fight for a long time.

 

Shut up

 

I really cant understand the stupid fight arguments against George.

If anyone fought a stupid fight, it was the guy laying on the ropes. Yet he won anyway, because of his remarkable heart and chin.

Honestly, if Foreman had not thrown as many punches as he did, and he slowed down and picked his punchers more, (and still lost) would not everybody say that he was stupid for not letting more punches go, when Ali was lying on the ropes and open to punches?

Plus, as soon as he stopped punching, and took a breather, Ali would land his own punches (that is what knocked him out). And taking punches slows you down and tires you out 100 times more than throwing punches and missing (or landing). People seem to forget that at all time, Ali was landing on foreman when he threw. And not just pitter patter shots, he was landing some hard shots with regularity. They were taking it out of Foreman. If any other fighter, had adopted Ali's strategy, they would not have been able to fire back and land as often and as hard, and they would not have survived the punishment. That includes Louis, Dempsey, Jeffries, Klitchsko, Frazier and all the rest.

We should not forget also, that Ali at the time was not considered to be anywhere near the standout greatest fighter ever. He had just gone life and death twice with Ken NOrton and JOe Frazier losing a fight to each (both of whom had been stopped quickly and outclassed by Foreman), he was dropped numerous times by average fighters with nowhere near the power of foreman landing the left hook.

In all honesty, Foreman was unlucky to have run into a fighter who was probably the best ever, who could take a punch probably better than any previous fighter, who could recover from a near KO and being out on their feet like no other fighter previously, and who was quicker and could land at will like no otehr fighter previously. No strategy could have saved him on that night he was simply beaten by a better fighter.