Foreman was doomed in Zaire

Foreman should have pulled out. The controversy of cancelling a fight is forgotten. The outlandish result a fighter got because they entered the ring feeling unsecure about their surroundings is forever. Dubois pulled out against Parker because of whatever and Bakole stepped in. Now Dubois is a champion and Bakole is on the sideline. A fighter doesn't get points for being a trooper.

Whether Zaire was safe or not doesn't really matter Foreman felt as if he was being poisoned during the fight. Whether it was happening or not was beside the point. Who knows what Foreman experienced in the previous days to make him feel that way.

 

Foreman came into that fight overconfident and was totally unprepared for Ali's "rope and dope" strategy. Combine that with the Zaire heat and Foreman emptied his tank after a few rounds. That's the story!!

 

When Foreman was cu both fighters were forbidden from leaving the country and were forced to stay until George healed ..

 

Foreman's actions after Zaire are completely UNTYPICAL; out of the box.
- In 1975 he did not fight, if we do not exclude the fight against 5 fighters
- 1976 4 fights 4 knockouts - fighter of the year
- In 1977, he lost to Jimmy Young as fighter of the year, and went on a ten-year hiatus
- 1987 Foreman's second career

Foreman is definitely doomed in Zaire.

 

I agree.

The main reason Mobuto accepted hosting the fight and assuming the huge financial costs was because Prestige.

The fight brought worldwide recognition and publicity for Mobutu, Zaire and Kinhasa. Even today, 50 years later people instantly recognize Zaire and Kinhasa like the place where Ali and Foreman fought.

Foreman being lynched by an enraged mob would have been very bad publicity and Mobutu was having nothing of it.

 

Foreman was doomed in Zaire.

He was fighting a Muhammad Ali with an indomitable will. A man with greater mental and physical toughness than he had ever, or would ever, face.

 

I don't think Foreman was a real threat, but he had reason to feel much worse in Zaire than anywhere else. He himself recalled locking himself in a room and not going anywhere, experiencing terrible stress. During this time, Ali fed off the crowd's energy.
The climate also wasn't conducive to Big George's exceptionally energy-hungry style, which, in several fights before Ali, had only lasted a few easy rounds.

I think that at that time, Ali would have lost nine of his 10 fights to Foreman, but he would have won every time in Zaire.

 

George was simply confronted with a puzzle he'd never met before. The style factor figured heavily too - George's power and strength enabled him to easily stop Ken Norton and Joe Frazier while both the latter could beat Muhammad and run him close in rematches. Muhammad,meanwhile,found George easy in comparisson.

 

Foreman was a complete man child in his first career ... he had zero clue what he was gettin into vs Ali ... he thought he'd knock him out in two rounds ... he clearly did not .... the Toronto Five was painful to watch .... if you see the tapes today you see a deeply screwed up young man .. in a bout of horrendous match making he gets his first comeback against a murderous puncher in Lyle ... he seemed to hit a stride after that and in many ways was hitting his career one prime until some genius agreed to have him fight Jimmy Young in tropical Puerto Rico ... Foreman knew exactly what he was getting into in Young because he served as color commentator during one his Jimy's fights with Lyle .. one thing is for sure , between career's Foreman learned the importance of matchmaking because he handled himself brilliantly in career two ... he built himself back very slowly and carefully and cherry picked his opponents as well , avoiding the best of the biggest hitters along the way ... he did fight some guys but he clearly ducked many as well .... George learned from career 1 .

 

Hi Buddy.
Excellent and on point breakdown of Foremen's career and mental approach, succinctly put, and hard to argue with, bravo.
stay safe he grant.
Mike.

 

Thank you ...

 

People to this day still underestimate how tough a MF Ali was.

 

Will never forget "Smokin Joe's" comment: "I hit him punches, those punches, they'd have knocked a building down. And he took 'em." Ali had INCREDIBLE grit--no way he wins most of his fights after his return from exile without that toughness!!