Just saw George vs the 5 guys for the first time

Ali was a disrespectful douche bag. He had no intention of giving George a rematch ever, but decided to show up in Toronto and just taunt him for the hell of it. And people worship this man.

 

right on vince voltage!!!!

 

Always cracks me up the people who act like Ali was scared of to rematch Foreman. Ali beat Foreman relatively easily and conclusively. Its the perfect example of having someones number and being totally inside their head. Foreman was never going to beat Ali. Ali had Foreman so in his hip pocket Id be half inclined to bet on Ali as he lay in his death bed over Foreman. To pretend he was scared of Foreman is ridiculous.

 

Yes. It's a myth that Ali avoided a rematch with Foreman. Ali indeed beat George easily after a bit shaky first round. There was no scenario..... none...... that would have allowed Foreman to reverse an eight round ten count ko into a rematch win.

 

Ali was terrified to fight George again. And he was smart enough to duck him for the rest of his career.

 

Ali was with Cosell yelling "Go to the ropes ....Go to the ropes" to embarrass George.

 

Yeah Ali wasn't afraid to rematch Foreman.
However, Foreman was the only boxer that Ali truly revered as a fighter. In his later years, he talked about Foreman with a certain level of respect he never had for another opponent.

 

He would have replied "Mercy, Mercy Me".

 

I feel the same,Klompton. Out of Ali's three biggest opponents of the seventies,Frazier,Norton and Foreman,the latter was the easiest for him to beat. Frazier beat him then gave him a close fight in the rematch - Norton also beat him and ran him even closer than Joe in their return. Muhammad picks George apart. Ali had no hesitation in giving Joe and Ken rubber matches.

 

Foreman was out of the game for 14 months after being koed by Ali. Once he returned vs Lyle he only fought another 14 months before he retired.

Ali had just beat Frazier a few months prior and was working on a deal to fight Norton. After the Norton bout in September George retired five months later. Thus the time line for a Ali-Foreman rematch was quite narrow. Had Foreman continued fighting after losing to Ali rather than choosing to be inactive for 14 months more than likely a return bout would have been made.

 

Completely untrue.

George was koed for a 10 count. The confusion was the announcers at ringside could not hear the count so they miscounted. If you watch closely you will see Clayton wave his arms in the classic "10 your out" signal. Also the time Foreman was on the canvas was timed several times on WWofS a few weeks after the fight clearly showing Foreman did not beat the count.

Ali was leading on all three scorecards by two, three and three points respectively.

 

It was before my time as well. But, anyone with above 80 IQ can see it was a WWE type publicity stunt.

 

This is 100% accurate.

You can time it yourself using the clock on youtube and see that not only did George NOT beat the 10 count (Bob Sheridan is at least 3 seconds behind on his count) but neither he nor his corner protested. Furthermore, exactly what was Foreman going to accomplish if he had somehow beat the count? He was exhausted and doing more fumbling and patty cake than actual punching when the stoppage occurred and all you have to do is watch him stumble out of the ring and to his dressing room with his head bobbing all over the place to realize he didnt have anything left. Its beyond comical to suggest that Foreman would have somehow won that fight or a rematch. He simply didnt have the tools or the versatility to be able to come up with a plan B for Ali. Foreman brought three things to the ring in all of his fights: size, strength, and punching power. His problem he was basically the same size as Ali so that advantage is gone, Ali showed that when it came to clinches etc he could deal with and even match Foreman's strength, and power was never something that you wanted to have as your only backup against a guy as durable, determined, and fast as Ali. So what exactly would a completely exhausted Foreman have done to Ali in Zaire had Zack Clayton lost his mind and let him continue? And what would he have been able to do differently in a rematch? Some might come back and say: "he could have jabbed more and paced himself more" yeah, and he could have sprouted wings and flown away too but that wasnt Foreman in the 1970s and neither was jabbing and pacing himself. Beyond that Ali had already shown that he could get into Foreman's head and own him and you think thats somehow going to get better AFTER Ali could boast of relatively easy knockout? Not likely. Can you imagine the psychological torture Ali would put Foreman through for a rematch? LOL. Foreman damn near cracked with Ali ringside at this farce of an exhibition whats he going to do in a real fight? The fact that Ali was only leading by 2 and 3 points on the cards shows you just how deferential the judges were being to Foreman because the fight wasnt even that close. Ali had Foreman eating out of his hand in that fight. Yes, Foreman had some rushes and landed some big shots here and there but these were minor storms that Ali handled easily, rode out, and always came back on top. As Ali kept peppering him, landing lead rights, and punching WITH Foreman, which nobody else had been able to do, you can see Foreman get more gunshy by the minute and begin to blink and paw in anticipation of Ali's counters every time he starts to take an aggressive stance. Nope, sorry, Foreman would have never beaten Ali. EVER. His chances in a rematch go way down IMO.

 

Were each one of Ali's scheduled for three rounds ? Were they on national television ? Were they immediately following a huge career upset loss ? The point is that these guys were amped up to fight George who was disgraced against Ali and made this a big event to prove his stamina. The stakes were much higher as was the profile opposed to some exhibitions in the middle of no where watched by no one.

 

Also, the deal with the Toronto Five is that George promised to KO all five. It was a way more serious undertaking than Ali's boring, slap-happy, rope-loving exhibitions of that time.