Muhammad Ali Vs George Foreman 2

Something, something Jimmy Young and bad timing.

 

Or maybe he was a sore loser who was humiliated on the night of his life?

 

I haven’t read Foreman’s bio which I see was published in 2001.

However, at least going back the doco CHAMPIONS FOREVER 1989 it seemed that Foreman had dispensed with any and all excuses he might’ve offered - putting it down to his own denial and the inability to accept legit defeat.

Now I don’t know if George has contradicted himself or regressed since that time……..

 

Foreman sacked Sadler, he was free to work with whomever he wanted.

Eddie was hardly wanting for work and wasn't offered a gig with Pryor regardless while Sadler obviously was with Ali. Pretty big differences. Arguello apologized to Futch for his outburst and asked him to stay in his corner for the rematch upon which Futch declined.

There's no sense at all in Sadler sabotaging Foreman. Ali was considered over the hill and on his last legs while Foreman was young and had years in front of him. He'd also just obliterated both Frazier and Norton with ease which was a far clip from how Ali had handled them.

There is one possibly meaningful event that had transpired at one point well prior but i'm not going to throw fuel on the conspiracy theory side of things.

 

At least until 76 max.I see Ali vs Foreman like a formulaic equation that, while the variables might be changed, their interrelated proportions would adjust accordingly and always = the same answer - an Ali victory.

We saw George blast his a** off and while on the ropes, Ali took some, avoided the more lethal. methodically picked George apart in the meanwhile, and that combined with the fatigue of Foreman’s own exertions saw George off.

The other possible scenario of George not playing to the rope a dope and boxing more conservatively to preserve stamina would simply allow the vastly greater skilled Ali SO much more breathing space, extended viability (perhaps more mobility) and the opportunity to outbox Foreman in more conventional fashion - a relatively slower and less frenetic tempo than Zaire with an eventual stoppage put back by several rounds - say round 10 or 11.

Never a picnic with Foreman, sounds simple on paper when it actually isn’t but it was what Ali could and often did do in the ring to the point of it being an iron clad guarantee.

Even if one “knows” they can beat Foreman, it’s not exactly a match you’d be chomping at that bit for and Ali had already walked a very tough road to get the title back.

 

Eddie wouldn't have done something like that even if he was offered. He had class and integrity. Why on Earth would Dick Saddler be wanting for work? He had trained a fighter to the heavyweight title. His services should have been in high demand.

What other notable trainers jumped immediately from their champion fighter to the guy who knocked him out in 1 year or less? Did he have the right to? Sure. As I said a couple of times before the perception looks bad and calls Saddlers character into question whether he did anything wrong or not.

Foreman was a 25 year old fighter who had just lost in devastating fashion for the first time. He may have been grasping at straws or maybe there was something there. We don't know.

When Saddler turned up in Ali's camp 1 year later it probably heightened George's suspicions. 30 years later George Foreman certainly didn't need the $ to sell a book, he made those comments about Dick Saddler because he probably did ask for $25k.. What motive would George have. Did he throw any other trainers under the bus?

Did Ali need to poison Foreman's water to beat him? I doubt it. As I stated a couple of times Ali most likely hired him to tweak Foreman's emotional state at that time. We all know Ali wasn't above that.

Was Ali so impressed by Saddler's tremendous corner work and game planning in Zaire he just had to get him on the payroll? Hire that man.

This shouldn't be about defending Ali.

 

Could be or maybe Dick Saddler was a piece of ****.
I'm using logic but that's not always enough when Ali is involved. Let's take Ali's name out of it for a minute.
An analogy....
Let's say your in business with a guy for years and you have success. You both make good $ in a partnership but one day you lose on an investment. Your business partner accuses you of cheating him, betraying his trust. You didnt it was an honest loss. So you part ways. There's some hard feelings.

A week later he sees you with his just recently ex girlfriend on a date. It makes you look suspect. It would re enforce his suspicions. Do you have the right to date his ex? Yea but the perception is bad.

That is about as clear as it gets.

 

Or the more likely, realistic and less fictional scenario I suggested.

 

It's not about defending Ali it's about common sense.

It's not as if Sadler went to be head trainer for Ali or anything.

Perhaps Sadler was so angered by George accusing him of poison and sabotage then sacking him it was a big F you. How would you feel if you were accused of such drastic deeds and then sacked when didn't do them?

George isn't the first guy not to be able to handle a loss and he won't be the last. It was made worse by the fact it was his first defeat, he'd been built up to believe himself invincible and he was a quirky dude at the best of times.

 

Many of those "wins" were actually losses where he was gifted the win simply cause he was the cash cow.
Shavers and Norton beat him.
The Lyle fight was a premature stoppage.
Had Futch not thrown in the towel, Ali would have quit himself. Not to mention the fact that Frazier was already blind in one eye by then.
Wepner, Coopman and Dunn were poor. Bugner was average.

There is nothing impressive whatsoever in Ali's resume after the Foreman fight.

 

He made no such excuses about any of his other losses. And the fact that Dick Saddler later joined the Ali camp is very suspicious.

 

If you took away everything after the rumble he’s still the HW goat. Lap it up bud and the Lyle stoppage really?

 

The Lyle fight actually ticked all the boxes required for a stoppage - excellent case example.

 

And what's that got to do with the topic of our discussion (?!??), which is whether or not Ali could have beaten Foreman in a rematch.
His performances after their first fight certainly do not suggest that.

 

What did Foreman do to suggest he'd beat Ali?

Almost lose brutally to Lyle and be humiliated by Young?