Does anyone ever remember him. He may have been one of the reasons George Foreman lost to Ali in Zaire. On 10/20/73, Ali looked so bad in trying to knock-out the limited Dutch fighter from the Netherlands, all the press said Ali would get killed by Foreman. Rudi Lubbers was 28-years old, when he faced Muhammad Ali. The 6' 0" 196 lbs. fighter had a record of 21-1-0 (11 KO's). In his previous bout, he lost his undefeated record, by losing a 15-Round decision to Joe Bugner, for the European Championship. Just how did Lubbers get this fight. Well in his 21 victories, 15 of those wins had come against fighters with non-winning records. His biggest win, a decision win over one Piero Del Pappa in 1972. Ali hit this small-heavyweight with everthing, but couldn't drive him to the canvas, in Jakarta, Indonesia. The best thing about the fight, the food was good in Jakarta..
Ali didn't look good against Lubbers, and Lubbers was definitely not much good. Ali sometimes looked awful against mediocre fighters, but terrific against good ones. Sometimes I wonder if it was his hands bothering him. Ali had bad hands, especially in the 1970s, a bit like Calzaghe he was forced to just slap at his opponents. He took a lot of injections for those hands, as did loads of other fighters at the time. In those days they hand no drugs testing and those guys could take just about anything. They were supposed to report painkiller use to commision doctor's but it wasn't always adhered too. Anyway, it didn't always help Ali, his hands just didn't cut it on many a night. So that's one theory on why he struggled to stop some of those bums. As for Lubbers, he wasn't good, but he came to fight.
Yes, I was a sucker like everyone else who bought this 'joke of a fight' I believe it was $20.00, and included a fight program. Ali was so mad that he couldn't hurt this guy, and he was truly trying to hurt him. You could almost hear Rudi Lubbers say, 'Hey Ali, I'm no Jurgen Blin' Oh, by the way Boxed Ears, you can tell your mother to take off that 'pork chop' thats tied to her leg.
rudi lubbers ended up somewhat pathetic. about a year ago there was a article in a magazine a reporter tracked him down. he was living in a caravan with no gas or heat or water in the forest. with about 10 dogs. he told the reporter they all sleap together and the dogs kept him warm in the winter..i believe but i am not sure that he also did a few years in prison for drugs smoggling
