Suppose Ali gave Foreman a return bout October 1975

Manila Ali was about as tough a HW as we’ve seen - really his last hurrah, his last quality performance against a tough opponent who pushed him to his limits and beyond. George was crazy strong, but nowhere near as tough as Joe Frazier, and toughness was the only way you could match Ali at that point. They’d both know what to expect from each other, but Ali was smarter and better at improvising and switching strategies as needed. George might have a Plan B, but no Plan C. Ali could go through the alphabet.

Ali, late stoppage/TKO

 

Totally agree Stevie.

It’s all about action and reaction, and Ali was extremely adaptable.

If George opted to pace and meter himself for the rematch, that simply opens the door for Ali to outbox or stop Foreman in more conventional fashion.

In many ways, such a dynamic would’ve been that much less perilous for Ali than the fight that went down in Zaire.

Ultimately, Ali might’ve made the Zaire fight seem relatively easy, but it wasn’t (imo) and there was a very fine balance to it.

Ali was fast fatiguing himself - and not least due to Foreman’s fearsome body work - so Ali knew he had to put the pedal to the metal and KO George exactly when he did KO him.

 

Good post,Pugguy. The Zaire fight was tough,purely down to Foreman's power,but not nearly as hard as the Norton and Frazier fights that came before it - and after it.

 

Cheers Stevie but I was really just echoing what you had already said perfectly - I just wrote it in more long winded fashion.

 

This is how i see it.

Foreman was fighting at a pace he could barely sustain for 6-8 rounds and yet the fight was still relatively close, until the end.

So, we know Foreman fighting virtually flat out, was broadly evenly matched with that Ali.

In a rematch Foreman would likely have paced himself. I think the impact of this would have been more significant, in a way that is material to the fight's outcome, than Ali's deterioration since their 1st fight.

I see either:

1) A fairly wide Ali UD; or

2) A late Ali stoppage over an exhausted Foreman in a close fight, that Ali was clearly taking over in and was narrowly ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage.

Which, depends largely on the extent to which Foreman paced himself, relative to their first fight.

 

Hard call,

 

I don't see it happening. Now Foreman against Ali in October of 77 I would give him a much better chance, Ali was really deteriorated by then.

 

Feel like Foreman was psychologically defeated by that point. I see him either pouncing on Ali immediately or freezing and being reduced to trying to box Ali out of fear of gassing out.

I don't think either plan will be successful, Shavers couldn't knock down\out a vastly inferior version of Ali so I doubt George will either. He certainly won't win a technical boxing match against Ali, so I have Ali by decision or late stoppage

 

It's easy for casuals to discredit Foreman's mental strength after the way Ali beat him, but that's clearly not a man who lets go of a grudge. I think Foreman would have focused more on grappling in the rematch and got the win. Not a pretty win, but a win nonetheless.

 

Not sure how a rematch play.

On one side Foreman confidence's would be shaken and would probably be less gung-ho.

On the other side Ali won't be able to play again the Rope-a-Dope trick.

Sure, in theory Ali could outbox a more cautious Foreman, but for me that is not a foregone conclusion.

AFAIK Ali went for the Rope-a-Dope in Zaire out of necessity because he realized he wouldn’t be able to dance around Foreman the whole fight.

By 1975 Ali is damaged goods with diminished speed and agility. Foreman was quite good cutting the floor, so I highly doubt Ali would be able to duck him in the ring for long. Will Ali be able to take a massive punishment again? Even with the Rope-a-Dope Zaire was not a cakewalk and it is a diminished Ali we are talking about.

50-50 matched chances.