Recently I've rewatched this fight. And then I watched it a few more times because I noticed that Foremans performance is really worth analyzing here... When you hear people talking about this fight, all you'll hear is how badly Foreman looked, how he had no skill, how he slugged brainlessly and Ali just lied on the ropes and let Foreman punch himself out...but that couldn't be farther away from the truth. I'll break this fight down in 2 bits: The centre of the ring, and the ropes. The centre of the ring: This is where Foremans performance is the most underrated. Common opinion is Ali decided to neglect fighting in the centre and decided to lie on the ropes because lol why not. The reality is a lot different. The reality is Foreman outbrained Ali, completely took away his jab and forced the fight to the ropes at will. How did he do it? Simple, yet so wonderfully complex, and I've never seen another heavyweight do it since. Glove checking, parrying and pushing. The fight started off with Ali landing some good jabs and straight rights, but around half the round Foreman started imposing his will and shut Ali down until round 6 or 7 when he started getting sloppy. At the beginning of every round the two would meet in the centre of the ring and every round they would get off the ropes multiple times yet would always end up there again on Foremans command. Foreman would stalk Ali with his arms out and follow the movement of his gloves, while slowly walking him down into a corner. Whenever Ali would try to shoot a jab or straight right, Foreman would either parry it with his gloves or slip and let the punch hit his shoulder. Hooks were next to impossible to land given the position of Foremans arms, and there's very little opportunity to sit down on the right hand since he's on the backfoot. As they got closer to the ropes Foreman would bend down to avoid getting hit and push Ali into the ropes. Looks sloppy but worked like a charm. At times Ali looked like he didn't even want to punch and just laid at the ropes, when in fact he COULDN'T punch. Foreman shut him down beautifully. Ali could barely get off on Foreman and mostly counterpunched when Foreman was beating on him against the ropes. I don't see how someone like Lewis or the Klits could stop Foreman from doing the same to them. Keep in mind that their power does not matter here. Speed does. Ali even at that point had incredible handspeed, timing and accuracy. Yet couldn't get off on Big George when he was stalking him with his gloves out and got pushed back again and again and again. The ropes: Foremans game on the ropes was a little more ugly than it should have been, but still extremely effective. Sure, he was loading up on haymakers that missed all the time, but I felt like he maintainted a good balance and didn't really swing unless he was sure that Ali wasn't in the position to counterpunch. He started landing straighter punches as the fight went on, and the only times Foreman looked really sloppy was when he was staggered, and that's because his instinct was to fight back when stunned instead of cover up and hold, which is bound to look ugly. Foreman put up an awesome body attack which killed Alis legs and helped him get Ali on the ropes easier and easier. And I thought he landed a ton of good punches. Some were clean, some were to the side of the head, but he landed enough shots to knock out a horse. Which brings me to the conclusion: Foreman didn't fight a stupid fight. He fought the best fight he could have, because there was no way he was going to outbox Ali jab for jab. And he did enough in that fight to knock out about 99% of heavyweights that ever lived. The only thing that he didn't count on was Alis endurance, punch resistance, and will to win. Because that's the only thing that stopped Foreman from crushing him. Put any heavyweight in there and few would survive half of that beating, let alone all of it. And that's why Ali is rightfully the GOAT.
I thought Foreman lacked patience in his attack, but why would he? he had dynamited everyone who had beaten Ali.
I haven't watched it in awhile, but from memory, Ali won the fight at all ranges and in every part of the ring. Foreman's body attack was ineffective, Ali was hurting him early, and Foreman slowed early in the fight. I don't remember Ali taking much punishment from Foreman at all, Foreman's ineffective body attack was standing with both feet even and throwing wide punches to the sides that Ali either saw and avoided or he was able to push or pull Foreman to take the power off of them. It didn't seem to be a tough fight for Ali and I remember seeing a video of Ali after the fight saying that Foreman couldn't punch.
True. I think a lot of punches that he missed would have landed if he just gathered himself a little before throwing. A lot of the time he would throw punches while rushing in and miss by a few inches. And those shots looked like bombs that could rip off heads. But again, I still think he landed enough leather to KO just about anybody. Might not have looked like it, but if you look at Foreman staggering Holyfield with glancing shots you can picture how heavy some of those blows Ali took were.
I'm focusing on Georges performance so it may look one sided on my part. Yeah, Ali was outpointing Foreman before the KO but I don't agree that it was easy at all. I had Ali winning 4 rounds to 3 and all rounds were competitive. And he definitely ate some serious shots in that fight. Just doesn't look like it because Foremans punches generally look like they don't have much on them and yet they still KO guys.
Sweet. Poor George’s performance is prone to being straight up maligned (me guilty of same) but George did so some things well. Psychologically, there were also a number of factors that arguably impaired Forman before first bell. Ali started rd 1 at an ATG cracking pace, moving, evading, landing sharp counters etc but Foreman did still catch up with some power shots before the first 3 minutes were out. As at the time, the commentators were waxing lyrical re Ali’s performance but their was a collective ooh when it appeared for a moment that Forman might see Ali off like all the others anyway. But hell, this was Ali who said for all those who picked Foreman by early KO, they would still be shocked in equal proportion to actually see Foreman put Ali down and Ali was very correct on that. Different opponent but while intense, Foreman appeared a lot more calm, patient and measured v Norton. Kenny started pretty well too, starting to establish the jab, mixing in with rights and even a solid uppercut thrown in for good measure. George kept his cool, stalking, ever closing the gap, looking to trap Norton. Finally he manages a definitive right connection on Norton moving away, Forman sniffed blood and then opened right up and that was all she wrote. All well and good to say Foreman didn’t fight smart but I don’t often read of the alternative plan B. IMO, for every notch Foreman brings it down, in due proportion, the fight moves into a more orthodox dynamic. The fight become more of a boxing match. Ali isn’t so pressured or stamina concerned, he can move a bit more and still impose his superior boxing skills on George. Depends on how one interprets Foreman doing “better” but without blasting his ass off from first bell, given a more metered approach, particularly in deference to stamina, Though outboxed and slowly picked apart, George lasts several rounds longer in a match not so nearly as stunning as Zaire was. It’s also worth noting that Ali didn’t necessarily have a lot left by the time he stepped it up and KO’d Foreman. Fine balance but Ali knew what he was doing.
Foreman gets criticised a lot for his performance in Zaire. Unjustly in my opinion. He was the same guy who brutalised Frazier,Roman and Norton. It's just that Ali was simply a force that he could n't deal with.
"The only thing that he didn't count on was Ali's endurance, punch resistance, and will to win." This is what won the fight for Ali. It was the equivalent of Frazier's effort and determination in FOTC with Ali.
