The Fix In The Jungle?

i agree, i go for the latter.

should be an nc like dyna says.

 

No fix...Ali knew that George had stamina issues...Ali gambled that night...found that he could take Foreman's shots while lying on the ropes...George ran out of gas...and Ali caught him...Foreman fought one of the dumbest fights I've ever seen...and I've been watching the fights since I was a kid in 1963...

 

It was the only way Foreman knew HOW to fight,really. That formula saw him through,in devastating fashion,against Frazier,Roman and Norton among others. It simply would n't work against the force of nature that was Muhammad Ali.

 

:yep

 

It was indeed Muhammad's greatest victory.


For probably the first time in his career,Foreman had to deal with the fact that he was actually receiving more clean blows than he was handing out.

 

but....but.....but...didnt Ali just lay on the ropes tiring big george before popping outta nowhere to knock him out??

 

Yeah. Forgot about that !!

 

A fix? I doubt it. Not unless Foreman was somehow drugged. However, Ali had all of the x factors and a home country advantage.

1 ) The nation of Zaiare hated Foreman, and loved Ali. I do believe Ali was spiritually lifted by the natives

2 ) Foreman sustained a cut a week or so before the fight. Foreman wanted out of Zaire as soon a possible. The cut and delay to the fight could have been a factor in him losing focus.

3 ) The Ring itself had very loose ropes. This allowed Ali to lean way back when he was on the ropes, and avoid punches. Had this been a normal ring, Ali’s rope-a-dope would not have been as effective.

4 ) The Weather. It was a warm night. Heat can take away from stamina, and Foreman’s was questionable to begin with.

Had the fight been in the USA, the X-factors that went Ali's way would have evaporated.

 

Foreman was just as black as Ali and also african american, so neither man had home country advantage, Ali (With his charisma) endeared himself to the people

That was Foremans fault, he arrives in the country with alsations, something which the locals took offence to because they had been persecuted previously by foreigners whod used alsations.

He seemed fine during the fight, it didnt look like the cut had bothered him in anyway and he was pretty much swinging until the bitter end and Foreman to this day has never mentioned the cut affected his performance in any way. And Foreman pretty much used every excuse in the book for why he lost.

The ropes most likely came loose, with Ali leaning on top of them. Ropes dont come loose in most fights, however in most fights you dont have a 215+ guy leaning on them while another guy is pushing/punching him. Foremans punches were pretty slow, even with ropes which werent so loose, Ali could still have done the rope a dope, Ali had the durability to take whatever Foreman could dish out, what Foreman didnt have was the stamina to continuously punish Ali

Well Ali didnt exactly have air conditioning in there did he? Foreman fought a dumb fight, he didnt pace himself in hot weather, that worked to Alis advantage. People act like the heat affected Foreman only and Ali had native Africans fanning him with large palm leaves to keep him cool

The exact same thing would have happened.

Had the fight been in the snow, Foreman would still have ran out of gas punching Ali.
What happened to the heat when he fought Frazier in Kingston? it didnt affect him then did it?

 

Still think the "beating" Ali received is vastly overrated. Not a ton landed clean, and Ali was countering off the ropes brilliantly. I think Foreman was the more punished fighter by the end, and that had everything to do with Ali still being fairly fresh.

Foreman got his ass kicked. Ali took some hard shots on the defensive, but I've never seen the awful beating boxing lore describes.

 

official doctrine. Whether Ali trained for it or adjusted for it makes no difference.

It was the perfect gameplan and it worked.

 

The body shots were rough, but the head shots weren't much. Ali was rolling, dodging, countering.

It was a rough fight. Both dealt with the heat; Foreman gassed because he was green, tense, and getting raked. Ali, calm, focused, staying safe, in control.

Here's an exercise. Get in the ring with a seasoned amateur boxer. Go at him hardcore, try to knock him out. Hell, tell him thats what you are going to do.

Tell me how many rounds you last.

Foreman's approach was flawed. It would NEVER hold up long. Lasting 8 rounds is a credit to how hard he did train.

 

Who cares what George Foreman said or didn't say after the fight? As others have posted, and the article indicated was the smoking gun: George Foreman wasn't evaluated after 8 count by the ref, and the ref didn't even count to 10 and called the fight despite the fact that George Foreman looked less stunned than Joe Frazier did after his second knockdown by Foreman and that fight didn't get called until the *sixth* time Foreman knocked him down!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55AasOJZzDE#t=51m45s