Was Ali's Rope-A-Dope the plan or was it on the fly?

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Ali give credit to George for cutting off the ring?

Even w that said it would b taxing to b in that heat in your 30s trying to dance around a juggernaut all night. I just think he didn't have a choice and was lucky George wasn't a Hank Armstrong with his motor. Still got the decisive ko will b interesting how this fight pans out in the Foreman film.

 

“The trick was to make him think he was the baddest man in the world and everybody had to run from him. Truth is I could have killed myself dancin’ against him. He’s too big for me to keep moving round him. I was a bit winded after doin’ it in the first round, so I said to myself: ‘Let me go to the ropes while I’m fresh, while I can handle him there without gettin’ hurt. Let him burn himself out. Let him blast his ass off and pray he keeps throwin’. Let it be a matter of who can hit who first, and that’s me.’ This was a real scientific fight, a real thinkin’ fight. For me it was. Everythin’ I did had a purpose.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-hours-after-the-rumble-in-the-jungle.698834/

 

Appreciate this. Will give Hugh a shot along w the Foreman book "No Way to Fight". Rumble in the Jungle one of my faves and good or bad film this Foreman trailer is getting me in the mood.

 

I think a pre-exile Ali could have spiced it up a bit more, especially in a 20 or 24 foot ring: a lil dancing, a lil fighting off the ropes, a lil grappling. I always think it's dumb when somebody says if Ali laid against the ropes against this or that fighter he would get waxed as Ali isn't going to do it if the situation doesn't warrant it.

 

Ali is S tier with durability too. If Foreman n Shavers couldn't deck him, past prime version at that especially the one Shavers fought, I wouldn't say anyone is "waxing" him. Arguably the two biggest hitters of the division might I add.


I even think in a cooler setting he would've moved a lil more against Foreman but just going off my opinion.

 

Also, him planting his feet more imho helped. Him being all twinkle toes lol would make it easier to deck him even if bcuz he's caught off balance. Only setback is he would have to b in range but it's not like that hasn't happened b4. 3 clear times by left hooks.

 

Thanks. I read that article a long time ago and have even quoted from it.

I was replying to @Mike Cannon ‘s post in which he quoted Foreman as rhetorically asking “what choice did he have?” - in reference to Ali going to the ropes.

That’s why I highlighted Foreman as having already forced and caught Ali on the ropes before the first round was out - and it definitely wasn’t a voluntary move on Ali’s part.

So, with it already being done and knowing that George could and would force Ali to the ropes thereafter, Ali then made it a voluntary move to go to the ropes to better control the dynamic.

Foreman, in asking what choice did Ali have might’ve felt that he more or less forced the choice - and, tbh, what other strategical election could Ali have opted for that wouldn’t have been potentially invited disaster otherwise.

So maybe the strategy itself wasn’t as brilliant as Ali’s own well practiced ability, to address it more specifically, to defend and fight off the ropes - and only Ali could pull it off like he did.

 

It was the plan since Angelo Dundee loosened the ropes.

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/05/...n-fight-foreman-demands-inquiry-on-fight.html


MIAMI BEACH, Nov. 4 (AP) —Angelo Dundee, trainer of Muhammad Ali, acknowledged today that he had worked on the ring ropes before last Wednesday's fight but denied any skullduggery.

“I check the ring for my fighter before every fight—I feel I owe it to him and have done it for years,” he said. “Every trainer should do it.”

Dundee said he and Bobby Goodman, son of Murray Goodman, went to the stadium at 10 o'clock the morning preceding the fight and found the ring inadequately rigged. The Goodmans were in charge of press relations.

“The ring was in terrible shape,” he said. “The ropes were as loose as clotheslines. If they had been left like that, a fighter could have broken his neck.

“Bobby and I worked on the ropes until 3:30 P.M. Instead of complaining,. Foreman should thank us. If we hadn't gone to the trouble of sizing the ropes, there would have been no fight. There was no way they could have been fixed properly the night of the fight.”

He said he had also found the ring unbalanced and had to use wooden blocks to level it. There was no tampering with the padding, he insisted.

“It was Ensolite padding, just like Foreman fought on at Madison Square Garden,” he said. “But the canvas was slippery from the fresh blue paint. So we swept resin onto it.”

 

The ropes were sized for a larger ring than they got. Dundee tightened the ropes as much as possible, mindful not to over stress the turn buckles lest they break.

For such a “rich” promotion - pretty shonky ring set up - hello Don King, the “overly” maligned promoter - lol.

PS - you want to see loose ropes? Check out the ones in the Johnson vs Flynn 2 match. If Jack tried the old rope a dope, he would’ve fallen out of the ring, a** over head, Flynn probably would’ve butted him in the a** also to help him along the way. Lol.

 

Think you got it spot on, Shay.