Was the Rumble in the Jungle fixed?

You leave out that the ring was small as per Zach Clayton the ref that night. A punchers ring. If conditions were being “fixed” to favor Ali the ring would be large with a lightly padded canvas. Instead it was the opposite.

 

The Oscar Bonavena stoppage was blatantly illegal with no repercussions - He didn’t need it, he was winning the bout Oscar fouled him a bunch but Ali did his fare share of that all the time just felt like nonsense.

 

The point I was making, to be clearer, was that all the pro-Foreman elements were addressed in that post, but when it came to the ropes, they were simply, “for some reason ill-fitting.” Didn’t seem very balanced.

 

What I have read is the ropes were made to fit a larger ring. They were erroneously shipped with a smaller ring. However the ring shipped was definitely a punchers ring, small with a thickly padded canvas.

 

Foreman has also said he was looking for “any excuse” for the loss when interviewed on Champions Forever.

George Foreman is my favourite fighter. I’ve seen nothing from him that suggests he genuinely thinks the fight was fixed.

It wasn’t. Ali won fair and square.

 

Ali wanted a 21 foot ring. George wanted something smaller. They settled on a 19 foot ring. The ring they ended up with was a 16 foot ring. The ropes were designed for a 19 foot ring. That's why they were loose.Angie was afraid Ali would fall out of the ring. He didn't loosen them. The referee Zach Clayton couldn't believe Ali agreed to fight Foreman in a telephone booth

 

Good spot about the puffy face .
Some good points.
Foreman did ' dry out ' before fights at that point, which was crazy.