Maybe this has been discussed before. The Ali / Foreman fight popped up on YouTube today and I had to watch a bit. I always noticed that before the 7th round , Foreman is given something and he starts chewing. What would that be? I always see that & forget to post a question about it. Maybe sugar or something?
To be quite honest, maybe Archie Moore and D. Sadler soaked up the mouthpiece real good in water for George Foreman. George claims that the temperature in Zaire was hellacious, but it had to affect Muhammad Ali too, who weighed a trim 217 lbs, Ali was in marvelous shape.
"Damn i think im about to lose the fight! What should i do!" "Chew this so the world will know that you've been drugged in Zaire for real and understand why you lost the fight!!"
Highly unlikely, but perhaps he was chewing on something to strengthen his jaw/ease some pain or tension or had a loose tooth. He was eating flush right hands all night like they were powdered donuts. Dempsey would chew gum and tree sap while also having his brother land hooks on his jaw to strengthen it. Of course this was outside the ring, certainly not between rounds. Might want to just tweet big George and ask him. He's surprisingly available and responded to 2 of my questions within a few hours on separate occasions.
Cal McCarthy was known for chewing gum during a fight. Obviously that was before the days of mouthguards
