The saying styles make fights was as true then as it is now. Even though Foreman had knocked out every opponent he had ever faced, including Frazier and Norton who had beaten Ali, it was more than clear that Foreman was yet to ever face a boxer like Ali, while we knew Ali had plenty of experience dealing with hard punchers. Of course not to Foreman's level of power or ring cutting abilities, but should the odds have been a bit more even? Even Frazier said it was too tough to make a prediction in the commentary.
You just had to be there. Foreman was going to kill Ali. Easily. If you can't figure out why, then study more. Or read about badminton.
Coz #1 everyone loves a puncher and #2 the general public don't think like that. They saw Foreman obliterate two guys Ali had lost to and assumed Ali was easy work.
Well in all fairness Ali’s form wasn’t exactly stellar coming in. He’d had a couple of struggles with Norton then wasn’t overly impressive in the second Frazier fight. In the meantime Foreman had destroyed those two and the perception was he was a monster who would destroy an obviously past prime Ali. As for styles making fights nobody foresaw an Ali who couldn’t stick and move beating Foreman.
we have the advantage of hind sight and .. we have the advantage of "styles make fights' after the fact.. .nobody really was chanting that the average fan wasn't i'm sure the media wasn't .. as much as we do today ... with the internet people know more about boxing and other sports then ever .. . that being said .. looking at it on paper? .. you had a young man that had damn near beat to death the 2 men that whooped ali ..they didn't just beat Ali they friggin kicked his ass!! .. when foreman whooped frazier everyone kinda went ...wow shocking ..then ok but frazier is 5'11 he's a small man up against foreman .. foreman obviously large dude ... they throw him in with norton who .. yeah later on we would come to know of him as someone that folded against punchers but then at the time .. he was a large man .. again that had tooled up ali broke his jaw ... and foreman just destroys him .. again .. he walks through these men ... you tell me how as a fan then you would see any different?? .. sure some thought Ali would win ..but it was a small fraction the rest "wanted" him to win ..thats a big friggin difference ...thinking/wanting ... .. people weren't going to a fight in ziare they were going to a funeral ... for Ali ? it was nothing personal he was just going to the bank .. again .. man i friggin love this stuff i don't get on here as much as i wanna but i could talk boxing till my fingers bleed
Foreman was 25 years old at his absolute peak and had been bludgeoning everyone he fought including Norton and Frazier, the men who beat Ali. What he did to Frazier was in particular shocking and unexpected. And Frazier was able to damage Ali with his punches, so just imagine what Foreman would do to him. Frazier literally got knocked into the air by Foreman's punches.. older slower past prime Muhammad Ali wasn't supposed to best this man
Not sure "washed up" is the word for it. I think it was in this fight against Mathis, where you can hear the commentator doting all over Ali, exclaiming how "there's never been a heavyweight who moves like him".
Ali had life and death with two opponents Foreman crushed,plus Ali was 32. I won £25 quid betting on Ali, and watched the fight on closed circuit at Leicester Sq.
The simple math was that Foreman had bulldozed Ali two most difficult opponents. The styles thing rang pretty hollow in comparison.
Howard Cosell, the sports commentator, wrote a book in 1973 called Cosell. There's a chapter on the first Ali-Norton fight. The book came out the summer after that. When Ali lost that Norton fight, people thought he'd retire. From the perspective at that time, Ali had been a champ, was out for nearly four years, came back, lost his fight with Frazier. Spent a year fighting a lot of guys. There was talk about a Frazier rematch for the title, but it didn't happen. Then Frazier lost to Foreman and Ali went to San Diego and got beaten by basically a nobody (at the time) former Marine. And those around the game at that moment thought, "That's it." Very symbolic. It's not the 60s anymore when Ali was champ. They were well into the 70s. Ali had lost twice. Frazier had been demolished. There was a new young champ. There was a new young challenger. That's how the game goes. Patterson was done. Liston was dead. Ali had lost repeatedly. Frazier was out. Only Patterson had regained the title. Once you lost it, historically, that tended to be it. Ali had already tried and failed. Nobody was expecting a second coming. So, when he signed to fight Foreman, people just thought he'd get killed.
I am sure, absolutely. Ali used the exact phrase himself post Foreman. How many past and current at the time big name Heavyweights were known for dancing? Marciano? Liston? Foreman? Louis? Frazier? The phrase didn't mean much. One commentator in isolation is just that.
