ALI believed he had the fight won the moment he signed the contract. I certainly think that the fight and the entire atmosphere would have been different, had the fight been staged in the U.S., where ALI was considered washed up. However, Foreman's inexperience played a bigger role in his demise.
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Foreman suffered from what many other punchers and even some boxers suffer from. It always amazed me that no one ever taught George how to make the best use of his power. Believe it or not, if ALI applied something like the rope-a-dope against Forman's elder alter ego, he'd lose. Old George still had power but was much smarter and paced himself very well.
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Young George burned out quickly because he never learned how to conserve his energy. All the little differences and theories surrounding the fight in Zaire add up to little. Foreman was certainly not comfortable there, while ALI made it a second home. That boils down to social skills. ALI had it. Foreman didn't.
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It's a fact that punches missed take up a lot more energy than punches landed. Add that to the fact that ALI knew just how to upset George and throw him off his game.
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I think ALI would have beaten Foreman anywhere. But I also think it would have been more of a challenge for him.
One reporter asked George, " What if Ali beats you?", "i beg your pardon?" was Big George's reply. Not many fans believed Ali would have won against Foreman, forget about KO win. Even Ali's corner doubted he'd win. Big George was a juggernaut in his youth and a more famous Ali was the perfect recipe to get to the top of the world.
Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman?
Would Muhammad Ali have beaten George Foreman in any place other than Zaire?
I've always felt that ALi vs LIston and vs Foreman had "something" and im not quite sure ALi had anything to do with it. George Foreman would quit boxing afterwards and did say" Boxing is dirty!" Zaire was part of boxing history as MAnila and Tokyo were just like the Madison square garden. Whether Foreman would have beaten ALi in other parts of the world is unknown. What i just knew is my grandfather (a prize fighter in his heydays) lost a big amount on this bout. LOL
Ali was, possibly, the best heavyweight of all time.
His lay-off refusing the draft cost the public seeing him during his prime years.
We saw him as a young fighter, and as a fighter trying to catch up from the lost ring time. His first fights after the lay-off were a great struggle for him, and then he found himself again.
But my point is, we never saw Ali at his very best, which would have happened had he not been forced to stop his development during his best youthful years. We never saw him as a mature fighter with the benefit of the normal continuation of experience and training.
So, it is all the more miraculous considering this setback in his development that he was able to one day defeat the powerful George Foreman.
There are precious few heavyweights in history who would. The only one I would bet on would be Joe Louis. I certainly would not bet on Tyson.
A lot of boxing cognoscenti still shake their heads at how Ali was able to knock out Foreman, much less beat him. Foreman was more shocked than anyone. He who had never tasted defeat or hardship in the ring as yet, and seemed unstoppable.
So was it Zaire, with the heat and loose ropes that helped Ali win?
No, it was all Ali. Most people watch the videos and notice only the rope-a-dope, Ali eating punches and tiring Foreman out, and Foreman throwing bombs at Ali until tiring himself out and giving up in exhaustion.
Re-watching the video, it is possible to see other aspects. With these in mind, t becomes apparent just how good Ali was. And just how impossible it would be for Foreman to beat him....anywhere.
Round one is significant. Ali comes out throwing lead rights.
No one in their right mind would throw lead rights at a prime Foreman. That is a death wish. Ali gets away with it because he is so fast. And the rights land.
And Foreman, many years later, admitted that those punches really hurt him....and were a surprise.
The rest of the fight, another shock is just how many times Ali actually hits Foreman. (A lot). He counter-punches work extremely well. He also slips and blocks punches well. Many of Foreman's punches miss. Ali seldom misses.
Finally, the knock-out is expertly engineered. Ali waits for his chances, throws head shots with accuracy, and even avoids hitting Foreman as he goes down....the whole operation done like a surgeon.
If Ali had an uninterrupted career, he would have been even more amazing. But it is amazing enough that he stopped Foreman on that night.
He would have done so on any other, and at any place, until he got older.
There were several factors in this fight.
first it was rumored that Foreman had not trained, and the fight was postponed supposedly for a minor cut Foreman had from sparring.
Foreman went out too fast and ran out of gas rather than being beaten by Ali.
Foreman's endurance was also a factor in later fights in his first career..
Foreman's immaturity or lack of ring experience was the main reason he lost the fight, just think about how many hard fights he had previous to this, and you will realize he walked through most of his competition, including knocking Smoking Joe Frazier around like a rage doll.
ALI danced for weeks in training while Foreman worked on cutting off the ring. In the first round Foreman discovered that all that work was for not, as Ali went right to the ropes with his newly thought of rope a dope. His corner went nuts screaming for him to get off the ropes. Ali won that day by taking the endless punishment dealt by Foreman. Regardless of where, Ali won this fight by George losing it trying too hard to conquer ALI. In the long run, ALI suffered for this rope a dope defense. Today he's virtually non talkative and in poor health, while Foreman in a multi millionaire.
when i was a kid, i heard my dad said to his friend zaire's hot climate will dehydrate george faster... probably he suspects young georges stamina cos he never saw a foreman fight lasts 15 rounds...
he was right about foremans stamina though, alis ropeadope confirmed his suspicion... logically zaires climate has somethin to do w/ it, maybe thsts the reason why they chose zaire... but to think that alis ropeadope cant expose foremans stamina is ridiculous, zaires hot summer weather simply quickened the process
Probably, although I did read that george complained about ali supposedly making the ring bigger behind the scenes. Ether way, it would depend if ali got the rope a dope idea anywhere else imo cause if he traded the way he did in the 1st round he would lose by tko
Would Muhammad Ali have beaten George Foreman in any place other than Zaire?
