30 Years Ago , Ali - Foreman

In terms of action....it was NOT a great fight. In terms of skill....Foreman put on one of the WORST performances ever. But, as an event, & a historical bout....it's amongst the best. It's also one of the most intelligent, & bravest, performances in all of sports history....by Ali. He knew Foreman was little more than a big, powerful zombie....a clueless chucker who'd lose if he had to WORK for a win. Ali bravely absorbed George's blasts....& stepped on the gas at just the right time. An incredibly dramatic victory.

It was a great fight, one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all time.

Foreman fought a very stupid fight forgetting his best weapon the jab and basically looking the worst he had ever looked up to that point. Ali deserves credit for sticking in there and fighting a very smart fight and taking some wicked body punches, but the laxness of the ropes and Ali's tactic of pulling George's head-down continually was deplorable, and kind of taints the win in my opinion. I don´t think that Foreman was fighting that stupid over the first five rounds. He was cutting off the ring very effectively, hit Ali with bombs that surely would´ve dropped Norton, Frazier and all the others. I think he would´ve beaten any fighter except Ali on that night. When he realised that even his best shots couldn´t really hurt Ali, he became very one-dimensional and seemed to give up mentally. We also shouldn´t forget that Ali never was a "one punch knockouter", but he was accurate and could hurt fighters. The accumulation of all the headpunches he delivered have been the main factor in tiring George down. Sidestep P.S.: As you surely have notived, I´m not a native speaker, but I love your forum and want to discuss with you guys :) .

the fight was actually very boaring, i agree.... the frazier ali fights were better the thrilla in manilla my favourite of all time

I must say I'm not too impressed with that fight. With Ali leaning against the ropes for almost the entire fight it was kind of boring. I liked the last round though ;)

Ali-Foreman is one of my favorite Heavy Weight Fights, I don't know where it stands among HW fights of all time... flash back in time, i just remember watching the bout on TV with my Dad who was an avid Ali Fan and we were cheering for ali against the supposedly undestructable George with a punch the legends say the could put a cow down, how happy we were we ali KO Big George, come to think of it, I don't remember if we were watching it live....

I listened to a very interesting tribute the "rumble in the jungle' yesterday. It was done live on radio here in australia. They rang up Ferdie Pacheco (Ali's fight Dr) during the show and he had some very interesting comments. He basically blasted "When we Were Kings" and inparticluar Norman Mailer. He said that most of what Norman says is fabricated "bullshit" and comes from his alcohol sodden mind. He also mentioned that ali was never afraid of foreman, and that the camp were always very confident. he did admit that ali never mentioned going to the ropes in the lead up. also note, Ferdie did not sound too healthy, I hope he's OK.

Foreman fought a very stupid fight forgetting his best weapon the jab and basically looking the worst he had ever looked up to that point. Ali deserves credit for sticking in there and fighting a very smart fight and taking some wicked body punches, but the laxness of the ropes and Ali's tactic of pulling George's head-down continually was deplorable, and kind of taints the win in my opinion. In 1976 I'd favor Foreman to avenge the loss. Prime for prime I think Ali beats him though . . . .

If there was a rematch I think they would have had to carry Ali off on a stretcher. There's no way Ali could have handled all those blows again.

I think big George would have paced himself better and won it, one of the best fights ever and a very important one too, he wont a fight the experts said he would lose, he won it with his head.