Boxing Myths - The Truth

I thought about putting this up on the history section but I guess people on here probably need to learn more so here it is. I'll be posting and dispelling a boxing myth every so often but others (actual boxing fans please) are more than welcome to join in. Here's the first one: Dundee loosened the Ropes in Zaire The single most mystic, legendary and fictionilised fight in boxing history is the rumble in the jungle. It changed the boxing landscape and gave birth to a million myths, primary of them, is the story of the loose ropes. This story, as far as I can tell, served two purposes: 1. It indicates that Angelo Dundee, Ali's chief of staff essentially (trainer/coach whatever is too small a word) loosened the ropes prior to his fight against heavyweight champ George Foreman, thus denoting the fact that he KNEW what Ali would do. 2. Ali could not have pulled off the rope-a-dope without prior planning, motivation and of course, the largely illegal (in sports) act of tampering of equipment by one of Ali's corner men. The myth however, is quite easily dispelled when one looks at its origins, which can be traced back to Mailer and Plimpton. Norman Mailer was one of America's great modern writers and George Plimpton one of its great modern journalists. The two were also enamoured with boxing and in particular, Muhammad Ali. This love for the sport and the man led both intellectuals to Zaire, however it was Plimpton who always had the greater access whereas Mailer filled his writings on the event with the stories that Plimpton told him. Eventually, Mailers writings of that fight in Zaire would be collated into both an article and a best selling book. This is the birth of the "loosened ropes" myth. You see, Mailer writes in his fight report, that as Ali was waiting in the ring (for an extended period of time) for Foreman to make his way to the ring, Dundee walked from ring corner to ring corner, loosening the rope. However, this does not stand up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny. First off, the point of Dundee moving from corner to corner. Watching video of the fight, you see he moves to one corner, where he gets someone to push in the box of rosin, used to provide grip for fighters shoes. Ali's other corner man, Wali Muhammad, moves into the far right corner, to TIGHTEN the ropes. The American commentator at the time, mentions that Dundee has been very particular about the ropes and wants them to be as tight as possible. He isn't happy, according to Plimpton, who had far more access to the Ali team than Mailer. In fact, Plimpton notes that the day before the fight, when the ring had already been set up, Dundee actually had it tightened and did so personally. This is all part of the plan. Ali's team want to be able to move and not fall straight back through the ropes when they're are too close to them. It is further backed up by Ali and his teams demand to have a 20 foot ring. Everlast, who built the ring, had a special 19.5 foot ring constructed, much to the consternation of Foreman's team, which originally wanted a ring of no more than 18 feet. The final piece of evidence, if it's needed, is that both Dundee and Bundini Brown, the two men closest to Ali in his corner, were vocally against Ali's tactics post round 2. What were those? Staying on the ropes of course! You can see Dundee repeatedly pleading with Ali to stay off the ropes and admonishing him in the corner. Bundini and Pecheco are both equally furious at Ali between rounds. This shows that not only was Dundee opposed to foolish tactics such as rope-a-dope but Ali's true genius was that he learned how to win the fight on the fly. That is the hall mark of true greatness, to be bale to adjust at times of great upheaval. Now we come back to Mr Mailer. Why did he turn the story the way he did? Maybe it was the novelist in him. His need to craft a clear narrative because, as life would have it, the Zaire fight did not have a clear narrative. Ali didn't have a plan in round 2. He just made one up. Or maybe Mailer wanted to place himself at the center of events which he was never truly a part of. Who knows? What you know now, is the truth.