Rope-a-dope

[GJC]

I'm very much aware of such differences but the is no way to actually prove such a link.All you can go along with is speculation



It's a possibility,however it's not certain.From what I have read there have been a few of his family members who have suffered from the condition at a relatively young also

I would love to believe that boxing hasn't left Ali in the condition he is in today but I'm afraid I don't.

[Sugarj]

Its very interesting if others of his family got something similar without boxing.

No two ways about it, boxing made it worse if that is the case. See the pre fight press conference for the Berbick fight and compare it to the post fight interview. Its on a DVD called 'The Drama in Bahama'.

[boxingbuff]

Most people don't know that it was a 16 foot ring in the Ali-Forman fight.Plus the ring floor was a softly padded ring floor.Thus Ali couldn't dance.He planned to dance before the fight,but changed plans after the 1st round.In his book,Ali said that Forman cut off the ring better than anyone he ever fought.Of course a 16 foot ring and a softly padded ring floor helped George to cut the ring.

Ali had practiced laying on the ropes during sparring many many times during his career.But He admitted he was taking a big chance going to the ropes against Forman,becuase of his awesome punching power.But after round one he said if he kept trying to dance throughout the fight,he would have tired out first.Because Forman was cutting off the ring so good and making him take 4 steps to every step that Forman took.

Luckily for Ali,he could take hard body punches better than any heavyweight that ever lived.That and that he had practiced the rope-a-dope many years in the gym.He was also not just laying on the ropes,but was hitting Forman with some good hard punches while on the ropes.He actually was winning the fight while laying on the ropes.After 5 rounds of steady hard punching Forman started getting tired,and Ali just need to wait till he ran out of gas before knocking him out!

But he planned to dance that entire fight! But changed his mind after the first round.

[Sugarj]

Your spot on there, I'd heard just that. Ali had planned to dance 15 rounds or at least try and do a Frazier 2 or Norton 2 on his toes.

[StarshipTrooper]

Most people don't know that it was a 16 foot ring in the Ali-Forman fight.Plus the ring floor was a softly padded ring floor.Thus Ali couldn't dance.He planned to dance before the fight,but changed plans after the 1st round.In his book,Ali said that Forman cut off the ring better than anyone he ever fought.Of course a 16 foot ring and a softly padded ring floor helped George to cut the ring.

Ali had practiced laying on the ropes during sparring many many times during his career.But He admitted he was taking a big chance going to the ropes against Forman,becuase of his awesome punching power.But after round one he said if he kept trying to dance throughout the fight,he would have tired out first.Because Forman was cutting off the ring so good and making him take 4 steps to every step that Forman took.

Luckily for Ali,he could take hard body punches better than any heavyweight that ever lived.That and that he had practiced the rope-a-dope many years in the gym.He was also not just laying on the ropes,but was hitting Forman with some good hard punches while on the ropes.He actually was winning the fight while laying on the ropes.After 5 rounds of steady hard punching Forman started getting tired,and Ali just need to wait till he ran out of gas before knocking him out!

But he planned to dance that entire fight! But changed his mind after the first round.

I've pointed that out before.....good luck getting anyone to take note of it though (Dundee supposedly loosening the ropes and drugging Foreman make for a much juicier story).

Poet

[GJC]

Oh yes the drugged Foreman, whatever happened to that guy he went quiet after I kept pointing out that the evidence on Vitali being a steroid user was far stronger. Not that he was a particularily strong Klit brother fan as he often pointed out.

[StarshipTrooper]

Oh yes the drugged Foreman, whatever happened to that guy he went quiet after I kept pointing out that the evidence on Vitali being a steroid user was far stronger. Not that he was a particularily strong Klit brother fan as he often pointed out.

Oh that alt lost it's usefulness I guess and Tunney and Wlad_Ownz have moved onto other troll names.....

Poet

[GJC]

These guys have more accounts than Mugabe!

[StarshipTrooper]

These guys have more accounts than Mugabe!

Oh yeah.....Check out the new Klitschko threads in NSB and you'll see a few more. Klitschko2009 having a convo with his new alt Klitschko2010.....Classic! I think most intelligent posters have figured out it's the same two or three idiots using dozens of names to make these posts

Poet

[Thread Stealer]

My favorite Foreman excuse is the one that says he was about to knock Ali out but got distracted by seeing his disloyal friend in the audience cheering for Ali. He mentions this in his autobiography, which came out in the 1990s (after Foreman claimed he finally accepted that Ali was the better man). Foreman also mentioned drinking funny-tasting water from his trainers (whom he later re-hired in the 1990s) and thought he was drugged. Funny, strange guy Foreman is.

Other guys had used similar tactics before, fighting well off the ropes. They mentioned it in a Ring article but I can't find my copy. This is the issue though.



Ali was countering well off the ropes with clean hard shots to Foreman's head. I thought he was winning before the stoppage and that people exaggerate this story of "Ali taking such a terrible beating but somehow surviving and tiring Foreman out". Yeah, he took hard shots (especially to the body) but hit Foreman upstairs with consistency all night long and made Foreman look silly throughout with his inability to avoid straight punches.

A guy who often fights a sort of "rope-dope" is James Toney. He slips shots and rolls with them well upstairs so he usually doesn't take the full effect of the head shots (although he sometimes does and more often as he gets older). The body, however, is a less elusive target, and Toney can take a hammering to the body. Toney and Ali are two of the toughest mo-fos I've seen lace up the gloves, especially their ability to absorb punishment to the body. Toney counters effectively off the ropes, as you saw in his younger days in his bouts with the likes of Williams and Barkley, and in his older days against the likes of Guinn and Jirov.