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Ali Hitting Foreman
in The Rumble In The Jungle
A 16x20 Inch Colour Glossy Photograph of
Muhammad Ali hitting George Foreman.
Kinshasa, Zaire – October 30th, 1974. Muhammad Ali
had conditioned himself specifically to take body blows
and the loose ropes absorbed some of Foreman's immense power.
Ali waged psychological war during clinches, saying: "Is
that all you got George?" Ali's taunts had the desired
impact, driving Foreman to expend every last drop of his
energy on increasingly wild attacks. In round eight, Ali
spotted his chance, sprang off the ropes and dropped the
champion with a lightning-quick combination. The famous
Rope-a-Dope fight.
Signed in Gold Sharpie and comes
complete with Online Authentics Certificate. Nice LARGE
clear Signature.
SOLD
RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE - 1974
Muhammad Ali seems to rely on his near inhumanly
fast reactions to Big GeorgeForeman's blows. Many times
during the fight, one can see Ali's head suddenly moving
out of the way a microsecond before Foreman's punch makes
its impact. Foreman does bean him several times, but even
the worst shots are lessened by Ali's "movement with"
the direction of the punches. Ali's tactic is to constantly
anticipate, to touch gloves with Foreman, appear loose but
be ready, and lean (very) far back on the ropes to avoid
some of the bomblike hooks that Foreman releases. All the
while, Ali shoots generally straight punches to the face,
and occasional jabs, increasingly puffing up Foreman's face
and dazing him. Ali holds Foreman's head many times, in
a bid to control the fight.
The timing of the match is completely within
Ali's control. He is a fine example of a boxer who wins
by forcing the flow of the fight. His holding of Foreman
forces a rhythm on the match that favors Ali. Again, a lighting
fast, hard punch, damages Foreman and Ali holds. Foreman
goes on the attack, and Ali leans and evades, or simply
lets Foreman pound on his body (apparently ineffectually)
so that Foreman will tire himself out. The speed of Ali's
own attack is something to behold. His fists become a blur,
and Foreman has already been punched before he can think
of blocking Ali's fist. This speed and the generally perplexing
tactics of Ali confuse Foreman and never allow him to find
his feet.
Eventually, Foreman goes into autopilot, becoming
increasingly tired and simply trying, it seems, to punch
Ali down bit by bit. As Foreman's face becomes increasingly
damaged, it becomes clear that it is only a matter of time
until Ali lands the final combo, a rock-hard straight to
the face that staggers Foreman, who twirls across half the
ring before landing on his back and looking like his alarm
clock just went off. Zack Clayton counted him out a bit
too quickly, but Foreman's condition was by any perspective,
bad.
Ali, conversely, barely looked like he had
fought. The endless body shots of Foreman appeared to have
no effect, or he hid the effect wonderfully. Ali did not
dance, did not bounce around the ring much after round two,
and in a post-fight interview with Frost he claims it was
intentional, keeping with the rope-leaning style. Ali states
that he was not tired at all by the time he knocked Foreman
out.
Ali lands virtually no punches to the body,
just the face and head; Foreman seems to keep trying to
set up Ali for the Big Punch (Sheridan reminds viewers that
Foreman is a "one punch artist") but never succeeds,
and while waiting and pursuing Ali through dogged punching,
Ali administers his considered, very fast, very hard head
shots. It would have been interesting, one imagines, to
see what would have happened if Foreman had simply poured
out all his gas, in a flurry of punches, to weaken Ali's
head, and not have been so determined to knock him out with
one or two big punches. Especially in earlier rounds, say
round three, when it was increasingly apparent that Foreman's
approach was not working, it would have been interesting
to see a change of tactics. In the light of Ali's brilliance,
Foreman was not nearly nimble enough.
