Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Syntax Error
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by Syntax Error »

orbtastic wrote:Foreman was relegated to almost a sideshow freak after that fight. He had to resort to fighting five men on the same night and was jeered and laughed at the whole time (with Ali joining in with the heckling from ringside), one of the guys even kissing him and telling him he couldn't hit hard! Then he ended up re-matching a half blind Frazier in a fight nobody was interested in. He also had that amazing up and downer against Lyle where he was on the verge of being KO'd.

It's fair to say he was damaged goods after Ali, insofar as his bubble of invincibility and mask of menace had been unceremoniously stripped from him.

Then he lost to Young and had his religious experience and that's all she wrote.

Can you imagine someone kissing Foreman on the cheek or telling him he couldn't punch prior to Ali? I know Ali kept asking Foreman is that all you got during their fight but nobody had done that prior to that point, nobody.
Good points.

It's sad what happened to Foreman, because despite his 70s persona, he is a really nice guy.

I'm glad that he found himself again & went onto regain the title decades after losing it, thus proving his greatness.

George is doing well now & has totally reinvented himself.
Khaosai-Galaxy
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by Khaosai-Galaxy »

Terry Dooley wrote:Charley Polite, the event was dubbed "The Farcial Five". Polite was bombed out by Foreman earlier in George's career, but he ripped the Michael on the night of the event. It must have been soul destroying for Foreman.

AP release: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OR ... %2C4718398

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDtKrgtvHGo

A work, total pro wrestling.
Khaosai-Galaxy
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by Khaosai-Galaxy »

Terry Dooley wrote:
Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:
Terry Dooley wrote:Charley Polite, the event was dubbed "The Farcial Five". Polite was bombed out by Foreman earlier in George's career, but he ripped the Michael on the night of the event. It must have been soul destroying for Foreman.

AP release: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OR ... %2C4718398

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDtKrgtvHGo

A work, total pro wrestling.
The opening still is interesting. "Am I in boxing purgatory? Did the guy I beat up a few years ago just give me a kiss? Where's my comb?"
Ive never seen it before, its incredible how its presented.

It could easily be Bruno Sanmartino in the ring beating 5 guys with Superstar Billy Graham taunting him from ringside.
lurkyshaka
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by lurkyshaka »

Angelo Dundee was going mental in thew corner with Ali for laying on the ropes, that certainly wasn't part of the pre-fight plan thus nobody from Ali's camp meddled with the ropes beforehand to loosen them. That's just myth.

Ali's pre-fight plan was the hit and move, and avoid Foreman's attacks by dancing. But he realised early on that wouldn't work so he came off his toes and started to use counters to sting Foreman whilst fighting off the ropes. Ali adapted the plan of his own accord, but there was no conspiracy regarding the ropes. They might have been loose, but it wasn't because of any underhand pre-fight trickery.
reggaereggae
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by reggaereggae »

Terry Dooley wrote:The contemporary newspaper reports wrote him off, almost to a man, so that's a fairly good indication that he wasn't viewed in the same light they used to view him. A lot of comments are about the nature of Foreman's wins over Norton and Frazier, in relation to Ali's struggles with them both. That's why the big storm blew up around it pre-fight IMO.
According to his own article in the Sun, Colin Hart predicted an Ali victory..... Apparently he also was the 'only' guy to predict Watson's victory over Benn.

No word on whether the boxing writer with the consistently worst barnet in sports writing history predicted Buster's win over Tyson......

Why do we not listen more to this great boxing sage! We would all be millionaires!
thepocketrocket
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Re: Ali - Foreman anniversary. A different perspective

Post by thepocketrocket »

The Ali industry is a case of complete hyperbole. It was a big upset against Foreman, but as stated in the OP, hardly the biggest upset of all time.

Just because everybody backs one guy or team, doesn't mean people think the opponent is facing death and is a no-hoper. I didn't see to many people backing Barrera against Hamed (I did) but that doesn't mean it was some sort of Tyson-Douglas shock.

Still, we need to be careful in not going too far the other way as a way of countering the excessive bollocks. Ali did some great things, and winning in the jungle was one of them
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