Happy Anniversary, Rope-a-Dope

[Nolomite]

If I could time-travel to one place and time, it would be here, in Kinshasa.

“If You Think The World Was Surprised When Nixon Resigned, Wait ′Til I Whip Foreman’s Behind”

I was a little kid when Muhammad this, but even then I though it was false bravado. After what Foreman did to 29-0 undefeated world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier, then top contender Ken Norton (both had defeated Ali and both were brutally KO'd by George in the 2nd round), the only person in the country that thought Ali win was Ali. Him and a bunch of Congolese chanting "Ali bumaye!"

Muhammad Ali is the most courageous man I have ever seen.

 

[BelemNole]

no video

 

[Nolomite]

There are dozens of videos of the 8th round - I'm not going to waste time trying wedge one through this CMS

 

[Nole Lou]

It's really an incredible upset and an amazing win for Ali. It's still crazy to think about all these years later. There's no way he should have beat Foreman.

 

[Nolomite]

"It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in, beating a big bad monster who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him. That's when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME!

But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George's. He's a better boxer than George. And I'm better now than I was when you saw that 22-years old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I'm experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times,

I'm bad! Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That's right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, throw'd thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick! I'm so mean I make medicine sick!'

 

[Nolomite]

It's really an incredible upset and an amazing win for Ali. It's still crazy to think about all these years later. There's no way he should have beat Foreman.

What amazes me most is the way he managed George. Ali's legs were nowhere near what they were before his suspension, so he couldn't hope to fight George in the same style he fought Sonny Liston (and most everyone else up to 1967). George was used to people trying to get around and away from him, so he was adept at cutting off the ring. Ali's 2 bankable physical advantages over George were his upper body movement and his hand speed.

Ali knew that for the rope-a-dope to work, he had to piss George off. Not particularly difficult, as George was a tough-guy-thug in the Liston image. He also would have to withstand the effects of a pissed-off Foreman, far easier said than done. So, on the ropes, Ali would lean back when George stayed back to swing; when George stepped in, Ali would pull George's head down, negating George's leverage. Bend 70 or 80 degrees at the waist and see how hard you can hit a guy above the belt...

Pulling George's head down also gave Ali a perfect platform to talk smack to George, to climb all the way into his head, and to make sure George didn't stop swinging.

Ali began the fight with about a dozen right-hand leads to George's head...I think I counted 9 of them landing. Ali used the right-hand lead to be a southpaw for the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics, but in Zaire the punch served to tel George "I am here to fight. I am not afraid."

 

[InjunJoe]

For those that wanted a video.