Why Didn’t Ali Give George Foreman a Rematch?
February 11th, 2009
By Chris Williams: For those who remember the great Muhammad Ali’s shocking 8th round stoppage of the then unbeaten George Foreman on October 30th in 1974, they saw a great fight from Ali in which he used a now famous rope a dope, along with a lot of pawing and clinching to tire out and eventually stop a young 26 year-old Foreman in the hot outside ring in the Democratic Republic Of The Congo. What people don’t remember, however, is that Foreman pursued Ali afterwards trying to get a rematch with him and having no luck whatsoever in getting Ali back in the ring.
Granted, Ali did have some tough fights against Frazier, Ron Lyle and Ken Norton during those years, but it seemed wrong that Foreman, arguably the most dangerous fighter during that era, wasn’t ever given a rematch. Foreman destroyed all three of those fighters, proving that he was the superior fighter of the bunch yet he wasn’t ever given another shot at Ali. Many people say that Ali began to age quickly after his victory over Foreman in 1974, slipping as a fighter and perhaps not physically capable of defeating him for a second time.
Indeed, the young Foreman did appear to be getting stronger as a fighter after his loss to Ali, and would have been big problems for an aging Ali if Foreman had been given another shot at him. Foreman swept through his opponents after Ali, beating them with ease until facing Young. Should Foreman have been given another shot at Ali?
It seems to be that Foreman would have been the best possible choice for Ali to have fought, especially given that Ali was interested in getting big paydays at the time. Even though Foreman had been previously beaten by Ali, he would have still brought in a huge crowd if there had ever been a rematch between these two fighters.
But, at the end of the day, Foreman might have been too much risk for the money, and Ali seemed to opt for the easer path against weaker fighters than him. In a second hypothetical match up, one could expect that Foreman would have simply had too much power for Ali in a second fight and would have worn him down and stopped him.
Ali, as I mentioned, began to look aged shortly after his fight with Foreman and would have been faced with a formidable task in trying to beat him again. Could his body have carried him to a victory a second time? I doubt it, because Foreman had learned from his mistake and wouldn’t be trying to knock Ali out like he did in the first fight.
Tags: 8 Responses to “Why Didn’t Ali Give George Foreman a Rematch?”
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Foreman had a nervous breakdown post Zaire . He didnt even fight for 15 months ( not counting the public meltdown when he fought 5 bums in one night and tried to look like Ali ) . He then came within a hairs breadth of being ktfo against Ron Lyle , beat up a bloated Frazier 6 months after Manilla , had tune ups with clubfighters Le Doux , Dino Denis and Pedro Agusto before Jimmy Young sent him onto a 10 year retirement . The author needs to do his research as do Foremans fans . Cheers All .
Yes, I agree that Foreman would have liked a rematch, who wouldn’t. Ali, for example, would have loved a rematch against Frazier after their fight in 71. Even though this was THE FIGHT that the whole world wanted to see, Frazier fought Stander and Daniels instead. But in this case, Ali-Foreman II was never THE FIGHT that the public demanded. In 75, when Foreman was inactive, THE FIGHT the public wanted was a third fight with Joe Frazier. In 76, when Foreman finally was beginning to get his act together, THE FIGHT the public wanted was a third fight with Ken Norton. Then in 77, Foreman was already retired before Ali chose his opponent for his big Fall title defense against Earnie Shavers. Therefore, if you analyze it, there never was a time when a rematch with Foreman was THE FIGHT that the public demanded. It would likely have been the big fight of 77 if Foreman had defeated Young, but he did not. Sure, Ali could have fought Foreman again, but if he had, he wouldn’t have fought a third fight with either Norton or Frazier. If that had been the case, we would be writing here 35 years later that Ali had ducked one of them. It is a no-win situation. The truth is that Foreman never put himself into the position of being the challenger that the public demanded. There are, of course, multitudes of subjects in which I do not shine, but if the subject is Muhammad Ali you can forget consulting Sports Illustrated, just give me a call.
hi check it out ali wanted to fight but foreman quit he sort found it hard to take stop talking fantasy ali whipped him and thats all you can say.
Well I agree that there should have been a rematch instead of Ali running scared and facing easier opponents,but I agree with Wes S. only with the question wasn’t answered. Patterson II was before Zaire, Frazier II lined him up for Zaire, but he did fight Frazier once again in Manila after Zaire.The WBC should have made a mandatory rematch instead of allowing this injustice to George. Once George beat Ron Lyle and Joe Frazier again, that should have opened the door for a mandatory rematch – or Ali forfeit the belt. In the history of boxing, if the challenger wins he should give the former champion a rematch. Just because Ali was older was no excuse. This is one of many examples of how boxing insulated Ali. One of the many reasons why Ali was NOT “the greatest of all times”. George fought almost twice as many fights, had almost twice as many knockouts, and also lost only 5 times. 61 fights is rather minor to all the fights George had, and not really tested as much as George.
Well I have wondered why they never had a rematch but this article was so poorly written I barely made it to the end. Ali took on easy fights after Foreman? He fought and Beat Frazier twice. Beat Floyd Patterson. Beat Ken Norton in the rubber match. This article did nothing to answer the real question of why they didn’t have a rematch.
I’ve been a fan of Ali since the start of his “second Carreer. I was a little young to really remember Cassius Clay. But the one disapointement I have with Ali is that he never gave Foreman a rematch. It might be just as well, because I don’t believe he could have beaten Big George again.
Boxing is all about tactics both in and out of the ring, dodging Foreman was a good choice, if he lost which he may have the fights and payday would have Bern very small after that, instead he got to prolong his career and get the big pay days.
Don’t forget US politics kept one of the greatest athletes out of the ring for a long time! Ali had to recoup some of those career losses.
Great story, people don’t talk about the greats enough!
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rumble young man rumble, ahh!
totally agree, foreman would have beaten him silly a year or two later