Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman 1974-10-30

and here comes the ali people out of the dressing room and all of the questions will be answered this is an awesome power of george foreman against the violet boxing skills of muhammad ali here comes ali you can see in there very calm if you saw the interview there's no question on my mind and i don't think anybody else's mind here at ringside about the tremendous confidence of this tremendous athlete it's age against youth the experience of muhammad ali this may be a historic event muhammad ali coming into the boxing ring for the last time should muhammad ali retire this will be what you're seeing now a very historic event should ali win the title tonight it definitely is an historic event because he will have to definitely go down in the history of boxing as one of the all-time greats his handler angelo dundee brings him in and there you hear the sound of ali that's what the local people say and you can see ali is getting a standing ovation from some seventy thousand yesterday in attendance here as he dances behind the american flag muhammad ali will be globbed in the ring as will george foreman how about a jimmy uh any thoughts of what it's like for an athlete to go into the field of battle it's a tremendous pressure bob you know no doubt about it but i think along with the pressure there's a great feeling because it's like once my lifetime you can do something that's great that maybe no one else can ever do again the one thing that's very important as we take a look across the ring at muhammad ali bouncing around is dr ferdi pacheco a physician a man that certainly has the ability to help the uh aging former champion muhammad ali should he get in trouble and of course his handler the man that's been with him all the way angelo dundee i have to give the corner strength to the muhammad ali group based on the just sheer fact that george foreman was cut there's a possibility that he could be cut against ali has lashing cutting type punches he's got tremendous speed in his hands still has good speed of foot just how much speed and this humidity we just don't know angelo dundee looking around and again i talk about that corner being important angelo spent this afternoon over here making sure the ropes were tight making sure that there was enough rosin on the canvas here and now we understand that george foreman is about to make his way to the ring as early continues to dance and build up a little bit of a sweat and get ready for this big fight and right at the ringside there i see right at the ringside standing watching everything fascinatingly over there joe frazier the former world champion right there at the ringside like any other fan in this vast auditorium he says he wants the winner too i think he's more than a fan in this case david i think that he definitely has his sights set on maybe a five million dollar purse for joe frazier should he get the opportunity to meet the world heavyweight champion again a very understandable human ambition we hope to be talking to joe a little later on about the way he thinks the fight's going if he can get over to our commentary position over on this side of the ring while we have the opportunity we can give you an idea of the instructions that the fighters will be receiving first off this is a 19-foot ring muhammad ali of course wanted the larger ring for his dancing wanted a 20-foot ring but the everlast company had to come through and create this new 19-foot ring the foreman camp wanted an 18-foot ring understandably so they could cut off ali in the corners the scoring of this fight will be the ten point must system the three knock down rule is wave the count will continue after the bell in every round with the exception of course of the fifteenth round which ends the fight they're using eight ounce championship gloves as we mentioned both fighters will be gloved in the ring they had their hands taped in their respective locker rooms and the taping was watched by boxing officials from the african boxing union and from the world boxing council and a member of the opposing corner you hear a tremendous war we don't see him yet but we can only assume that george foreman is on his way out here we still don't see any indication of george foreman is there any protocol on this sort of thing bob that those chairs of ali and his movements in the ring you know he's putting on his show and the people love it is there any uh protocol about this sort of thing how long can a champion keep a challenger waiting is it gamesmanship is he trying to tire him before the fight starts how long could a champion keep him waiting i don't know what the exact rule is on that or if in fact there is but you would think that somebody who was in the locker room with the world boxing council will have him out here this does play a very definite psychological effect football coaches jim brown sometimes would like to keep their football team in so the other team that comes out really keyed up can kind of cool down a little bit before the ball game starts could be the same thing tonight of course because you keep looking over your shoulder you don't know how long it's going to be and it puts extra pressure on you we mentioned that this fight is under the sanction of the world boxing council and the african boxing union the officials the judges will be adala from turkey and james taylor from the united states we have no last name for a dollar we'll just assume he's a dollar and the referee will be zach clayton and zach clayton is uh actually a veteran of the ring zach clayton refereed the second walcott lewis fight as some of you may recall in yankee stadium he's been kind of inactive as far as refereeing goes in recent years he is a former harlem globetrotter proving beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt he's a fine athlete he's also the chairman of the pennsylvania state boxing commission there's joe frazier looking intent muhammad ali continues to dance around getting himself warmed up a little bit i bet you that ali does not like this waiting not as angelo dundee that's drew bondini brown who is the character of sorts from the ali camp well i think george has been doing a lot of this you know he's been really trying to psych ali out and i think tonight uh he's overdoing a little bit i'm assuming that uh he's really trying to psych him out well i don't know it's a really interesting point this which way it will work actually isn't it because there will become a point where muhammad ali will may get worried and then there will become another point where he may get furious we may see a more angry muhammad ali than we've ever seen before you never know how these ploys work there's the famous feat five million dollars on the hoof we'll call it for tonight or maybe george foreman is just not coming oh maybe that's a that's a [ __ ] that i didn't think you know a very good point though in the last week i think most of the writers have changed their mind about the over foreman being the overwhelming favor i think they have i think they have did you catch that glance there and the intenseness of the eye of muhammad ali as he looked towards the outside 60 seconds to two minutes to three minutes does no good for a man 32 years old when he's fighting a man that is a few years younger hormones jerking off oh that's not true right it only loosens up the muscles yes there's no danger of pulling muscle now but we are starting to reach the point where uh george foreman is performance not jerking us off ali overstaying is non-welcome david excuse me ali you can see as a tremendous sweat already built up which is another indication of the humidity that we've talked about and we'll keep mentioning that now here comes the heavyweight champion of the world george foreman jogging on george foreman decked out on his red robe coming in with his people listen to the ovation that he's getting i don't know whether i'm right or wrong in this but it appears that norman's getting a little bit more of it although as we were saying he came just in time because i don't know whether you noticed there about but at the beginning of form and entering there were a few boobs people were beginning to resent the delay now the excitement of the big fight being about to begin is overwhelming that but he really was timing it very tightly indeed well there he is the heavyweight champion of the world in there takes a look across the ring at muhammad ali look at ali there is some clear building there is a little buoy there is a little bird it definitely is a little bit of going on george foreman in his red robe dancing around castle little plants across to muhammad ali and now the ring announcements are just about set to begin there'll be two national anthems played tonight now the cheer starts ali here at ringside as they focus in on george fulman the heavyweight champion of the world he looks around and he's talking to archie moore a pretty country fair fighter in his own day yes the shouts for ali at least in this part of the auditorium and dwarfing any others trying to figure out exactly what the possible delay could be here now they've had about all the delays they could possibly have tonight and we should have the announcements very quickly this is the press here in uh zaire in kinshasa can't hear any ring announcements and this is the delay at this particular time this is of course the national muhammad ali dancing around will be the national anthem of the country of zaire oh a beautiful national anthem by the band in attendance here a tremendous evening in zaire there was a lot of talk about the possibility of rain i don't think the weather could be any more beautiful than it is tonight there's a full moon out and ali is getting the people to chant ali that means ali kill him here's the sight at ringside 60 to 70 000 in attendance here in this 20th of may stadium let's talk about the fighter george foreman for just a moment george foreman of course has a tremendous record of 40 wins no losses 37 knockouts this product born in marshall texas are now living in hayward california aged 24 years old 6'3 and weighs 220. the big story as far as the tale of the tape is concerned is that ali has an inch and a half reach on george foreman this could play a little bit of a difference in the fight george foreman has the tremendous record as we take a look at his last few fights it's uh almost unbelievable that he hasn't fought a full 15 rounds in total since 1972 and as we look at his past eight fights everything has gone not beyond the second round he knocked out murray goodwin and austin in the second round clarence boone in beaumont texas in the second round ted gullick in the second round he knocked him out in los angeles miguel paz was knocked out in oakland california as ali looks on and he knocked out terry soules in salt lake city also in the second round all in 1972 in 1972 well that was a big year for foreman winning all of his fights 73 even a bigger year his first fight january 22nd of 1973 he beat joe frazier down in kingston jamaica and won the world heavyweight championship fight and that dramatic second round knockout and then he defended his championship for the first time on august 31st against jose king roman in tokyo japan and retained the world heavyweight championship then of course was the fight the last fight by video techniques in 1974 this year down in caracas venezuela in march march 26 to be exact the second round knockout over kenny norton again retaining the world heavyweight championship as far as muhammad ali is concerned the highlights in his career as most of you are aware of he won the championship from charles sunny liston february 25 1964 a seventh round knockout on miami beach he defended his title nine times before the layoff in 1968 and 1969 he won seven of those fights by the knockout route now since the layoff he's had 17 fights this is muhammad ali the man we're talking about ali 17 fights since the layup 15 and two eight great scene going on on the stage there now on the world stage in fact at this very moment in time i don't think we can catch it with our microphones but ali obviously david yelling across the way at george foreman trying to psych him in tonight this is all part of his tactics this is something we're going to have to see the younger fighter whether he can tolerate this whether he will in fact so far it certainly doesn't seem that muhammad ali was demoralized by that delay no it doesn't george foreman of course the much more serious fighter ali will attempt to bewilder and frustrate the man not only by chatter but by his movements in the ring jimmy yeah definitely uh he was winking and making fun of foreman uh trembling and doing all sort of things i mean he's probably the bravest guy right now in this arena that man looks pretty serious himself right there cracks a little smile as he looks towards that camera there's a face of determination 220 pounds of sheer muscle a strong speedy individual with tremendous courage and now we have a man at ringside who knows quite a bit about it and david i'm going to throw it over to you yes i'm sitting here next to joe fraser and joe i was just wondering at the moment what are your impressions thus far what do you sense of the mood i saw your ringside over the other side hi jim how you doing how you doing joe baby good to see you the main thing about it david both guys look like they're in good shape uh they all seem like they're in good spirit uh everybody kidding around each other i should see the good fight nobody look like they're afraid each other that's the joke are you making any predictions well i guess anyway from 1 to 15 i hope will be a good fight i'll take on the champion you're backing the champion you better believe it fire and between 1 and 15. you're taking any range it could could it actually go the full distance well i would say yeah then i said no you know i i really don't know what to say because i haven't visited the camp uh so far i just seen uh news media and different things what the guys be doing but uh i don't really know what joe joe one one question do you really think that ali has a chance now you know uh the way i feel about jimmy uh uh don't mind going jimmy not at all yeah the guys is uh two men out there and uh everybody i think the guy got a good chance i mean he got two hands he's been working for two months all together so therefore he should know what he has you respect his skills well i respect that all but all guys with two hands believe me we should have a good fight and in fact at the moment does he look fitter to you than he was in his last fight with you or less fit mohammed i would say i think he's about maybe two or three pounds uh lighter two three fan slider i would say about two or three pounds why did i say about about 216 i'll give him about uh maybe two 13 to 14 pounds i'm gonna be 13. one question to ask you both of these fellas are capable of dishing out tremendous punishment one does it with one punch the other does it over a period of rounds how can you or can you just make a comment on that for a worldwide audience well i would i wouldn't say that uh you know my man who had been able to give it out the dishes i think that uh george is capable of dishing it out i don't know about taking it but as a big man he's a big man he should be able to take most anything well that's the view of a man who should know a man who should know joe frazier who's going to stay here with us and watch the fight with us it's getting very close to fight time blow by blow commentary is going to be by mr bob sheridan will be taking over in a moment or two to give us the blow by blow and at the end of the first round we'll come back joe for a comment from you well i think it should be a real good fight and somehow you guys just got me here working how about that i come have a vacation and watch the fight hey i'm calling blow my blow for free boy well next time next time you're gonna get five million dollars for working this time yeah how about that good i don't mind doing i enjoy it that's a nice thought jim around so therefore it's always nice being in his company and yours well you know joe look at this now as they stare muhammad ali beginning to talk to george fullman they're really putting the stare on each other george foreman has that serious look ali definitely talking to him look at the stare on george foreman look at ali give him the word so the stage is set we're just about ready to begin round one the heavyweight championship of the world at stake there can be no more pure form of sport than a heavyweight championship fight when two individuals finally tune athletes climb into the ring this time the championship is at stake and five million dollars will be paid to both fighters ali ready foreman ready we're waiting for the opening bell the enthusiasm begins to mount here one thing we want to look out for is just how fast this man george foreman will open as we mentioned in his past several fights he hasn't gone in the past four years beyond two rounds in any fight can ali dance and stay away from him as george foreman's thundering punches going to be too much for him is the left hook that is so devastating the tremendous left hook going to stop ballet here we go ali quickly across the round round one ali bouncing around shifting left for right george moves slow ali gets the first punch in a light right hand taken on the forehead by george foreman the champion coleman moving slow trying to stalk us man ali looks uh like he's ready to go here he's not staying away he's going after his man foreman comes in forming a bit cautious in the first round looking to drop that left hook mormon dances now moves ali with a right-hand lead again as foreman slightly confused with that right-hand lead which i haven't seen too many times before ali's certainly dancing slipping punches sliding around both ways foreman's ideas the vacuum off into the corner and when they get tight to whale away with that vicious hook to the body of muhammad ali ali lashes out with a light left a straight right hand forehead george foreman george foreman again takes is with a vicious uppercut misses ticketed to the head of ali ali stands back ties it man up leans on the ropes tells so far ali looks pretty impressive in round one this foreman throws the light glancing blows taking it to the head of ali but goes over the shoulder muhammad ali ali shifts right bounces left takes the light left on the side of the head while left-hand throwing on the side of the head of muhammad ali look at the referee zach clayton having his problems one minute left in round number one the heavyweight championship between muhammad ali and george foreman hi via satellite direct from zaire africa that once did no damage that one did two wild right hands taken on the side of the head of muhammad ali ali continues to try to tie his man up back late and separate some wild left hand vicious hook there's a real strong right hand just underneath the heart and muhammad ali is taking some punishment now about 25 seconds left in the round ali face left throws a straight right hand that right hand lead has george foreman slightly confused but a straight left jab thrown by foreign what a tremendous tremendous space in round number one the hook to the body of muhammad ali zach clayton the referee separates him about eight seconds left in the round round one corman and ali ending round one there he is muhammad ali who started a tremendous faith the big story in this heat is whether he can continue to do that he did allow this man george foreman to back him off into corners this is not good for muhammad ali not unless he can hang onto that head and tie him up let's ask the man who's fought him joe frazier what did you think of that round well i would say that the round was very even because actually as the grounds look very close you wouldn't call that round for ali because they hit some pretty good shots in it also i'd say about two or three good shots in the face but george landing body shots also so you would call that one even here we go round number two the determinant league and off his stool in between rounds george foreman sat down all the way ali with a back up against the rope he's talking to foreman still ali tries to tie him up no real damage done in that exchange at all by either fighter round two just done away a wild left hand that george foreman throws is trying to get to ali i can't see any puffiness over the right eye of george foreman at this point although ali has hit him on the button ali is definitely head hunting with his right hand lead a good right hand taken on the left side of the jaw by muhammad ali and there's those vicious hooks to the midsection of our lead ali has a tremendous strength to the midsection george foreman is headhunting himself ali tries to hang on the pace not quite what it was in round one ali backs up leans out takes advantage of the reach foreman tries to work the body neither one of those fleshers did any damage none of those punches are doing any damage at all none absolutely none there's a light flicking left hand to the face of george foreman foreman pushing the head back of ali and ali hangs on just hanging on tactic is important for muhammad ali who must take a breather now on that left hand light left taking on the chin of ali that while left hand is not scoring not getting through flip jabs right another left hand on the right eye of george foreman the right eye that was cut in training still cannot see if it's puffy at all george foreman continues to stalk ali tries to get through with a straight left jab and improve left jab there's a vicious awkward but very powerful hooks both hands left hooks and what would really be a right cross is a hook for george ford misses the left hand ali inviting him to punch shows him the tremendous ali slipping of punches as he twists the body to the side ali backs up and jabs as he backs up about 45 seconds left in round two uneven fight to this point the pace has definitely slowed down in round two oh a great left hand an over and under combination the left hand and then the right on the jaw taken by the champion george foreman there's a left hand in the eye of foreman ali scoring some punches here these punches are not hurting him that he's taking on the side of the head 30 seconds left in round two look at ali continues to taunt and talk definitely serious tremendous combination by muhammad ali it's the left hand and then that straight right to the jaw he's trying to do the damage with the left jab the lightning flicking left to the right eye of george foreman ten seconds left in round number two now he's fully what he did against joe frazier shaking his head no no he says the left hand gets through again there's the bell ending round two an incredible round what did you make of that joe frazier close round because hey what you're doing you've got people looking at a fight about him doing it but george is found in that body shot he's urgent in that body and otherwise you shouldn't stay on that rope do you think ali is making a mistake tactically then every time he does that stain it you need to move he don't need to stay on the rope he did that with you in the first fight with you at madison square garden he stayed on the rope and you hit him a lot he don't move or cut george georgia walking down he needs to move he is punishing george foreman even though he is on the rope he is getting some tremendous blows in and at some point that can tell on former is foreman vulnerable to the blows ally's been striking do you think i would say well yeah i don't know we were able to observe a little bit of puffiness under the left eye of george foreman the left eye not the right eye oh what a combination landed by our later the face of george foreman round three just underway very even fight i would have to score round two slightly in favor of muhammad ali as the left flicking in the face of george foreman george foreman backing ali to the ropes there's the vicious left hook for the body misses the left again the right to the body thrown by george foreman ali is getting away with hanging on to the head of foreman foreman will push and try to set up his punch watch him push there's the right hand when he pushes he tries to do it off of that that's his secret continues to work downstairs on muhammad ali round three very close heavyweight championship fight ali on the left foreman misses the right hand ali scores with his own right foreman setting him up against the whip in this fight there's the chatty that punch did no damage again taking it to the head of muhammad but that punch did look at him whispering why a right hand lead by foreman this time another right hand a good right hand taken on the left side of the cheek on the jaw of muhammad ali that was the best one so far for george foreman i don't know if you saw it but it did spin the head around of muhammad ali to say the heaviest punch so far was definitely landed by foreman in that exchange ali trying to hang on might have been just stunned by that blow vicious right hand goes whistling by the nose of ali ali continues to talk to george roman continues to talk continues to taunt 30 seconds left in round number three foreman looking for his opening to unload that left hand underneath the heart of ali and drop the right there he goes to the right but it just didn't land that time very even fight 10 seconds left now in round three ali showing his combination the hand speed left right left combination to the head of foreign did it look there did it let's look at that again we've got a slow motion coming up we've got a slow motion coming up again watch this now watch this inside the replay here foreman will come across was too foreign he needs to take his time watch what he's doing and uh as time go by this would tell on him and uh i feel like this would tell because it's not really calming himself it's not being calm well anyway there that look that fight would you said that round went in fact to muhammad ali i would say yeah that is wrong to win muhammad ali john daly the man behind the fight is here we'll ask him in the next round here we go round four muhammad ali looks to be the fresher of the two at this point this is the furthest that george foreman has gone in a fight since 1972 he's in the fourth round against muhammad ali the dancing master with tremendous hand speed the left hand scores again foreman looking for the opportunity looks has a tremendous look of determination staggered staggered definitely right on the button right on the jaw of george foreman that's probably the hardest foreman has been hit since gregorio peralta opened his eye in the first fight another right hand taken to the left side of the head of george foreman performance face beginning to show signs of puffiness around the right eye but below the right eye wild right hand thrown by foreman misses the intended target the jaw of ali tries to score ali ties him up in tight zach clayton doing the job separating the fighters ali rifles the right to the head of foreman foreman tied up ali is getting away with it tying his man up is ali facing him forming the strength in his back you can see as he tries to work downstairs in ali ali hanging on and continues to get away with it ali looks uh a bit concerned but uh what would you expect in there against george foreman hormann not scoring these punches at all light pouring punches unusual for george foreman maybe the heat is getting to george foreman as his lake at that point looked a bit on the rubbery side he scores a light combination there but no serious damage done both fighters beginning to show signs of a little bit of tiring now and you have to expect it with the temperatures close to 80 here in zaire africa neither one of those punches were damaging to the body of ali george foreman's legs look almost weary now does not look strong in the legs to me at all right hand missed the second one just clip dolly in the back of the head muhammad ali with that straight left hand now the left hook trying to catch the right eye of george foreman no doubt about it ali hanging on behind the head foreman hasn't been able to push ali off and set him up misses the right hand ali is definitely confusing in 30 seconds left in round four coleman continues to come on ali backs up not as much circling as we expected ali hanging tough not coming in and moving out left hand misses because over the shoulder bali and again ali hangs on zach clayton the referee separates the two fighters there's the vicious flap no real serious damage is intense john daly responsible for bringing this fight into being with hank schwartz and don king is it living up to your expectations john daley and it's absolutely fantastic and ali is winning all the way for me and i think he's going to win it within another four rounds a prediction there a prediction there from john daly on ali joe frazier has been watching this and he's got a word to say in praise of the referee we've got a replay coming up though right now here's a replay coming up right now take another look at this one take another look at this one leaning back on the ropes leaning back on the ropes take us through this would you joe i would think that george is throwing his shots a little too wild otherwise just showing up a little more it's close to the man you have to bring your way back you don't need a big wide shot only the closest and the other tribute you had for us was for the referee right i would say zach knew a very good job explicitly again here we go the bell sounds round number five ali stood through part of the round as he allows foreman to back him up foreman scored a pretty good right hand that time to the body of muhammad ali ali's face showing no signs of being hit at all as he takes a light left hand there's a straight left hand thrown by ali face of foreman beginning to look marked no cuts nobody's been down we're in round five foreman definitely has a puffy right eye straight left hand taken by foreman ali continues to talk to him foreman trying to back ali up and really throws the right hand the body of muhammad ali doesn't seem to bother ali as ali stands in his toes works downstairs goes downstairs good luck to khali good left hook like foreman again the right hand of ali is going to the left side of the face of foreman as the infighting is really better for muhammad ali upstairs anyway here's some real good shots of the body thrown by foreman foreman on the left screen ali on the right ali leans up against the rope right hand taking on the gloves by ali there's a real wild right hand taking the back of the head of ali foreman with a wild ride again ali looks like he's trying to rest in this round these punches are not doing any damage though vicious right thrown to the body of ollie wild white misses the head of ali the left taken on the club of ali the right dog roman foreign one minute left in round five this is george foreign all the way ali this is a cruising round for him woman whaling a little bit about 40 seconds left in round number oh is three or four times i thought he was hurt i thought his body was hurt and he came back he hit foreign again there you see on the ropes as he was for most of that round as he was for most of that round i must say i don't understand those tactics joe of staying on the ropes and letting him hit him well what he's doing he's using the whole pro skill on george george's fallen boy george you remember when i brought him in here we go round number six there was some confusion in between rounds as officials in attendance are tightening up the ropes to prevent ali from leaning back and angelo dundee the trainer of ali came racing across the ring and really did some yelling they're still screaming back and forth about the ropes where they want them tight or loose zach clayton separates the two fighters ali goes head hunting again oh great left hand taken on the face of george foreign has tremendous look of confidence on that face these punches are landing bouncing off the eye of the heavyweight champion of the world george foreman coleman has his work cut out for him for the tremendous crowd here at 20th of may stadium now ali banks up against the ropes takes a low blow not intended by george foreman flight left on the break by ali foreman has no steam in any of those punches and you don't need me to tell you that ali leans on him ali sits back in the ropes and tells former to come in foreman looks like uh well a bit arm worry until that right hand is trying to set ali up ali doing exactly what he's actually not supposed to do leaning up against the ropes and taking the punches of the heavy-hitting george foreman foreman doesn't really look to have a tremendous punch anymore but i'm sure that when he gets a little respite here as they're cruising a little bit now in round six that uh he'll be able to deliver the thundering booming rifling shots that he's capable of delivering at any time a minute left in round six muhammad is allowing corman to come in on him inviting him in and counter punching inviting him in talking to him angelo dundee screaming from the corner ali get off those ropes finale continues to talk to foreman straight left hand on the chin of george foreman woman pause in he's looking for room to unload that right hand 30 seconds left in the round now ali squares away watching box he loves to put on combinations in the last few seconds of the round right hand misses that right hand scored by ali look at the these of alien at this point is outclassed the strength and booming punches performance neither fighter has been down round six all right ali looking ali looking jimmy to become the second man in the history of the heavyweight ranks to regain his title and he looks impressive to this point he's looking fantastic right now he's laying on the ropes everyone's saying get off the rope but i think he's resting he knows that foreman is basically spent i think he's gonna try to take it as far as he can and then try to knock him out do you think corman is in that bad shape i think he's fighting foolish i don't think he's a bad chip he's fighting real foolish and you got that experience i made a statement early that anything could happen this man got experienced this man got a youth there's all the pen out he's been trained for him and he's fighting smart real smart yes i'd hate to predict in any fight but my goodness those people who said foreman would win in a flash have certainly been proved wrong those people who said here we go round number seven and the fighters can't wait to get at each other as this time big foreman comes stocking across the ring delivering some light uh hooks to the body of ali that certainly are doing no problems or causing any problems too muhammad ali ali spins him around out of the corner now ali is definitely in command as far as the movement in the ring is concerned foreman looking for the opportunity to unload the left hand again in the face of foreman definitely ali is scoring more punches than george foreman the punches to the body of ali are not hurting him they're not taking a toll the man is in tremendous physical condition in that part of his body george coleman tries to work again inside onali ali pushes his hand away again ali ties up george foreman coleman doesn't look to have a good bounce in his leg anymore but of course foreman being the one punch artist that he is who knows what might happen as the rounds continue we're in round number seven midway through straight left and a good right hand taken to the side of the head the tactic by ali is to jab with the left for the right hand and hang on george gorman of course famous for his booming punches to come in on our lead he wants ali bad it's just a matter of trying to set him up to deliver the real heavy blow i'll leave rifles into the right hand gets in a pretty good left of the body that time underneath the ribcage of muhammad ali punch was hard to see on television but he did score a pretty good side is beginning to show signs of being tired 30 seconds left in this round seven very even fight hard to tell exactly who would be out in front perhaps by a point maybe two one way or the other looks like ali could be out in front with the punches that he's scoring to the head of foreman definitely showing some fatigue in the waning seconds in round seven ali continues to talk coleman tries to deliver some shots of the body the bell sounds ending round seven jim brown listening to muhammad ali is unreal he seems to have the whole fight in control george foreman seems to have nothing left at this time ali seems to be waiting as i said earlier and i think that he knows that he has control and now we have reached a point where george foreman's only had one fight this long since february 1970 only one fight this long since then what would you say the position is on points at the moment joe frazier i would say right now that uh my man is in the lead i gotta feel that george not gonna make it from the looks of it now tell me the one thing that people obviously all around the world will be cheering for one or the other but do you think foreman's got a killer punch if he lands one punch can he save it well i would say you have to land on the target any man can take a punch out can take you out with one punch george is fighting fully here we go the bell sounds round number eight and an even fight here live via satellite a video techniques presentation worldwide ali working to the head of george foreman while he scores again with a light left hand this time a straight left bounces the head back performance the quick short jab with the right hand bounces the head around a foreman woman looking to deliver the real heavy flows now he's bouncing better almost falls out of the ring ali left that punch pushing his body to the side and the left hand went kind of over the shoulder ali bends him over zach clayton right on the spot the referee chairman of the pennsylvania state boxing commission ali it seems to be well kind of going the way he wants he's not dancing as much as we thought but he seems able to control him now some pretty good good heavy right hand taken on the left side of the cheek by ali good right hand thrown by foreman that time again performing it seems to be one or two maybe three good punches that punch taken on the gloves that one looks by the lefties tries to go with that right uppercut that filled kenny norton the left hand again thrown out by foreman both fighters now very much more fatigue than they were around or so ago the heat is pretty high here around 80 degrees the humidity is probably 85 to 90. at age 32 muhammad ali is bouncing around pretty good for the 24 year old foreman hanging pretty tough in there again i caution you to look for the one punch that george coleman can deliver at any time this man is devastating to say the least these punches are not at this particular time try to pull a sneaky right hand on ali ali hanging on getting away with it getting away with the left hand taking on the side ali's cheek the left hook again on the side of the glove right hand by was not affected the right uppercut did bounce the head a little bit punches will not hurt ali takes him protecting his face at all times does ali holmen's throwing more punches now maybe this could be the tactic of ali to let the man punch himself out 30 seconds left in round eight very even fight ali a sneaky right hand another sneaky right hand this time he works over the shoulders the great man has done it this is the most joyous scene ever seen in the history of boxing this is an incredible scene the place is going wild muhammad ali has won muhammad ali has won by a knockdown by a knockdown the thing they said was impossible he's done what he predicted to me dearly he has done absolutely and exactly here comes here comes the replay the scenes in the ring are incredible jim here it is the greatest fight of his life watch it now watch it closely there he's been taking it easy and then suddenly the moment came suddenly the moment came watch it and that was no phantom that was no tantam punch that was no phantom punch and he's down and however many times you look at that it's the clearest punch you could see george foreman down on the floor no phantom punch a bunch of real power he softened his man up they said ali didn't have a killer punch well that was it but my god he softened his man up and over there bob sheridan is trying in the ring to get to ali but he's not succeeding at the moment there you see the pandemonium there you see the pandemonium one of the greatest fights of all time there you see there's a desire version of hard hats there angelo said he would knock him out angelo came over here and waved to gemini he put his thumb up as if to say if this was exactly what i believe i must make one point muhammad ali had been waving at me winking at me all night because he knew i thought that george foreman would knock him out and he is a friend of mine so he was saying to me after every round look at me big fella because i'm doing it fantastic fantastic performance there you see the scene in the ring i can't see much much over bob getting a very deep coherent interview at this moment i don't think we're going to talk to muhammad ali in depth at the moment but there you see the scene the whole place is going wild the people right at the back of the auditorium they're on their feet too they're on their feet they're on their feet they're not on their feet they're on their feet or their foot and there you see there's one thing about this look at that face look at that face a man who can scarcely believe what has happened to him who can scarcely believe what has happened to him george foreman the man who was invincible george foreman the man who was totally invincible muhammad ali is certainly suffering worse punishment in that ring at the moment worst punishment in the middle of that ring than he ever got from george foreman and there's george foreman look at that his hair is falling he's really really an injured man and the man they said it only flows like a butterfly but nothing like a bee has really stuck george foreman the beaten champion what a moment of tragedy this is he left here there he goes no one in the auditorium paying really any attention to him as he goes as muhammad ali knows from that first fight against joe frazer people are only interested in winners look at that sad dejected head look at the people around him three or four people maybe wants to mob a beaten champion the whole the whole of boxing history's been turned upside down that lonely figure going into the dressing room was not muhammad ali but george foreman meanwhile the scenes as you can see them there the zaire police and army are trying to protect muhammad ali there he is there is the picture of the man who has undoubtedly bought his greatest fight tonight won his greatest victory tonight muhammad ali on his way to his dressing room oh there are people yelling for him to stay oh and there are people trying to fight off the press look they're the oppressive people i should add in case people think that that is a nixonian attack on the media with him just behind him you may have seen bob foster there former light heavyweight champion fantastic promotion fantastic performance muhammad ali completely fooled a lot of us who thought that george foreman was invincible it makes us take a second look at the two listening fights but as i said earlier she has matches as we see muhammad ali disposed of the george foreman aliyah unleashes a combination on the very fatigue george foreman coming up here now right hand misses watch the left there's the left now a straight right hand that one spins his head that's the knockout punch right there it was a straight right hand taken right on the face of muhammad ali this is the dressing room of muhammad ali david frost is making his way down there ali talking to louis saria another one of his handlers there muhammad ali hugging dr ferdi pacheco the physician that said yes he will beat him and angelo dundee the only single man that i know that said he wouldn't knock out george foreman said he was absolutely sure i couldn't i didn't believe angelo his closer friend uh as angela dundee is to me jimmy i just didn't believe it i believe that angelo believed it because he was absolute about it did you notice ali look in the mirror because he wanted to make sure he wasn't marked what does this do jimmy does it open up the heavyweight championship again it opens it up will he retire is he the greatest man that ever fought all right now he is bob i'll tell you here we go we've got uh the dressing room bad giant that was economy defenders i'm telling you that he has no power i kept telling you he don't hit hard but guess felt it with my arm reach and then grabbed it i'll clear it up that's the power of all of them that's how i couldn't get up right here i kept talking to him during the fight too congratulations am i the greatest of all times mohammed you told me and dear lake you were the greatest of all time and i think everybody out there watching now will say that you've proved it to a man who was burned me up to power too strong i proved that allah is god elijah muhammad is the messenger right and i have faith in them and regardless of the world and the pressure i made it an easy night because allah has power of all things if you believe in him nothing even george foreman would look like a baby it wasn't a close fight was it it wasn't a close fight was it close before i knocked him out no no no where you wait is this on close you tell is it live right now everybody stop talking now attention i told you all of my critics i told you all that i was the greatest of all times wanna beat sonny listen i told you today i'm still the greatest of all time never again defeat me never again say that i'm going to be defeated never again that make me the underdog until i'm about 50 years old then you might get me but i didn't dance i didn't dance for a reason i wanted to make him lose all his power i kept telling him he had no punch he couldn't hit he's swinging like a [ __ ] he's missing let me see your box i hadn't started dancing yet you can't say my legs are gone you can't say i was tired because what happened i didn't dance from the second round on i stayed on the ropes when i stay on the ropes you think i'm doing bad but i want all boxers to put this in the page of boxing staying on the ropes is a beautiful thing with a heavyweight when you make him shoot his best shots and you know he's not hitting you i would have gave george holman two rounds a steady punching because after that he was mine he was falling he was missing i don't know if i'm gonna fight again or not i'm gonna retire now i have to talk to my leader the most honorable thanks to almighty god allah i want all of you fans out there who believe in me read the mohammed speaks newspapers go to your local muslim temple and learn more about the life-giving power from allah through elijah muhammad that i was god you saw all the white people the critics the world had me reign to go down this was that man and allah god was with me and this man looked like nothing right want you to remember that i want to know where i get the power visit the local museum read that mohammed speaks newspaper take it from me that just proves you can have commercials on closed circuit television just as you can have it on real television mohammed what did you say to george was not a commercial telling people to believe tell me what did you say to george foreman before the fight what did you say i told him he has no power i in the corners and in the clinches i said shoot your best shot i'm going back to the ropes they told me he was strong didn't this then i looked stronger than him why didn't tell me muhammad this is the thing that puzzle people why was it when you were on the ropes that he could not hurt you even when you were right there on there was blocking and i was pulling back and i have a radar built inside me i know how to jewish punches then i tell all of you out there on your local radio shows mostly black stations i told you i'm going to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see so that's what happened that's what you said to me but tell me now are you really going to retire man i'm seriously thinking about return there's nothing else i need to fight i told her well i'm going to retire i'm going to hold the title for a few months i don't they took my title unjustly i told you i'm the real champion i told you i'm the champion of the world all of you all all of my critics crawl all of you suckers who write the ring magazine boxing little star all you suckers bowed because the stage was set you made him great you made him a bad john lewis you made him a hard puncher but i want everybody from this moment on to recognize me as the scholar of boxing if you want to know any damn thing about boxing don't go to no boxing experts in las vegas don't go to no jimmy the greek come to muhammad ali one last question tell me is would you say that this at this moment is this the happiest moment of your life no no happens no my life when i met elijah muhammad the freedom speaker black people but i want to say this hello to all my friends in louisville kentucky joe martin fred stoner all of my friends in louisville kentucky where i started i'm recognized all over the world now but my greatness came and started in louisville kentucky and that's one of the greatest cities in america louisville kentucky and i predict that louisville kentucky will have another world champion because louisville is the greatest louisville

Channel: Muhammad Ali

Views: 7,963,327

Keywords: boxing

Id: OsAO_gB0Jpo

Length: 65min 4sec (3904 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 07 2013