Word: alie
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When the fight began, there was little in action or tactics to suggest the startling turnabout to come. Beneath a full moon in Kinshasa at 4 a.m. (the better for prime-time closed-circuit TV viewing in the U.S.), Ali led a crowd of almost 60,000 Zairians in a chant of "Ali boma ye!" (Ali, kill him) before he began to dance round the ring, dodging Foreman's powerful swings. It was just as the experts and even the boxers themselves had predicted: the bear was chasing...
...Ali's Trap. Then, in the second round, the bee unexpectedly threw away the tactics of his entire career. Off his toes and seemingly off his rocker, Ali stood along the ropes, exactly where Foreman wants an opponent to be. Indeed, with his customary authority, Foreman started pounding punches against Ali's midsection. Some of Foreman's blows glanced off Ali's arms and gloves, and none hit Ali's face, but it seemed to be only a matter of time before Ali's belly would turn to pulp...
Astonishingly, Ali seemed hardly concerned. As the fiercest puncher since Sonny Liston whaled away, Ali shouted taunts at Foreman. "You can't hurt me!" Ali yelled. "You punch like a sissy." Soon it became clear that Ali had constructed a trap. All summer and fall he had been developing granite abdominal muscles with a grueling regimen of calisthenics, spending an hour every morning hardening his gut by doing sit-ups with his legs held up at a 45 degree angle or while his limbs were pumping back and forth in a bicycle-pedaling motion. Now he was simply letting...
That is precisely what Foreman did. In the sultry tropical night (the temperature was 86° and the humidity about 90%), Foreman's punches soon lost power. Arm weary, he began to swing wildly, frequently missing entirely, spinning around on his own momentum like a worn-out drunk. Ali took advantage of Foreman's slack defense by springing off the ropes time after time to jolt the bone-tired champ with lightning combinations to the head...
...eighth round, Ali was in full command. As the round opened, he rested against the ropes, jerking his head out of the way of Foreman's clumsy roundhouse swings. Then Ali exploded with a wicked flurry of punches that sent Foreman reeling. Sensing the kill, Ali ended the fight with a sharp left and a powerful right to the head that dropped Foreman to the floor for the first and last knockdown of the fight. Moments later, Foreman was counted out and Ali's handlers and fans stormed the ring to cheer the new champion. Foreman later claimed...