Tuesday 22 April 2008

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2: The most stylish KO in the history of boxing.

It’s not only the most stylish KO it’s also one of the most memorable fights in boxing; Rumble in the Jungle, or if you like, Ali-isn’t-given-a-hope-in-hell-against-a-mean-moody-and- awesomely-powerful-George-Foreman.

You must know the story. Ali stays on the ropes while ol’ George batters him relentlessly, everybody’s worried sick for Ali, they think he’s gonna die, even his corner are screaming for him to get off the ropes, but Ali’s a magician and this is his infamous rope-a-dope trick.

He lies against the ropes and becomes a human punch bag for George. George takes the bait and hammers Ali for eight rounds. Only trouble is Ali doges most of the punches and by round 5 George is tired. Very tired.

What happens in the eighth is the stuff of pugilistic history. A left hook followed by a right straight to the face topples George. As George goes down it looks like Ali’s going to throw another punch just to be sure, but he pulls back. He wants his KO to look good, not ugly. It does, it looks great. Check it out yourself here.

No comments: