User:TRyals/sandbox: Difference between revisions

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While Ali no longer danced as gracefully at age 32, his well of boxing resources was far from dry. For one thing, he could take a punch. Following his fight with Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, referee Arthur Mercante commented on the fourteenth-round knockdown: “Frazier hit him as hard as a man can be hit . . . Ali was exhausted. He went down, and anyone else would have stayed on the canvas, but he was up in three seconds . . . I motioned Frazier to a neutral corner and when I turned around to face Ali, he was on his feet”.{{sfn|Hauser|p=229}} Besides his physical resilience, Ali could think under pressure and was a master of improvisation, both in and out of the ring.

In re-watching Foreman dismantle Norton and Frazier, I see exactly why Foreman felt the way he did. I’ve watched hundreds, perhaps over a ~~thou- sand~~ fights over the years and have never seen anyone punch harder than Foreman. In winning the championship against Joe Frazier in Kingston, ~~Ja- maica~~, on January , ~~~~ (after Frazier had defeated Ali) one of George’s uppercuts in the second round lifted Smokin’ Joe entirely off the canvas. ~~In- credibly~~, Frazier got up, only to be knocked down again, for the sixth and final time, before the fight was stopped.{{sfn|Cosell}} Coincidentally, the match was refereed by Arthur Mercante, who afterward may have revised his ~~opin- ion~~ about the hardest a man can be hit.

In re-watching Foreman dismantle Norton and Frazier, I see exactly why Foreman felt the way he did. I’ve watched hundreds, perhaps over a thousand fights over the years and have never seen anyone punch harder than Foreman. In winning the championship against Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 22, 1973 (after Frazier had defeated Ali) one of George’s uppercuts in the second round lifted Smokin’ Joe entirely off the canvas. Incredibly, Frazier got up, only to be knocked down again, for the sixth and final time, before the fight was stopped.{{sfn|Cosell}} Coincidentally, the match was refereed by Arthur Mercante, who afterward may have revised his opinion about the hardest a man can be hit.

During the run-up to the fight in Zaire, while Foreman healed, brooded, and trained without gusto, Ali threw his one-man public relations machine into high gear. During a reception given in his honor at the presidential palace, Ali said, “Mr. President, I’ve been a citizen of the United States for  years and was never invited to the White House. It sure gives me pleasure to be invited to the Black House”.{{sfn|Goldstein|p=110}} Meanwhile, he privately con- fessed to Howard Bingham, his personal photographer, “I’d give anything to be training in the United States. They got ice cream there, and pretty girls and miniskirts”.{{sfn|Hauser|p=270}}

When We Were Kings refers to the subject of women distracting boxers from their training regimens by way of George Plimpton’s comments. Ali, he reports, visited president Mobutu’s fortune teller, who predicted that a ~~mys- tical~~ woman with shaky hands would somehow get to Foreman. Plimpton refers to the woman as a succubus—a female demon believed to have ~~sex- ual~~ intercourse with sleeping men. “And that impressed me enormously,” Plimpton says with gravitas.{{sfn|Gast}}

During the run-up to the fight in Zaire, while Foreman healed, brooded, and trained without gusto, Ali threw his one-man public relations machine into high gear. During a reception given in his honor at the presidential palace, Ali said, “Mr. President, I’ve been a citizen of the United States for 33 years and was never invited to the White House. It sure gives me pleasure to be invited to the Black House”.{{sfn|Goldstein|p=110}} Meanwhile, he privately con- fessed to Howard Bingham, his personal photographer, “I’d give anything to be training in the United States. They got ice cream there, and pretty girls and miniskirts”.{{sfn|Hauser|p=270}}

This arguably led to the decision by Leon Gast and his editors to open the movie with a brief clip from the music festival, showing an extreme

''When We Were Kings'' refers to the subject of women distracting boxers from their training regimens by way of George Plimpton’s comments. Ali, he reports, visited president Mobutu’s fortune teller, who predicted that a mystical woman with shaky hands would somehow get to Foreman. Plimpton refers to the woman as a succubus—a female demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men. “And that impressed me enormously,” Plimpton says with gravitas.{{sfn|Gast}}

This arguably led to the decision by Leon Gast and his editors to open the movie with a brief clip from the music festival, showing an extreme close-up of South African performer Miriam Makeba spotlighted onstage against a dark background. She’s posed as if about to unleash a spell and emits a sound from her throat not unlike a death rattle. Later in the film, when Foreman gets KO’d, more of Makeba’s performance is cut in, symbolizing the supposedly invincible boxer’s vital powers having been drained by a succubus.

Ironically, one of the open secrets of Ali’s legacy was ''his'' penchant for women. Larry Holmes, who accompanied Ali to Africa as a sparring partner, had boxed hundreds of rounds with him at his Deer Lake, Pennsylvania training camp. He talked openly about his experiences in the book, ''Facing Ali'', and in a documentary of the same title. In those interviews, the plainspoken Holmes let it all hang out. “The women that came to that camp! He had his pick, you know what I’m saying? I know how he lived. I knew what he did. I seen the people come into camp and leaving camp. I know he walked around with a stiff dick every day. He would fuck a snake if you hold its head. You don’t even have to hold the motherfucker’s head. Just give him the snake”.{{sfn|Brunt|p=286}}

close-up of South African performer Miriam Makeba spotlighted onstage against a dark background. She’s posed as if about to unleash a spell and emits a sound from her throat not unlike a death rattle. Later in the film, when Foreman gets KO’d, more of Makeba’s performance is cut in, symbol- izing the supposedly invincible boxer’s vital powers having been drained by a succubus.

Ironically, one of the open secrets of Ali’s legacy was his penchant for women. Larry Holmes, who accompanied Ali to Africa as a sparring partner, had boxed hundreds of rounds with him at his Deer Lake, Pennsylvania training camp. He talked openly about his experiences in the book, Facing Ali, and in a documentary of the same title. In those interviews, the plain- spoken Holmes let it all hang out. “The women that came to that camp! He had his pick, you know what I’m saying? I know how he lived. I knew what he did. I seen the people come into camp and leaving camp. I know he walked around with a stiff dick every day. He would fuck a snake if you hold its head. You don’t even have to hold the motherfucker’s head. Just give him the snake”.{{sfn|Brunt|p=286}}

Holmes even attempted to caution Ali, telling him, “You better be care- ful. You want to be prepared . . . and that’s when he told me, ‘Shut the hell up. I know boxing. You don’t tell me what to do.’ So I shut up and went about my business. Like he said, he knew what he was doing. He won the fight”.{{sfn|Brunt|p=287}}

Following his apprenticeship with Ali, Holmes would go on to become one of the longest-reigning heavyweight champions and in  defeated his mentor in a sad, one-sided affair that, toward the end, had Holmes wav- ing the referee in to protect a proud-but-defenseless Ali.

Two other individuals featured in the film—promoter Don King and President Sese Seke Mobutu—are essential to understanding the context of the fight. Like Ali and Foreman and Mailer and Plimpton, they each pos- sessed a huge ego and led complex and controversial lives.