• niktemadur@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    But if you’re Rocky, you let yourself get punched over and over and over… until the other guy collapses from exhaustion.

    Maybe Stallone got the idea from the 1974 Ali-Foreman fight in Kinshasa.

    For nearly a year leading up to the match, Ali went through a grueling training where he turned his abdomen muscles into a wall of steel (so to speak), then developed an intentional flaw in his stance slightly exposing that area, luring Foreman into attacking the abdomen throughout the fight, which he didn’t know was a futile tactic.

    After several rounds where it seemed Ali was getting utterly pummeled, late in the fight, Foreman became tired, his punches going wide, and that’s when Ali stopped playacting like the overwhelmed victim and got down to business, nearly as fresh as an Irish spring as he took the offensive.

    For this incredible display, Ali was declared Sportsman Of The Year by Sports Illustrated.