When We Were Kings
prev.
play.
mark.
next.

1:01:00
The championship is at stake
1:01:02
and $5 million will be paid
to both fighters.

1:01:05
Ali ready, Foreman ready,
we're waiting for the bell.

1:01:10
Here we go,
Ali quickly across the ring.

1:01:13
Round one, Ali bouncing around,
shifting left to right.

1:01:17
George moves slow,
Ali gets the first punch in,

1:01:21
a light right-hand taken
on the forehead by the champion.

1:01:25
Foreman moving slow, stalking.
1:01:27
Ali looks like he's ready to go here.
1:01:30
He's not staying away,
he's going after his man.

1:01:33
Foreman cautious in the first round,
looking to drop that left hook.

1:01:42
Foreman's locked his man
to the far corner.

1:01:45
There's that left upper-cut
into the body of Muhammad Ali.

1:01:49
Ali tries to hang on
to the head of George Foreman.

1:01:52
Foreman dances...
Ali with a right-hand lead!

1:01:55
Has Foreman slightly confused
with that right-hand lead,

1:01:59
which I haven't seen
too many times before.

1:02:02
A right-hand lead, where you throw
your right without countering,

1:02:06
you throw it first, like a jab.
1:02:09
That has to travel that extra
distance across the shoulders.

1:02:13
'Professionals rarely use this
because it's so dangerous to throw

1:02:17
'since you are open to a left hook.
1:02:20
'Since fighters work in milliseconds
1:02:23
'they can see a right coming
much faster than a jab.'

1:02:26
Nobody had thrown a right-hand lead
at Foreman in two years,

1:02:29
and none of his sparring partners,
for $50 a day,

1:02:32
was going to start
throwing right-hand leads at him

1:02:36
because it's a great insult
to a top professional.

1:02:39
'It suggests he's slow enough
that you can hit him with it.'

1:02:43
'Instead Ali figured out Foreman's
not expecting a right-hand lead.

1:02:48
'"I'm gonna hit him with a right hand
and knock him out."

1:02:52
'Ali threw 12 right hand leads, he
hadn't told anybody he was going to.'

1:02:56
He may have debated whether to
up until the last moment.


prev.
next.