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I can't stand Ali and never could. The Nike commerical using his words is so annoying I change the channel whenever it comes on. He was always a rude, cocky, arrogant person with an unbelievable amount of natural talent. >
>Rude, cocky, arrogant, and natural talent - and your problem with that would be...???? :)
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>The last five minutes of the movie (the famous Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire), when he finally wears out Foreman and knocks him out, is the most emotional movie scene I've ever watched. The spectators went crazy, it was raining like mad, and the movie plays an African song by Salif Keita that is haunting and inspirational at the same time. Like I said, I'm not a boxing fan, but this is an unbelievable movie with a very emotional ending. It makes the fight scenes at the end of the Rocky movies pale by comparison.
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> I didn't agree with all of Ali's politics, but I'm not crazy about our govt's treatment of him either (and I wasn't aware of the entire story about Ali and the Nation of Islam).
I went to see that fight on pay per view with my dad. This was pre-cable so you had to go to an auditorium to watch it. The place was packed, mostly with Ali fans. This was waaaaay before Foreman went cuddly with his ministry and grill and so forth. At the time he was in his prime (as Ali was not) and considered unbeatable, especially after KO-ing Joe Frazier, literally lifting Frazier off his feet with the finishing punch. The early rounds were all Foreman, with Ali leaning back against the ropes and covering up. Come on, come on, fight back! We didn't realize it was a strategy, which Ali later memorably called "rope a dope." He let Foreman wear himself out, managing to stay alive at the same time, then went on the attack. When he knocked Foreman out the place went nuts. I don't know how the movie played it but in this case I don't know how they could have made it any more dramatic than it actually was.
UPDATE -- Here ya go! Still exciting to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNTdUfByIhY
