Rope-a-dope

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Rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting style used most famously by Muhammad Ali (who coined the term) in the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman. The idea is for the boxer to lie on the ropes of a boxing ring, conserve energy and allow the opponent to strike him repeatedly in hopes of making him tire and open up weaknesses to exploit for an eventual counter-attack.

Rope-a-dope is also commonly used to describe strategies in areas other than boxing, where one party purposely puts himself in what appears to be a losing position, and then becomes the eventual victor.

Lying on the ropes had been, and still is, considered a "sin" in boxing, exposing a fighter to punishment because he cannot move away from his opponent.

Ali had used the style of leaning on the ropes in a handful of his previous fights, most famously in his first fight with Joe Frazier where Frazier landed heavy blows to Ali. This seemed to further demonstrate that lying on the ropes was a bad thing, and could only harm the fighter who tried it.

This did not discourage Ali from using this strategy against George Foreman. Foreman was a harder puncher than Frazier, and many felt Ali would have to stay away from Foreman in order to beat him. Ali instead started to lie on the ropes towards the end of the 1st round, and used the ropes throughout the rest of the fight. Foreman's strategy for the fight was to cut off the ring and get Ali to the ropes so that he could hit Ali and try to knock him out, so since Ali was willingly lying on the ropes Foreman would plant himself in front of Ali and punch Ali as hard as he could. Foreman landed constant blows to the body, but had trouble landing punches to the head. Foreman began to tire from all the punches he threw at Ali to no effect, and with the punches he was taking from Ali, Foreman was visibly finished by the 5th round. Ali eventually knocked him out in the 8th round. Ali had regained the Heavyweight title with this strategy of lying on the ropes, and allowed one of the hardest punchers of all time to swing away at him.

Ali further used this strategy as a resting method against Chuck Wepner in his next title defense, but finally, before his second title defense against Ron Lyle, Ali named this style. While being interviewed by Howard Cosell, Ali declared that the new name for this method of lying on the ropes was to be called "the rope-a-dope." Ali used this style against many fighters, including Joe Frazier in the "Thrilla in Manila."

It has been repeatedly speculated that Ali's health problems today may stem in part from the rope-a-dope method. He took many punches from Frazier in Manila while rope-a-doping, and many feel Ali began to deteriorate physically after this fight. However, this has never been proven medically in Ali's case, and there is no direct connection between head injury and Parkinson's Disease which has affected Ali.

Fighters are still to this day generally hurt badly when they lie on the ropes. James Toney, like Ali, is an exception to this rule and is effective at fighting while lying on the ropes. Ali and Toney were able to use this method largely because of their defense and most importantly because of their ability to take a punch. Average boxers do not have the ability or the strength to be able to withstand the degree of punishment caused by going into the rope-a-dope, and most fighters who lie on the ropes are knocked out or hurt badly.