I rarely see a movie more than once.  The truth is, I rarely see a movie once, because a movie doesn’t usually hold my attention and I either fall asleep or move on to something else.  But there is one movie I have seen more times than I can count:  “When We Were Kings,” a documentary directed by Leon Gast, subtitled “The untold story of the Rumble in the Jungle.”   It won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.  It’s worth seeing numerous times because of the quality of the production and direction; but mostly it is also worth seeing because of the story.  It is about one of the greatest sport events – perhaps events of any kind – in contemporary history: The Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman fight that took place in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in October 1974, known as “The Rumble in the Jungle.”  As everyone else, I’ve taken my share of rights to the jaw in one fashion or another in the course of my life.  Whenever it gets to me, I watch this movie.  As we end one year and begin the next, especially as we end this particular year and begin 2009 with gut level instincts of fear and hope, dismay and pride, watching this movie could teach an important lesson.  It may be the best parable we can turn to right now.

The Rumble In The Jungle Is All About How To Overcome Fear – Legitimate & Totally Justified Fear: Not Unlike The American Public Has Today.

You don’t normally associate fear with Muhammad Ali, but fear dominated him as he prepared for the fight with George Foreman.  And there was good reason.  Despite his friendly and gentle personality today, George Foreman was a ferocious boxer.  You couldn’t be rational and not fear him – and Ali, in addition to being bombastic was also very rational and realistic about what he was to face in the ring – much like today, when everyone who is rational and realistic fears the prospect of how the economy may deal them a disabling blow.  What Ali did against Foreman may be a role model for how Americans can deal with the economy.  Read on ….

Ali’s fear was evident far in advance of the fight itself.  Norman Mailer described Ali at an early press conference to promote the fight this way:

“I think Ali was scared.  I think he was scared even then [at the press conference].  And he knew he was going to be very scared as he’d get closer to the fight.  With his ego he could keep telling himself that he would dominate Foreman.  That he would beat him; that he would dance; that he would make a fool of him; that he would show him superior boxing; that Foreman would never lay a glove on him.  But in fact, in his sleep or wherever his private moment came, he had to know that he did not do nearly as well against two boxers, particularly Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, whom Foreman had demolished.  He had an overpowering intensity when he punched.  Foreman won his championship by knocking Joe Frazier out and knocked him down something like seven times.  Then he destroyed Ken Norton in two rounds.  The word ‘murderous’ does not quite apply.  Foreman was awesome.”

And here’s what George Plimpton said, describing his visit to the Presidential Palace facility where the boxers trained while in Africa:

“He [Foreman] seemed incredible.  I’d seen him fight before.  I saw him destroy Frazier.  I’ve never seen destruction like that.  And the thing that I’ve always remembered was that a beaten fighter, even a man as big and powerful as Frazier – and he was very much favored to win that fight – suddenly becomes about the size of a pygmy.  They just diminish in size.  And Foreman suddenly became this gigantic figure.  And he had a trainer, Dick Sadler, tiny by comparison with Foreman; and Saddler would hang onto the heavy bag, and when Foreman would hit this bag, Saddler would literally be picked off his feet.”

The “heavy bag” is the name for that training device everyone has seen in boxing movies or at gyms – it is the big leather bag that hangs from the ceiling, a cylinder that represents a crude and over-simplified form of a human torso.  This is the way Mailer described Foreman at the heavy bag – and how Ali dealt with it:

“Foreman hitting the heavy bag is one of the more prodigious sights I’ve had in my life.  It seems to me that of all the people I’ve seen hitting heavy bags, including Sonny Liston, no one hit it the way Foreman did.  At the end of 15 minutes of pounding the heavy bag, there’d be a hole in the heavy bag – not a hole but a huge dent the size of half a small watermelon in that tremendous heavy bag – and Foreman used the biggest heavy bag around.  What would be interesting is that Ali, who would train after Foreman, would often pass by this large hall where training took place, and he never looked at Foreman hitting the heavy bag.  He just walked right by as if Foreman did not exist.  And it was significant because if you were going to fight the man you didn’t want to see him hitting that heavy bag.”

The build-up before the fight actually took much longer than expected because Foreman suffered an injury during training, and the fight had to be postponed.  The fighters had already been in Zaire for several weeks, training and promoting the fight, and they decided that rather than cancel the fight, or substitute another boxer for Foreman, they would simply push the date out a few weeks.  That gave Ali more time to endear himself to the citizens of Zaire, who already adored him anyhow.  Foreman never understood it.  He could not fathom how Ali would be loved by so many while he had virtually no fans.  “I’m blacker than he is,” Foreman said, referring to his actual skin color.  He just did not understand that Ali was a hero because of his personality and his resistance to being drafted into the US Army in 1967, for which he was suspended from boxing for three-and-a-half years.  He was more than a global figure – he was an absolute hero to many, including those in Zaire.

So Ali used the delay before the fight to continue his training and to reach out to the people of Zaire, encouraging them whenever they saw him to yell: “Boomiyay Ali.”  The chant meant “kill him.”  As Ali ran on the Zaire roads, engaged with the citizens during the day, and whenever he had the opportunity, he would encourage the people to chant “Boomiyay Ali” over and over again.  And they always responded with a loud chorus of “Boomiyay Ali” repeated over and over.  He had a plan: he would use the chanting of the crowd on fight night to cheer him on and, perhaps, to strike a blow to Foreman’s morale.  But he had another plan too – and it was secret.  It was called “rope-a-dope.”

Ali told his trainer, the legendary Angelo Dundee, that he had a secret plan, as he also told his fans.  But he did not describe it, and virtually everyone dismissed the claim.  A few minutes before the fight actually began, in his dressing room, among his most intimate supporters, Ali reiterated his intention of using a secret plan.  He saw the looks on the faces of these people who were so close to him, and he saw what was obvious:  they were seriously concerned about what Foreman would do to him.  He tried to rally his supporters, using bombast – his unique form of braggadocio; his equivalent of a lion roaring at prey – to energize them.  To erase their fears.

But his own fear was clearly visible on his face when he stepped into the ring.  There are many iconic pictures of Ali, but the look on his face, as seen in the movie, is powerful.  The fear is obvious.  It is palpable.  It is scary for the viewer to see.

In fact, his plan was the exact opposite of what he said he would do.  He said he would dance – he would “dance and dance and dance” he said.  He would use his incredible legs to avoid Foreman’s ferocious punches.  But that isn’t what he did at all.

In the first round, Ali disoriented Foreman by using right hand leads, which is an aberrant tactic.  But it didn’t do much damage to Foreman.  And that wasn’t his “secret plan” anyhow.  That became obvious in the second round when Ali did what nobody, even his corner, expected.  He went against the ropes.  He let Foreman hit him.

Ali continued to let Foreman hit him round after round, staying against the ropes.  He effectively defended himself from getting hurt by the punches.  At the same time, he often threw his own body against Foreman’s, making Foreman bear his weight.  On some occasions, he’d throw quick shots straight to Foreman’s face.  He’d taunt Foreman with phrases like: “Is that the best you can give me George?”  All in the massive heat of the open stadium filled with Ali fans who would begin to chant “Boomiyay Ali” whenever Ali gave them the signal.

Ali stayed against the ropes until the eighth round.  By that time Foreman, younger than Ali, had punched himself out.  And his face was puffed-up by the relatively few, but sharp, shots that were the result of Ali’s singular offensive tactic.  And he fell unconscious after Ali landed a left hook that had the effect of lifting Foreman’s head so that it would be in perfect position to be smashed by Ali’s right.  The fight was over.

Get Ready For An Economic Version Of Rope-A-Dope

I applaud all the efforts, individually, institutionally and by governments (even governments acting cooperatively one with another) to mitigate the damage of the economic crisis.  But the reality is that at least for a while that is all that is going to be done:  mitigate the damage. There will be damage.  And even if not as deep and long-lasting as a worse case scenario, it will be serious.  During that period of time, it may be the most realistic approach to emulate Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy.

Whatever we are going through – I think that ultimately it will be called something other than a “recession” – I think that we have to look at it realistically.  Just maybe we ought to see it the same way Ali saw Foreman:  a formidable opponent that should be feared.  We’re going to be in the ring for a while.  Maybe the best strategy is to put up defenses (Obama’s economic stimulus plan?) and keep the opponent – in this case, the economy – from hurting you too hard and too often.  But expect to be hurt nevertheless.  Every once in a while, take some step to be positioned for when the time comes that victory can be obtained (in the case of the economy, could this be an investment in the nation’s infrastructure, education, etc.?).  After some period of time, the opponent will punch itself out.  New opportunities for victory will arise.  The positioning built over time can be fully exploited at that time.

How long will this fight with the economy last?  It doesn’t matter.  If it lasts only one round, the strategy can make sense.  Sometimes life is rope-a-dope.  This may, at least in part, be one of those times.  If so, go get “When We Were Kings.”  And turn the volume up – the movie has a great soundtrack.