Muhammad Ali several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the Liston fights; the "Fight of the Century", "Super Fight II" and the "Thrilla in Manila" against his rival Joe Frazier; and "The Rumble in the Jungle" against George Foreman. At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He was known for trash-talking, and often freestyled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, both for his trash-talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism, anticipating elements of rap and hip hop
George Foreman later charged that Angelo Dundee had loosened them, and this story is supported by Norman Mailer in the book "The Fight"), allowed Ali to lean back and away from Foreman's wild swings and then to clinch Foreman behind the head, forcing Foreman to expend much extra energy untangling himself. Ali also constantly pushed down on Foreman's neck but was never warned about doing so. To this day, it is unclear whether Ali's pre-fight talk of using speed and movement against Foreman had been just a diversionary tactic or whether his use of what became known as the "rope-a-dope" tactic was