This is exactly what Ali faced when he went up against George Foreman at Rumble in the Jungle . Only Foreman is much bigger than Tyson , and at that time , I would say meaner and stronger also . Foreman didn ' t fight his opponents , he destroyed them , much like Tyson did . Hard to believe that the friendly grill guy was at one time probably the biggest son of a bitch on the planet . Ali won that fight by performing the infamous and now banned ropeadope . Foreman would hit Ali so hard , he would knock him unconscious with one punch and back conscious with the followup punch . Basically , Ali let Foreman beat him half to death and played the long game , knowing his conditioning would outlast his opponent ' s . Tyson was a wrecking ball , but I don ' t think he would ' ve stood a chance against the Greatest of All Time . Ali would get into Tyson ' s head way too easily , and in the ring , Tyson didn ' t have the stamina for long fights .