What do you mean by rope a dope? When Ali fought Foreman, he went through the opening rounds holding his arms against his body while Foreman pummelled him mercilessly. As they made it to later rounds, Ali suddenly sprang to life and ran rings around the slower Foreman, who had spent all his energy against Ali. Ali won the fight, and the term 'rope-a-dope' refers to the strategy of letting your opponent run himself dry early on while you take his shots and wait to open up on him...