definition

to use a passive/defensive posture allowing the opponent to waste his energy until he weakens then attacking

Cassius Clay was firmly Muhammad Ali by then, ten years after changing his name after he fought Liston. He coined the term "rope-a-dope" to describe the tactic he used to whip poor George - the "dope" was George Foreman, the "rope" the ones around the ring in Kinshasa, Zaire when Ali defeated Foreman for the heavyweight championship (1973 or 74?). I can't remember if Muhammad made it up prior to going to Africa before the fight, or if he made it up during his extended training in Kinshasa. The fight was postponed once because of a cut Foreman sustained, so Ali was in Africa a long time before the fight took place. He actually may have made it up after he won, to describe his tactic of lying back on the ropes and letting Foreman punch himself out, which worked, of course. But I think it was sometime during his extended training.

From WORD ORIGINS.com

"The term dates to the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman. Ali spent the early rounds against the ropes in a defensive posture, taking a series of blows from Foreman. After Foreman had tired himself out, Ali went on the offensive and beat the exhausted Foreman. It wasn't a pretty victory or a fan-pleasing strategy, but it was effective. So to employ the "rope-a-dope" strategy is to feign being weak and on the defensive, like a dopey boxer who is on the ropes, in hopes your opponent will exhaust himself in the early going. The term was coined by Ali."

Saying comes from the old West. Slowing moving cattle get slung with the rope and off to the stock yards, they go.

Very interested. New Haven, Can you give us a reference to when and where the phrase was used prior to 1974? Literature, newspapers, anywhere, I can't find any.