I HAVE a great deal of respect and admiration for the greatest boxer of all time. I wish I could go back in time and watch Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman.

Foreman was considered by many to be the favourite. During the match, Foreman attacked ferociously and Ali was on the ropes.

However, Ali had a plan. In the eighth round, he sprang from the ropes, swinging fearlessly, and Foreman went down.

Ali had fought back at the right time and had taken Foreman down in spectacular fashion. What has any of this got to do with litigation? Let me explain.

Ali used a strategy known as The Rope-a-dope.

I recently applied my own variant of this strategy in defending a client in a dispute over ownership of land.

My client’s opponent was belligerent and aggressive in his stance. He had more money than my client and was willing to expend significant amounts of it on his lawyers.

I was of the opinion at the beginning of the case that the claim advanced by my opponent was hopeless and advised my client to fight it. He is glad he took my advice. The claimant’s lawyers were aggressive and pursued the claim with vigour.

They tried to draw us into litigating the matter in correspondence.

From past experience, it was clear to me this would have been needlessly expensive for my client.

From day one, we had punched holes in their claim, yet they refused a generous first offer from my client, who was willing to take a commercial view.

The offer was withdrawn and we invited them to walk away.

Despite this, they continued to press the claim towards a final hearing. They thought we were on the ropes due to their pursuit of the claim.

Their strategy, if they had one, was the hope that my client would run out of funds and capitulate.

Instead, he held his nerve and at the appropriate stage, we fought back by serving witness evidence that knocked the claimant to the canvas.

At the 11th hour, the claim was withdrawn and the claimant was ordered to pay my client’s costs. I let my opponent swing away but, unfortunately for them, in the end they hit nothing but air.

• Ali Siddique is a solicitor specialising in property litigation, commercial leases and land disputes with BHP Law. He can be contacted on 01325-466794.