Foreman versus Crawford Grimsley

Grimsley wasn't challenging Foreman, George was paying $250.000 to the sanctioning body to be allowed to fight a relative nobody for whatever title he still had left. Foreman pretty much disgraced the title. As for Crawford going 12, outside of Moorer, who didn't? Comebacking Foreman was hardly the puncher he used to be. Nearly every good fighter went the distance with him. Even the glass chinned Morrison.

 

Grimsley was a pure " white hope " type of fighter who kept reminding the media he was white, and tied to compare himself to Rocky Marciano!

Honestly, Grimsley was not much better than Peter McNeeley. The Grimsely vs Foreman fight was a boring rip off. What do I remember most about Grismley? Well, I saw him on Tuesday night fights and he lasted a grand 13 seconds vs Jimmy Thunder. It was a one punch KO ( not that hard of a shot ) , with ten seconds of counting.

 

I wouldn't exactly say that Foreman disgraced THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE. He was holding the WBU version which I'm not even sure was viewed as much of a title back in those days. I saw that fight, but don't remember much about it. Foreman was around 47 or 48 years old at the time and fighting an undefeated fighter who had knocked out 18 out of 20 of his opponents. Albeit, it was a padded record but still. It was a rather one sided win. As for Sonny's question about who was better, I'd say Lou Savarese was a better opponent.

 

Agreed.

A lot can change about an aging fighter in a 5-7 year period even when he's in his 20's much less being a middle age man. George seemed to lose a lot of snap to his punches in his later fights. I'm pretty sure a younger Foreman around 90-91 would have found a way to KO Morrison, Stewart, Savraese, Grimsley, and perhaps even Briggs.

 

It was the WBU version because he was stripped of any other title that he had, and in that sense he disgraced it. Yes, he was old, which is why i still rank him in the top10, but i think it was a disgraceful display of unsportmanship anyway. I'm glad he got robbed against Briggs, who, say what you will about him, at least dared facing a deserving challenger.

 

True, but there are still some people who care about linearity, and Foreman dragged that along.


Maybe i'm just frustrated... it was a beautiful scenario to see him re-gain the title despite bad beatings at the hands of Holyfield, Stewart and Morrison. And at the climax he should've called it quits, but instead he did things with the title that would even make Dempsey or Johnson feel embarrassed.

 

This comparison of Foreman's behavior with the title to Dempsey's is one that I don't see any logic or validity in. Dempsey avoided a challenger far longer than Foreman ever did. Additionally, it wasn't George's fault that the judges gave him a decision over Shultz. Lastly, the WBU was not even considered a real title, and most felt that Holyfield was the true lineal champion in 1997 NOT FOREMAN. George dragged out his comeback longer than he should have, but in the end, I think it was more about picking up a few last big paydays then it was steaking claim to any lineal title. If anyone asks me, for a 47 year old guy to still be taking on live prospects like savarese, Grimsley, Briggs and still winning, is pretty damn impressive no matter what version of the wheatabix title he's holding, and who he's avoiding to keep it......Let's just leave it at that.....

 

the stewart fight is the only fight in his "comeback" in which he almost came close to being stopped himself....he won but was beaten up pretty good

 

I totally agree with you. For all of Foreman's jocular, nice guy persona, there seemed to be a definite unscrupulous and shady side to the guy. I mean, here's a guy who based his whole comeback on the premise that he needed money to finance his youth center. Foreman would tell anybody who would listen how important it was for him to be heavyweight champion again, and that being champion meant more than anything in the world to him. So, what does he do after winning the title? He engages in a little shady dealing with his promoter Bob Arum in order to get an unranked "club fighter" a top ten ranking so Foreman could be assured an easy title defense. And then what happens? The supposed tomato can in Axel Schultz turned out to be a better fighter than expected, and in the eyes of most sane observers - discounting the three blind mice judging the fight at ringside - did more than enough to take George's title. So, honorable, nice guy, Christian George refused to fight Schultz again and instead chose to do what all fighters do who value their titles above all else: he allowed himself to be stripped!

I mean, what an unscrupulous phoney! After losing his belt to Ali in '74, Foreman comes all the way back and climbs that mountain again, and he just gives it up like that. Unbelievable!

As for Crawford Grimsley, he was definitely a step below Lou Savarese in terms of ability. I believe Grimsley was a former kick boxer before turning to professional boxing. But right after his fight with Foreman is when he got starched by Jimmy Thunder!