Was Foreman that vulnerable to the right hand

Lyle was a hitter. The problem is/was his matchmaking was not your typical puncher matchups against the easy to ko guys. You go look at the heavyweight hitters and then look at their opponent selections and they are full of easy to stop guys. Not Lyle.

But that fight was the rarest of matches anyway--a guy coming off a bad ko vs a hitter. Who else does that? What you end up with are never any sort of puncher when a guy is coming off a devastating loss. there was a lot of surprise at the time of Lyle as the comeback foe, but Clancy had already had Quarry in there with him and must have thought George could and would handle him. Not many were picking Lyle to win it and he was a big big underdog. But he certainly showed up to fight and gave it his all. And that bout ruined Lyle and he was never the same and it was decisions all the way in tough fights for the rest of his career.

My thoughts on the Foreman open for rights was simple--he didn't care. He felt he could absorb them and if a guy was hitting him, then that meant that opponent had to be in George's range. And he'll take anything in his range and go punch for punch or even absorb some to land his own.

 

Youve hit the nail right there, It wasnt that Foreman was vulnerable to right hands, it was more due to the fact he was a willing to walk through what you had to offer to land his own.

If you watch the Frazier fight, George was a bit cautious at first, once he walked through Joes left hook, it was all she wrote.

Thats what makes Foreman an absolute monster, he could walk through punches and outbomb you. Hence why Ali had to resort to the ropes in RITJ, there was no other way for him to tame Foreman. He couldnt dance, as Foreman cut off the ring very well and he certainly didnt have the firepower to stand toe to toe with Foreman. Ali went to the ropes because he had nowhere else to go

After the Ali fight there was a huge question mark about Foremans mental state

 

Quite right. If Ali hadn't sat with his back on the ropes to help absorb some of those hits, he would've got knocked around like Ken Norton.

As for Foreman's mental state - Foreman himself regards his head well and truly ****ed by the loss to Ali, and nobody ****ed with a guy's head better than Ali.

Foreman was some champ, but like Tyson in so many ways, the veneer of invincibility wasn't genuine and when it cracked the fighter never recovered mentally (in Foreman's case until a second incarnation of his career).

Foreman also had a very complicated private life - his autobiography talks about far fetched relationships with woman, squandering his own money, attempts to kidnap his own child and his relationship with God.

Ali himself has said that he spotted that Foreman might be susceptible to a right hand lead - he figured that no sparring partner was going to throw them for a few dollars a day. Ali also figured that the insult of being hit with right hand leads would enrage Foreman, and make him burn himself out more quickly.

 

I did post a thread about Foremans mental state months ago, have u seen the video of Foreman was 5 guys in one night? its on youtube, very very bizarre video, with Ali commentating.

Ali tricked Foreman (and the rest of the world) big time. He said he was going to dance, dance dance and jab. Come fight night, he did the opposite, he laid on the ropes and threw lead right hands whenever he could.

Foreman and Tyson have a lot in common, to me they are 2sides of the same coin. I think Tyson in his prime was a bit better mentally than George, but George got better as he got older whereas Tyson was ruined after prison.

Both Tyson/Foreman were receipients of the biggest upset in boxing history at the time. Tyson came back strong and beat up Ruddock twice and looked better than Foreman did against the dangerous Lyle.

Foreman was visibly more affected by his loss to Ali than Tyson was to Douglas.

Fast forward to the Young fight, Foreman loses and that goes completely nuts, that fight further pushed Foreman to the edge, hence why he was apaprently running around naked in his changing room after that fight and why he retired and turned to God. Tysons second loss was to Holyfield, and we all know about the ear biting episode. But unlike Foreman, Tyson continued to box until Lennox finally put the nail in the coffin. Foreman took some time off and came back stronger as an old fighter. Whereas, Tyson pretty much packed it in and i dont think were ever gonna see a Tyson comeback

 

Never seen that video on YouTube, must look it up! Thanks!

 

I think Foreman was vulnerable to the right hand, but also to the jab, the hook and everything else the other guy throws. His defence was horrible, but his tremendous physical strength, size and power compensated for it - most of the time. He's one of those fighters who makes every mistake in the book, but still ends up winning most of the time.

 

Ali and Lyle's rights were pretty damn fast, even Lyle's.

Yes his offence was his defence, he has underrated speed with quite compact punches at times, alongside all that range he has. Also hooking with him wasn't a great idea because he'll hook back or uppercut you

 

Was there a punch Foreman wasn't vulnerable too? The uppercut from a short fighter, perhaps.

He waded forward. Rarely at angles. Always looking to punch. You are gonna get hit a lot.

 

George was very rusty in this fight and admitted such. He just looked sluggish from the start. Not a good fight to judge George on. If they fought again, George would have KO'd Lyle sooner.

 

Within three rounds, is my guess.

His balance looked awful, and he was lunging at his targets, which are tell tale signs of not being sharp.

 

Good point, MagnaNasakki.

 

From what I remember at the end of round 1 Lyle hurt Foreman
with a flush right hand. I agree Lyle was deceptively fast with
the right hand. Foreman was clearly gunshy early in that fight.
Havent seen it in a couple of years though. But yeah Foreman had
the chin to eat all those punches. Could he eat Tysons shots? Cooney
Wobbled Big George with the hook, then got destroyed. As for
Lyles punching power or specifically his right hand, I believe
He was a hare below Foreman.