Was Prime Foreman overrated?

Some wind up merchants on here lately..hamburger latest jerk ruining these pages.

 

Let's also not forget that Muhammad Ali said George cut the ring off on him better than anyone he'd ever faced and that includes Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Ali may not have found Foreman as tough,overall,as those two but as far as shrinking the ring goes,George was the man.

 

An excellent example of that in my mind is Gerry Cooney. He was grossly over hyped and overrated in his time. But 30+ years later, you have people today who have picked obscure fringe types and even journeyman to beat him.

 

No.

 

Foreman in his prime was a monster, the only guy who beats him is Ali.











(and maybe Liston, Holmes and Lewis)

 

I think Mike Spinks and Chris Byrd, at their best, give Foreman a lot of trouble. From the old school, I think the tougher matchups are Johnson, Tunney, Sharkey, or Walcott. Young would always be a tough matchup for him. Granted, most of these fighters have also been KO'd and all are smaller. So, Foreman would also be quite dangerous and may wind up KO'ing them.

The point is, though, that George did have stylistic foils and flaws other very good-great level fighters could exploit. I think the Ali and Young fights showed that, and showed that even the "prime" version didn't have top-shelf fight IQ and in-ring adjustment ability. He had plenty of power to compensate, but even that won't bail a fighter out all the time.

He's still no easy H2H matchup, that's for sure.

 

I know that Jack Johnson was probably tougher and more skilled than Foreman. But something tells me that after being decked and troubled like hell against middleweight and light heavyweight sized guys, then getting a taste of a super elite puncher in Foreman, Jack would find himself in a whole new world.

 

Quite possible.

I wouldn't necessarily favor that list over Foreman, but I think there's upset potential there. George wouldn't go winless if he fought that gauntlet, but I don't think he escapes unbeaten, either. :thumbsup

 

True. And if this were a fight set under the rules of Johnson's time and not Foreman's, there's no way George would be able to hang around for 20 + rounds. But I think those men end up trading big blows early.

 

If they do trade early, that would certainly favor Big George. For it to become dogfight early, it'd have to be George bringing it out of him since Johnson was one of the most patient heavyweight champs ever. Jack also had conditioning for miles and elite spoiling skills. If George doesn't pace himself and Johnson winds up surviving, it'd get ugly by the 10th round IMO.

 

Good call.