How good was prime George Foreman?

Foreman was an outstanding talent, no question. The way he bombed out Norton and Frazier seals it. Any fighter who can do that to guys like that at that time has something extra. Nobody could do that. Especially nobody in the 1970s. If you rate that era Foreman must stand out.

The trouble is had he never came back where was his resume heading? It's kind of Ingo Johanson and Max Baer territory, a guy who emphatically smashed up the #1 and world champ back to back then fizzled out.

In the 1980s one magazine gave out a "George Foreman wasted talent award".

Comeback Foreman was a wise old man who retained his power, shrewdly exploited his novelty factor to select the right fights but ultimately made an incredible success against the odds. He deserves credit for this.

In the scheme of things Foreman deserves to be rated very high overall. However, there is a tendency to combine the best of Young George and old George to make a fighter who could never have existed.

What the wise old George lacked (that extra bit of pep to seize the moment instinctively like a young fighter) was about all young George had going for him but the incredible power made up for it in both types of George. So both incarnations lacked something very essential. It still makes a top ten great heavyweight though.

 

You have no Clue :admin

 

You can't really say that. If it was only Ali that could have exposed him in his prime then why was Lyle and Young also able to expose him to some extent?

Foreman was a great talent but the record shows there was never enough seasoning behind him to help him cope at championship level.
He needed to take a break from boxing and start over to accomplish half of his legacy as an old man.

 

There were a lot of things going against George in Zaire. He had wanted to leave the country after suffering a bad cut in training, but they wouldn't let him...the champ of the world was treated like a captive. No one cared, because Ali --the wonderful representative of love that he is-- had turned the whole country against Foreman, leading them in chants of, translated, "Ali kill him."

Foreman deserved a rematch within a year, and all those who say he didn't because he didn't get back in the ring immediately after Zaire, are making excuses for Ali.

This was Ali's greatest victory, but I really see it as a one-shot exercise in magic. The rope-a-dope never really worked again. Ali would've needed to dance in the rematch and I think he had doubts about whether he could do that or not. Foreman was Ring Magazine's "Fighter of the Year" in 1976, winning five fights including Lyle and Frazier. Meanwhile, what was Ali doing that year? Dubious decisions over Young and Norton, meaningless blow-outs against Dunn and Coopman, and a ridiculous wrestling match versus Inoki. It looks bad when a contender wins the Fighter of the Year award and the champ is having his legs kicked by a Japanese wrestler. Foreman never should have had to fight Young....he had already earned his shot.

 

Holyfield said old Foreman hit harder than Lewis, and Lewis is a super-heavyweight who smashed in Vitali's face

Prime Foreman is probably scarily strong

 

A very "rusty" inactive Foreman got caught squarely against Lyle and George still knocked him out. The Young fight was a fiasco. Need not get into that whole charade.

 

I personally think he was outstanding. He had a deadly two fisted attack. Could control guys in the clinches. knew how to cut off the ring and understood the value of working the body. His stamina wasn't the greatest but certainly not the worst we've seen. The only two times he gassed were in exceptionally hot climates while facing two great boxers who far more accustomed to fighting in the late rounds than most people. Foreman's first career was enough to make the bottom of the top 10.. Ad on the achievements of his second career and his probably about mid way up the list.

 

Ali did n't give Foreman a chance to use his power to full effect. That fight cemented Muhammad's legend.


Foreman was one of the best ever. His power was freakish.

 

No, I 'm not saying that.

But my immediate, visceral reaction when I saw the replay of the fight back in '74 was that Foreman looked very sluggish very early.

Something seemed off about him and I just never did have a great feeling about the fight.

Strange that Ali didn't give Foreman a rematch. It would have filled some place like the Astrodome and made Ali huge $$$.

 

Agree with all of this.

 

Head to head, THE most dangerous heavyweight of all time.

Id still pick the Foreman of Zaire to demolish most heavyweights.

 

I think Larry Merchant in 'The Big Punchers' documentary said it best: "He was a tremendous destructive machine, but with flaws."

Like many, fell in love with his power and neglected the fundamentals. Top-class jab but was amateurish and very wild at times. A bit one-dimensional. Very easy to hit, but was usually the hitter as opposed to the hittee so it wasn't that much of a problem.

His weakness to good movers has to be noted but I think people harp on too much about his supposed lack of stamina. I think it was fine.

 

I think Ali was able to show that if you got past the first few rounds with George he was still young enough to become tired, frustrated and very predictable. Young was not a great fighter.

 

Yeah he did. A rematch would have proved interesting.

 

Put it back on and watch the first round. Er...that's it. You ask "where was the power?"....it's there. George has an ATG cornered numerous times and unloads the cannon, making Ali (and anyone else except the cream of the elite) $hite his pants!
Sort it out chief......:-(