Is George Foreman's power overrated?

I've always wondered that, too.

Give him the punching technique of someone like Louis or Wlad, and things might've gotten really scary for some of his KO victims. As it stands, he's still the archetype for the heavy-handed, thudding heavyweight type of power puncher.

 

Foreman's jab like being smashed in the mush by a telephone pole then bang the finishing punch. fighting foreman must have been a night mare no wonder Mike m was sick after the press conference.overstated power ?you get in a ring with him!

 

No, his power is not overrated. He was an incredible puncher, perhaps the hardest ever. Watch the first Frazier fight or the Norton fight. I saw him hit the heavy bag a few times prior to the Kirkman fight. Good Lord.

 

Foreman had terrific power. One of the best of all time. His problem was stamina and ring strategy. Foreman's power faded in the mid to late rounds.

 

Whatever punch george threw was on legs planted. No punch ever was an arm punch from Foreman. Any punch had full support of his body behind it. That's why he looked slow and that's why it delivered so much pain when delivered. Be it jab or hook, it will hurt you.

One punch KO require's speed and deception of opponent not seeing the punch coming. One punch KO is not a sign of power, but a sign of good tactics combined with skilled and powerful fighter. Foreman was an unstoppable force coming to you with his power and there was nothing you could do to stop it (except to run and step away). He is arguably the strongest puncher in heavy weight division ever.

 

I'm no a historian (so feel free to entirely discount the following), but I feel Foreman had a lot in common with Marciano. I reckon both had a freakish natural knack of leverage.

Despite his small size, ex Rocky opponents would cite the horrible wounding power of his punches. Blocking was no use - your arms were just pulped and within 15 rounds would drop for "Suzia Q". I recall reading Liebling describing his trainer saying that he was afraid to teach Rocky any technique in case it lessened his "natural leverage".

I suspect Foreman was similar. His punches might have looked like slow arm punches but he had an innate grasp of his bio-mechanics that meant not a lot of effort produced crippling results.

To my mind, GGG has a similar power - he doesn't appear to load-up but ribs get broken and people get KOd by seemingly innocuous punches. I recall reading about tennis training in former-Soviet schools (just look at the top 20 WTA rankings - aside from the Williams'
all Slovenian etc). The key was relentless practice of basic technique - thousands of hours repeating the same shot until a perfect version is in the muscle memory, ready to be unleashed. I suspect the boxing training is the same - thousands of hours spent to perfect the dull stuff - the basics of movement and throwing a punch with good form. No shoulder rolls, hands-down dancing... just punch hard with maximum economy.

 

I'd rather get hit by any of those guys before I'd even think of Foreman hitting me. Foreman is the heaviest puncher ever.

 

I never, ever thought that Foreman's punching power would be questioned. I guess everything, even the most insanely obvious thing, will eventually be questioned and history rewritten. I assume the next thread will be "is the sun really that hot?" or has its heat been overrated.

 

I don't think it is.

George fought in an era where he was the bigger man in his first career and the fighters were high quality.

In his second career he transitioned into the huge quality heavyweight era but was slower, older,heavier and was still a powerhouse.

If anything we never saw the type of power he could of had just imagine he had the beautiful proper technique of Evander Holyfield. As it was he was slow and rarely put his legs and hips behind his punches and still achieve results.

 

Absolutely, and to see people claiming Foreman threw *arm* punches is hilarious. Ali threw arm punches while he was dancing and jabbing, Ali's lead right usually was not fully committed making it lightning fast punch he was able to land against opponent, but not with KO power in it. Vitali threw arm punches since he was safety first, but Foreman always had his full respectable body weight supporting the bombs he delivered. You can't overrate power that is in top of history of heavy weight boxing.

 

It is not his power that is overrated; it is power in general that is overrated.

 

I got a feeling Michael Moorer, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and Gerry ****ey don't think so. And many others as well.

 

Great post :good