The mind boggles it really does. George didn't implode, he came up against one of the very,very few people who could have beaten him in Zaire. '73 Foreman is a completely different animal to '19 Willard and a completely different colour. When i watch that Toledo fight i am reminded of the Bruce Lee quote from Enter the Dragon......'' boards don't hit back''
Everybody picked George to ruin Ali. If Ali was one of the "very, very few people who could have beaten him" why didn't more people AT THE TIME forecast Ali winning? It's an implosion. George fought the most stupid fight in history.
Guys coming off two absolute destructions of people who gave an aging Ali fits, what was George gonna do, dance around jabbing? George was thought to be invincible and George was sure feeling it too. History shows us in hindsight what BlackCloud is putting down. Ali was even greater than people thought. I could say George wasn't as great as thought, but how many could have beaten him that night? Very very few. VERY few imo. Ali was taking punches that would have finshed other fighters, and i am talking ATG's.
George employed a smart gameplan against Ali. He cut the ring off extremely well, kept him in the corners and against the ropes, and whaled away. Ali was just plain better.
Not sure if serious:huh Willard was a creaky lurch who stood in front of Dempsey with his hands kocked by his waist. He would have been a one punch , one round KO victim for a young Mike Tyson. Beating an unskilled carnie like Willard isn't a testament to anybody greatness. Pillow puff punching nobody Joe Cox with just a 22% stoppage rate ended Willard in 3 rounds. Who exactly did Willard beat. Peaire Coatzer was a better boxer than Willard. Foreman hammered him somethin terrible.
it is incredible how 4 trolls insisting finally made it look a competitive match and a debate lmao. janitor,choklab etc guys, i don´t wanna be too hard with you, but here we go... 1- foreman would destroy dempsey and he would make it look easy( however dempsey mobile footwork would alow him last longer than marciano) 2- joe frazier was better than dempsey, bigger,stronger and hits harder 3- ron lyle did hit hader than dempsey and marciano( charlie goldman said that oscar bonavena did hit harder than marciano). lyle was bigger, 35 pounds heavier and stronger than them.your history of who stopped more ranked contenders is a joke and it does not prove a **** about who hits harder, based on this **** then prime ali did hit harder than lyle too(and this idea is laughable), i agree with janitor in this point, being a more effective puncher or better finisher is not the same that being a harder puncher shot for shot.
Willard was 8 fights green against Joe Cox I wasn't even saying nor implying in any way that Willard is regarded as n ATG heavyweight. In fact he was a pretty poor one outside of his Johnson win. Regardless of what you speculate what Tyson may have done Dempsey still hold the victory in the most brutal one sided beating in heavyweight title history. This thread is not about Tyson, it is about Foreman-Dempsey.