George Foreman , overrated ?

Simply not true. He featured in numerous dream fight articles and was never sold overly short. In head to head discussions he still held plenty of sway.

 

Depends on the time frame. Certainly after beating Frazier and before losing to Ali he was termed unbeatable. At that time you will find talk of how he would do vs past great. After Ali....zip. That is up until his comeback that culminated in rewinning his championship.

 

He was still a subject of plenty of dream matchups post Ali. Their fight was more of a testament to how great Ali was, not how bad Foreman was.

 

If that was the case Foreman should have made some of the published ATG top ten lists by the experts around at that time before he regained the title. We can't find any where he registered at all. Not until after he regained the title anyway.

 

McGrain has thoroughly explained this point.

 

yes and he was correct about it.

McGrain accepts Foreman was not regarded top ten ATG before 1985

 

Edit

 

Johns is completely and totally wrong. Another guy who did not live through the times.

 

The idea that Foreman was considered an ATG "by the time Ali was done" is so far off reality.

Most on here have no clue what they are talking about. It's getting painful to read the comments of complete ignorance.

 

He knocked out two undefeated lineal champions 21 years apart. Of course he's going to get overrated.

 

There is no doubt he became an ATG by stopping Moore. It was the greatest achievement ever in sports history.

Prior to his comeback he was not considered an ATG. His complete falling apart vs Ali and Young, quitting the sport in his physical Prime and his general dislike by the boxing public pushed him into the "has been" category post 1977. Again I lived through the era and Foreman was my fav hwt so I am giving you the history as it was.

It behooves those that disagree to supply evidence of the contrary. So far you have produced nothing.....most did not even live through that period so they are only producing the history as they would like it to be not as how it was.

 

I don't think anybody is overrating George Foremans entire career including the both parts of it. But it has become fashionable to minimise Foremans ATG low regard during the time before he regained the title.

There could be many reasons for this despite Foremans power and earlier perceived invincibility. But it was real and true that the first version of Foreman was not viewed highly at all before he regained the title. Not by people there at the time.

By his own admission Foreman says he had not psychologically got over the Ali loss. Many champions had been knocked out before but with Foreman it could be perceived he had inadvertently played a part in getting himself knocked out. A young champion with stamina issues and a bad attitude. That together with the early retirement Meant George had not had time to address his flaws and redeeme himself.

 

Looks like it just didn't sink in.

 

Andrew Johns? If you mean me i sure lived the early aftermath and right thru the 80's and sure as heck remember the awe Foreman was still held in.

 

You've been like a broken record in this thread, and a scratched one at that. I haven't seen you yourself come up with anything remotely resembling proof he wasn't.