1974 George Foreman vs 2017 Anthony Joshua: Does Foreman make it to the finish line

I always enjoy watching Foreman-Norton...one of my favorite ko's. You couldn't have picked a better example of a ko to blow your point away completely. Foreman would have ko'ed AJ as soon as he caught him and hurt him...and that would have happened at any time within the first 4 rounds.

 

I would favour Foreman but cannot disagree with any of this except maybe the first para. Wlad of the AJ fight was in his 40s, ring rusty and coming off a loss to a largely unremarkable opponent in Fury. That cannot compare to beating Norton who, 4 years later, gave Larry Holmes all he could handle. Yes, he was cacking himself against George but that is a measure of Foreman, that he could do that to an opponent. It should be to his credit that he terrified otherwise sturdy men.

But you're right to point out that George had flaws and that he never faced anyone with both Joshua's size and skill. But in the end it will come down to being a fight and I just don't see enough in AJ yet to suggest he would be able to use his skills to weather the kind of storm Foreman brings when that happens.

 

I don't think you can write Joshua off here.
I'm no fanatic for the modern trend seemingly that size is everything, but you can't ignore the fact that Foreman would be fighting a man a couple of inches taller, 30 or so pounds heavier and outreached by 3 or 4 inches.
On top of that he punches hard allied with decent skills.
If he only had the size advantage but was some kind of plodding bum then fair enough Foreman obliterates him, but Joshua is a lot better than that.
However the Foreman of the Frazier, Norton and Ali fights was simply an intimidating wrecking machine who I think would put Joshua size advantage or no size advantage on the back foot, I'm not so sure Joshua can fight from there.
I'd take Foreman inside 5 or 6 rounds but if Joshua got past that it would be interesting.

 

No one is writing Joshua off LONG TERM. He is an unwritten book and right now cannot be compared vs the prize winning novel that is Foreman.

 

Well he has been written off by some on here getting blown away in 2 or 3 rounds!
I agree though he's probably still a work in progress.

 

He would get blown away very quickly as he is today. He would be facing an ATG hwt champion. POSSIBLY over time AJ will prove himself. At that point once proven we could reassess his chances.

 

I'd hardly call that writing him off tho. You picked Foreman in 5-6 yourself.

 

2 or 3 rounds is a writing off!
5 or 6 is more of a fight!

 

I could see this one being a lot like Foreman and Lyle with them going back and forth possibly with knock downs. Like Lyle and Foreman I'd expect this one to end around the 5th and go no longer then 7 and like Lyle vs Foreman I'd look for Foreman to be the last one standing.

 

You know your overrated when you've beat nobody of note but you can ko a prime George Foreman.

 

LOL!!! He ko'd the much more proven ATG Frazier in 2 rounds and Norton in no time as well. He went hard and early up to and until Ali beat him. 2-3 rounds is perfectly defendable. He'd hurt him way earlier than Wlad did and not let him off the hook.