Young george foreman vs viteli klitchko

yeh foreman early ko, obvious.

 

I think Foreman would batter him in the end in a slugfest. Vitali would take quite a bit before tumbling too, he was durable. Vitali would try to box a bit once he felt Foreman's strength and power but Foreman would keep attacking. 4 rounds.

 

I see it similarly. I think if George can't get him out within 5 or so, he's toast.Vitali's awkwardness and size would give him too many chances to pick off Foreman in a long fight, and the ring IQ wasn't there in 70's Foreman to adapt if plan A didn't work.

Edit: I'm also not sold on young Foreman's energy management and see a reasonable chance of him punching himself out trying to get Vitali out of there early.

 

Good post!

 

I agree with much of what you wrote. Vitali was awkward and physically strong and had underrated ring iq. He also had better stamina.

I also acknowledge if foreman doesnt end it early vitali had a good chance of winning the decision or stopping foreman late if he tires him out.

Disagree about him being hard to hit. He certainly wasnt "easy" to hit by he was tagged many times by flat footed slow b level guys like peter, chisora, etc. He mostly avoided damage simply because of how tall he was and how unskilled a of the guys in his era were. Foreman actually fought a handful of guys taller than him and landed with no trouble.

The big thing i disagree with is vitali trading punches and beating foreman in a slug fest. When did vitali ever do that? When did he win a slug fest with an iron chinned power puncher who showed no? Foreman was the king of slug fests. Seems like kind of a weird point to argue. Especially because vitali "being right there" in front of foreman is exactlt what foreman wants. He got tired against ali because ali was an elusive, defensive target who kept countering and covering up. He never got tired against a guy standing right in front of him and those were often his best moments.

 

Even though he won, Foreman looked pretty exhausted at the end, against Ron Lyle.

 

If Foreman comes in at his best I think he could make it something like what he did to the Russian at the Olympics and bust Klitschko up with the jab and knock him all over the ring. I could also see the scenario where its like the Lewis vs Klitschko fight where Klitschko is getting the better of Foreman boxing him but Foreman finds a way to get to Klitschko and knock him out or stop him in the mid rounds. Either way I see Foreman winning I think no matter what he'd be able to make it a brawl and come out on top.

it would've been real cool if there was big European heavyweights like the Klitschko's in the 70's seeing them face the great American's would've made for some great fights and story lines.

 

Big George (pre Kinshasa) is one of the very few boxers in all of boxing history that I might pick to beat Vitali.

Best versions of both fighters on their best night:

Ali, Lennox and George, I'd make slight favourites.

Louis, Holmes and Tyson (maybe Liston) would be pick 'em fights.

I would favour Vitali over the rest.

 

It is very telling that you would only make prime LL a slight favourite when an old out of shape LL stopped Vitali.

 

LL could even lose. He did come close to losing when they did meet, hence no rematch.

But an earlier Lennox at his best should prevail over the best version of Vitali.

And like I said, he's one of the few.

 

He did stop Vital while being old and out of shape. Yet when in his prime, he could lose. Interesting logic.

 

You seem bit obsessed here, Blade, despite me picking Lennox to win with both men at best.

And you ignore the closeness of the fight that actually took place.

A cut stoppage is not indicative of how another fight might unfold. There's a reason Lennox didn't want to risk his legacy in a rematch.

As I said, though, I would pick a younger Lennox to prevail over any version of Vitali (again assuming he came in at his best. No Rahman ! ) .


I rank Lennox at #3 all-time among the HWs and Vitali at 19 or 20.

 

Foreman KO via chilling performance

 

Sounds about right, though I obviously wouldn't be surprised if Foreman hurt him and finished him in the mid rounds.

 

I guess what I meant by standing in front of George is he wouldn’t have ran. He would have been right there pretty much in the pocket but also at the same time using that 6’7” range and long 1-2. Kind of like the Sanders fight. Sanders was VERY fast and hit extremely hard but there were spurts where Vitali traded with him and also made him miss while countering well.

That’s what I was envisioning. Not a Lyle type back and forth.