Just re-watched part of Foreman v Chavalo and was shocked by how well George boxed and how fast he looked, were George`s skills in that fight overlooked?
George's skills are generally overlooked. He could box, he just chose to slug because he was the best in the whole planet at it.
Let's keep things in perspective. Chivalo, though tough as nails, is vastly overrated. Of course Foreman looked good in that fight.
Who the hell said he was? Do you have to compare heavyweight power punchers to lightweight technical boxers? Who cares that Foreman can't box like them when he could overwhelm and stop you within 3 rounds with his power?
He looked fast too and he parried Chavalo`s lead hand well, Ali and George had a great battle over glove control in their clash.
Holy was hard to nail flush on the chin because of where he placed his gloves as a punch came and he rode shots well but he was nowhere near as skilled as Floyd or Loma.
What amazes me is how Chovalo was back in the ring, in Yugoslavia, eleven days after the Foreman fight. Chevalo blamed his wife for the Foreman loss (she screamed for the fight to be stopped) and swore he'd never allow her to attend one of his fights again.
Foreman could box a bit but he was a slugger at heart even before turning pro. He had some crude but very effective moves in slugger mode abd could cut that ring off with shocking ease for such a big guy that many seem to consider lumbering. At the end of the Ams and earlier in the pro's i think he utilized his jab a bit more even in aggressive mode. Early on it was actually one terrifying jab and possibly the hardest in history. When Foreman (first career) lost to Ali and tried to box and conserve more and conserve energy i really believe it took a lot away from him. It gave opponents time to settle in and George still tired noticeably anyway. This was never more evident than against Young who i fully believe would have been stopped by Foreman's previous incarnation. By the time he did actually catch Young big he didn't have the wind to finish him. There was one guy on the planet good enough to beat him in slugger mode and changing style wasn't going to get George over him imo. He was extraordinarily unlucky to share era's with one of the very very few guys in history that might be able to beat him. Comeback George settled into a conservative style but by that time it was 100% necessity as he had little of that explosiveness he had in his youth. He was an old man and to his credit found an extremely workable style for where he was at that point.
This. That low blow that Chuvalo landed really pissed Foreman off, but instead of complaining to the ref he started swinging for the fences and beat Chuvalo like he owned him.
