Just had a look at the knockout my god. Was Tiger past his prime at this point or was Foster just too good.
The combination of prime Foster, a hard career, the strain from the Biafran war, which Tiger was a big worldwide figure for the Biafrans and as he was less than four years from his death due to liver cancer, so perhaps not being in the greatest shape were all probable factors.
All very true, and add to these facts that he was almost 39 years old when he fought Foster and was really just a blown-up middleweight trying to extend his career as a light-heavyweight when he had trouble making the middleweight limit late in his career. He had to keep fighting to support his family back home after losing all his savings due to his choosing the "wrong" (losing) side in the war. As I understand it, at the end of his life when he was dying of cancer, he was working as an elevator operator in a New York building in an effort to save enough travel money to return home before he died. I don't know if he made it or not. This is all from memory after reading articles in Ring Magazine and newspapers at the time. I offer these comments more to motivate people to check out my recollection of the facts than as a recently researched effort. Feel free to pick my recollection apart!
I actually think that Tiger fought quite well against Foster and that Foster fought poorly up to the knockout. Foster really had an ATG, snappy, lightning bolt of a jab, and it was MIA for most of the fight. He let Tiger crowd him and fight his fight.
I watched it again a few weeks ago and I agree with this. Tiger was doing alright for the first few rounds until Foster jumped in and swarmed around him with that last combo and flattened him.
I think basically it was a size thing. Of course Tiger wasn’t prime, but he wasn’t the biggest middleweight , who was fighting a light heavy who fought heavyweights who had dynamite in his fists. It’s simple really.
