Evander Holyfield vs Prime Foreman?

Holyfield's too fast and skilled for Foreman. He'd outbox and out time the crudeness of Foreman.

 

Holyfield on points, he's the better all round boxer and the more skilled one.

 

Foreman has little chance of ever stopping Holyfield.
I completely agree that Ali has one of the best, if not the best body endurance to punches, more so than his ability to take a head shot, which is vastly overrated.
But you people don't seem to understand how boxing works if you think Foreman can hit Holyfield with body shots. Ali was roughly the same height as Foreman, plus he was leaning back on the ropes, so the body was the only part Foreman was able to land on.
Holyfield will never lean back like that, plus he's not as tall as Ali. So Foreman will have a very hard time connecting to the body, he'd have to crouch/kneel a bit in order to land a body punch, that is very hard to do for a tall guy.
It is the boxers that are not very tall that can land body shots the best, that's why Tyson and Frazier were so good at it. It's hard for tall guys to punch downwards.

 

Norton was the better all rounder and the more skilled one. .

 

Norton didn't have as good a chin and wasn't as good a boxer as Holyfield.

 

Foreman had no stamina?
How do you account for him going the distance with Evander 20 years later without once sitting on his stool?
George's problem wasn't a lack of stamina, it was a lack of pacing.

 

I have to give this to Holy, though I'm sure he'd get knocked down during the fight...perhaps more than once.

This wouldn't be completely dissimilar to Bowe as far as George was a big man with a great jab and great punch with both hands. But the similarities I think end there. Though Bowe was likely a better boxer overall, he got hit more, and (though certainly faster) didn't quite punch as devastatingly hard.

Holy would land enough shots on George to make a big impression on the judges, and he moved really well.

The thing is....Holy had an at times REALLY bad habit of letting his machismo get to him and stand his ground against big punchers. He narrowly escaped getting knocked out by Foreman early, almost twenty years past his prime. For him to stand anywhere within George's power would eventually land him on the canvas, and he might not get up.

But I side with Holy, SD in 12. Neither man would look good at the end (Holy might look about like he did after his 2nd fight with Bowe), but George would appear especially swoll up and beaten.

 

See, Mac, you've answered for me almost with the wording of the question. There was 15+ years between Holyfield and Frazier I. Old Foreman and young Foreman are almost two different fighters. Old Foreman has advantages that young Foreman doesn't have, and vice versa.

To me, the pacing/stamina mix up is nothing but semantics. The end result is exactly the same, in that Foreman is gassed in the late rounds.

 

Unfortunately, Holyfield would be in no condition to capitalize on such a potential circumstance.

 

This is possible. Holy almost didn't make it through the early rounds with old George.

 

1-Holyfield wasn't that much shorter than Foreman. He'd only be 1-2 inches shorter depending on which tail of the tape you use.

2-Foreman had no trouble at all landing body shots on a shorter opponent

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That's the terrifying punch I mentioned earlier today. Imagine waking up after taking even ONE of those....

 

Holyfield and his camp would love to talk about strategy and how he was gonna do this and that.. they’d talk about how he was going to box, then Holyfield would get hit and start a brawl.

Watch any Holyfield fight, he gets hit and then he wings six, seven punches back like a mad lad. This is suicide against a prime Foreman.

Now... if Holyfield could maintain his discipline and that is a big “if” I could see him beating a gassed out Foreman late. His career shows this would be difficult.

 

Exactly, everything was a big "if" in regards to Holyfield vs pretty much anyone. He was extremely skilled and well rounded for a heavyweight, but don't let him get nailed hard or he'll forget all about it. Like you said, too many examples to choose from. The Bowe fights, the Cooper fight, etc.

 

Foreman cuts the ring off, uses his jab and gets Evander into exchanges , he then destroys Evander. Holyfield hit an old oil tanker in George with all he had and couldn't get him outta there. A young Foreman catches him.