Anthony Joshua vs 1974 George Foreman

It's ridiculous to compare arguably the GOAT of boxing to Joshua. Ali won that fight with pure will, toughness, determination, and brilliant strategy.

 

Again Joshua paces himself and prime foreman wouldn’t. AJ will most likely try to out box foreman and I’m sure foreman would be swinging wild and missing a lot to try and ko him, he’s the one who will gas in the fight. Remember foreman got knocked out by past it Ali because of pure exhaustion

 

Foreman by KO. He's hard to beat if he uses his jab. One of the best ring cutters at HW in history as well. Joshua would have to take George into the later rounds to be able to win.

 

You write this, as though one state of play can happen, without influence from the other.

Even if we imagine Foreman rushes in, from the outset (which isn't necessarily how it would play out), do you really think Joshua's is choosing the pace he fights at, in this scenario?

How? Foreman, even in his first career, had forgotten more about how to prize fight than Joshua is ever likely to know.

I think the operative word here is "try".

You can't be sure about that and why would Foreman be missing Joshua? He's hardly an elusive target.

Ali wasn't past it and, if Foreman were to go at Joshua like he did at Ali, then Joshua is going to be kissing canvas real soon.

 

The Ruiz rematch is kind of deceptive. The guy was the size of a sumo wrestler and just followed AJ around the ring with slow feet, porous defense, and no head movement. Good performance by AJ and its not his fault the opponent ate half the food at his grocery store leading up the fight, but we need to see him use those tactics successfully against an in shape opponent before we can jump to conclusions.

A wilder vs Joshua fight could also offer some insight into this matchup. It's still kind of early to definitely pick AJ for some matchups. He definitely has some of the tools to make this an interesting fight tho.

 

Ali was definitely already past his prime when he fought foreman. Also AJ wouldn’t be doing the rope a dope he would be sticking his jab in foreman’s face, prime foreman wasn’t that hard to outbox

 

Wlad was an Old Man and Povetkin Give me a Break ....Prime Tyson and even Tua would shatter his suspect chin Hate to thibnk what Shavers would have done to it.!!!

 

The concept of George Foreman as some wild brawler with no technical skill is absurd. Granted it comes from the Foreman camp itself because if people believe it, it’s easier for George to win.

The truth of the matter is George Foreman was gifted and a breakdown of just a few of his techniques are explored below for anyone who wants to watch.

Foreman used parries and manipulations of motion on his opponents. Anthony Joshua is top heavy from all that muscle, it would not be hard for George to manipulate his balance and move him into punches.

Foreman over Joshua in 8.

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"Fat Lady Singing".........Classic Post

 

In a Slugfest - Foreman Wins by KO early
In a Boxing Match - Foreman still Wins by KO mid Rounds.

Foreman would just cut the ring off and Knocks him out.
I don't see any possibility that Joshua avoid the punches and stays at a distance
for 12 Rounds.

 

Give it a rest. Wlad hits very fu**ing hard even at 41. Povetkin is powerful asf as well. Naive asf.

 

Ok. So, there's a difference between saying a boxer was "past it", which is what you wrote initially, and they were "past [their] prime", which is the revision you have made in this^ post.

Yes, Ali was past his prime and still went on from Foreman to beat Lyle, Bugner and Frazier the following year. The last of those three bouts is considered to be one of, if not, the greatest heavyweight fight of all time.

The point is, Ali was still formidable in '74 and, any way you want to look at it, Joshua is nowhere near on '74/'75 Ali's level.

Is this your only plan for Joshua to win this one then?

Poor AJ - He's getting paneled by Foreman, if all he's got to rely on is a fair-to-middling Jab.

I'm not sure where the idea of Joshua being some kind of ring craftsman comes from. His defense gets breached by stiff old men, while he was outmaneuvered, caught easily and stopped by a stumpy wannabe.

Foreman would annihilate him.

 

He gassed from extreme conditions in Zaire not a single fighter from the 90s or 70s turned George’s lights out his jaw was cold rolled Russian steel.