Holy had foreman hurt on multiple occasions he just was to big to take off his feet he soaked it up well. No way foreman sees the 12th imo against a monster puncher that’s a good bit bigger, faster an with better iq
I somewhat agree...But that boxer would need to be not only bigger & a huge puncher, but an eilte fighter. Like Lewis, but against that early 40's Foreman, there are only a few guys then & not many before or since that had the right combination of skills, sice & power to stop him. But it was not mainly his size that kept Foreman on his feet. That was part of it, but his chin was great, few pro boxers that were his size would have absorbed said beating & never gone down.
I like Lewis in this one. People forget that "big" George was barely 6'4. Lewis has the size and the skills and the power to win this. That said IRL Foreman might beat Lewis because Lewis was not always the most consistent fighter.
Foreman never once fought anyone Lewis's size [other than a couple of only very modestly good fighters like Cooney & Savarese]. Old Foreman, miraculous though that career was, wasn't quite up there with the super-elite guys of the time. Young Foreman I don't think had the gas or nous to beat a bigger, more athletic, man. This said, of course, Lewis' chin was only [by elite heavy standards] average, he was certainly 'beatable' with a bit of luck.
I understand why many here would pick Lennox to win with his boxing ability, but as other posters have pointed out Mercer walked through what Lewis threw at him and actually out jabbed him many times during the fight. Foreman has a far better jab than Ray Mercer and coupled with his ability to cut the ring off Lewis will be engaged more than he wants. One other thing,,I've seen George go to war ,get off the mat and come back to win. Lewis never did.
I don't think that version of Lewis was the finished article as he'd only been with Steward a year at that point. Plus the ring was tiny which favoured Mercer, which is why Lewis was forced to trade more than we'd ever seen before or since. But having said that your 2nd point about Foreman being tough enough to have a drawn out, multiple knock down brawl and coming out on top is a valid point. Even if Lewis puts it on Foreman and drops him, that's nothing he hasn't dealt with before and come back from to win. Lewis would have to be very focused and cautious to win.
Foreman was in his 40s man. Foreman has better boxing skills but he was even slower than he was in his prime and fat as hell.
He's also a lot slower than Mercer though and that ring was small. Lewis is not going to be the smaller fighter like everyone in Foremans era. He is going to be the larger one. If i remember correctly the one time Foreman fought a decent powerpuncher his own size during the 70s (Ron Lyle), he was pushed to his limit.
