1980 Larry Holmes vs 1974 George Foreman

This. Holmes himself admitted slugging with Foreman was suicide, but he also said outboxing Foreman wouldn’t be that difficult.

 

I can just hear the maracas and wa-wa funk guitar.

 

Holmes had a lot of similarities to Ali in terms of attributes, plus he came back from the brink a few times, but that does not necessarily mean another victory. The Rumble was a very physical fight in which Ali used his wrestling know how to get Big George stuck in the mud. What with that and the rope-a-dope it stopped clean punches getting in. Larry preferred to have it out with you. He had a macho side Ali didn't. That could be costly.

Now that does not mean Larry would not fight disciplined as he did in Shavers I, but then Shavers was not the force George was...

Great fight!

 

I wonder if Larry would try what I call his "traffic cop" move on George. The one where he stands against the ropes and sticks his left out with the palm facing forward to create a blind spot, and then throws an overhand lead right from behind it.

 

George Foreman called out Larry Holmes around the time Foreman fought Scott LeDoux. Larry Holmes didn't want any part of him. You know why? Because knew he would lose. Don't give me well Jimmy Young out boxed Foreman. Jimmy Young ran. Also if you people were real boxing fans instead of casuals you would realize this. Gil Clancy stated he wanted Foreman to come to Puerto Rico a week before the fight to get used to the humidity. Foreman came a few days before. Gil Clancy stated he told Foreman to just knock Young out and stop playing around. According to Clancy the man who was in Foreman's corner George didn't listen. According to Clancy Foreman brought some other person who wasn't part of his camp to Puerto Rico and listened to this guy. Around the 8th round or so Clancy told the other guy to shut up and told Foreman to stop playing around and just get rid of him. Foreman went out more aggressive and almost did that.

In any case if you want to use the well Jimmy Young beat Foreman logic then beat up Ken Norton beat Holmes. If Larry couldn't keep the weaker Norton off him then why would he be able to keep Foreman off him. Ali also beat Foreman by laying against the ropes allowing himself to get hit in the body. Ali could take a body punch better than anybody. Also Ali got lucky one time. Larry Holmes wouldn't get lucky. He would of been stopped.

 

Actually, in the Dino Dennis fight, it was offered to Holmes 40x bigger payday than he had ever received. But the bout went to the head of the stable at that time, Dino Dennis. And Dino would fight anyone where anytime and anyplace. Big mistake to have taken on Foreman and his career spiralled downhill afterwards.

 

Or he could just use that left hand to blind Foreman by sticking that thumb into his eye. Holmes was the greatest heavyweight thumber ever though Ali weren’t bad either.

 

Holmes does well until he doesn't. Foreman by 5-6 in a very competitive match.

 

I always hear "Larry would box George's ears off!".. Well, he sure didn't box Mike Weaver's "ears off" the year before and there is no way anyone can convince me that Weaver was a better close-off-the-ring guy than Foreman. Big George gets a quarter of the inside time that Weaver did then and 1980 Larry is looking about the same with him as 1988 Larry did against Tyson. Same result, I'm betting.

 

I just can’t see either of them being KO’d or stopped. After all hardly anybody stopped them even when they were old and fat….except a certain magician named Ali in Foreman’s case. And a certain 1980s Hurricane called Tyson in Holmes case. One stoppage each in 145 bouts between them…amazing record.

Therefore I think it goes the distance with Foreman dominating the first few rounds and Holmes taking over by halfway.
Points win for Holmes I think

 

Holmes by decision

 

Yeah - Curtis Mayfield,Bobby Womack or Isaac Hayes doing the soundtrack.

 

This.

1980 Holmes had all the right moves to beat Foreman. He was pretty much the same size so pushing Foreman into his punches wouldn't be too hard (I still think he copped that particular trick from Big George himself). George would find closing the ring off on him to be very frustrating, as Holmes also had his clinching game down (not to mention that nasty jab).

I just don't see 1974 George doing much besides getting hit a lot by the jab as he tries to chase Larry. The pre-Zaire Foreman gets stopped even earlier because he had (as he himself put it) problems with anxiety and wanting to put people away really as early as possible, After being foiled in his attempts to outjab Larry he resorts to going wild, getting smothered by Holmes' expert clinching, and being exhaustedly dropped and stopped in the 6th or 7th.

George was too tense, and Holmes couldn't be intimidated or bullied.

 

Holmes had an obvious cold during Weaver (thus all the excessive sweating, plus listen to his voice during the postfight). Apparently he made the royally dumb decision to box Mike that night because he didn't rate him at all. He's lucky he DIDN'T get stopped.

But even then, what a display of championship Heart. Larry got dropped (yeah, that was a knockdown, people) and almost stopped at least twice, came back and ultimately knocked Mike silly. Amazing resilience. Mike had Tyson-level power.

 

Foreman mid-round KO.