Did Bob Foster miss out on some big matches at 175?

Bob Foster fought the title challengers that were available in his era. He won the title on May 24 1968 by kayoing D. Tiger in round 4. He had 14 title defenses before retiring in June 1974 after his 15 round draw against Jorge Ahumada of Argentina. Foster defended against the likes of Frankie De Paula, Andy Kendall, Mark Tessman, Brian Kelly, Tommy Hicks, Chris Finnegan, Mike Quarry, and Pierre Fourie. He unified the World Light heavyweight title, knocking out WBA Champion Vicente Rondon on April 1 1972 in round 2. No era is weak, every individual young and old likes their own generation. It's a matter of taste, getting a big name to fight today is like pulling teeth. Foster could have defended against WBC no. 1 contender John Conteh in 1974 but Bob realized his skills had eroded with time, he could have also defended against WBA no. 1 challenger Victor Galindez but again, Foster wanted to retire a winner. A champion can only fight what is put in front of him, there was only one Muhammad Ali, who called out challengers. Calling out opponents is like something out of the WWE. Not many fighters retired with their belts. The only weakness that plagued Foster was that he could never beat a heavyweight.

 

He fought who was around,I don't blame him for giving Galindez and Conteh a miss,he was past his best.I beleive he had to give Tiger all the money to get his title shot?

 

No. He was unrivaled at LHW. The Golden Age appeared some years later.

 

I have bashed Foster's resume quite a bit lately, and it might of came across that i dislike him. That's not the case i really enjoy his fights and KO's, and i will be fair to him and say it's not his fault that his era was not the strongest. And you can only beat who's infront of you, which he did very successfully for a many number of years.

But as i've said a few times lately and it has to be said again, that yes Foster's era was not the best. And the Light Heavyweight era that came after him was the best era ever for Light Heavyweights. And it is a real pity that Foster never got a chance to face off against some of those legends.

But what i will say finally is that despite Foster's resume being somewhat so and so. That doesn't mean i don't favour him very favourably H2H, against some of the best Light Heavyweights which i do. A 6'3 monster puncher with a great jab, is always going to be a stylistic nightmare for any Light Heavyweight of the past or present.

 

Foster did the rarest thing in the sport===he was the old guy in the ring facing a cutie pie and youthful Mike Quarry. What you almost always see is the ols guy looking old and not landing on the safety first fighters. Guys like Quarry get by on their brains and not taking chances.......just how often do you see those guys suffering a 1 punch ko? The bout ruined Quarry and you just do not see these matches very often and you just do not see those results.

And how many guys come back and still defend their title after that brutal loss to Frazier? Or that long sustained beating by Ali? And how many would move up in weight for those bouts anyway? And Ali was not even for a title. So here we have a huge risk taker that we have not experienced since. Imagine if Foster was a picker and chooser and he would never had tried moving to heavy.

 

Content and Galindez, just them.

 

I do agree that Mike Quarry was ruined by Bob Foster on June 27 1972, and so true he was not the same after that bout. If Quarry had bypassed that title bout and had gained more valuable experience, who knows? Maybe a title bout between Mike Quarry vs WBC Champion John Conteh or WBA Champion Victor Galindez.

 

I remember the big issue was John Conteh was no. 1 WBC challenger, Victor Galindez was the WBA no. 1 challenger. Bob Foster said that fighting either challenger would have resulted in him getting stripped by either organization. Foster said it was a mental thing to be forced to fight either challenger. I believe the better match was to defend against Galindez, who had a propensity to cut around the eyebrows. Conteh may have proved very challenging as he was a very good boxer with a good right hand. I remember Conteh out boxing Jorge Ahumada for the vacant WBC title on Oct 1 1974 in London, England. Conteh won the title by unanimous 15 round decision. Foster fought a 15 round draw against Ahumada on June 17 1974, then retired as champion.

 

Here's a question, Should an opponent's success matter after they've fought? Sometimes a great fighter completely derails careers. Also, Wouldn't it be wiser to rate the win's impact at that timeframe? Hindsight often takes away from context when comparing resumes. What do you think @SuzieQ49 ? Rating "greatness" can be difficult. Foster's an ATG monster, but Mike Spinks' resume is much more appealing.

 

But as I always say with the sincerest of my opinion. Champions like Bob Foster can only fight what are put in front of them, promotors, promote, fighters fight. Not everyone should be like Muhammad Ali, calling out opponents, that is something from the WWE. You fight the challengers after negotiations have been completed between the two camps. Foster fought the best challengers that were available in his era. Maybe he should have defended against either John Conteh or Victor Galindez before he retired, but one thing for sure, either boxing organization may have not been too happy with him, he would have been stripped by either the WBC or WBA. I do not blame him for retiring.

 

The problem I always had with Foster was that he was an enigma. I just never understood what he was thinking. He went years making chump change and when he wins the title, he really doesn't defend it. The money is with the title and he fights a ton of non-titles and when he does put the title on the line he fights club-fighters like Frankie dePaula and Tommy Hicks and why defend against Roger Rouse when you KO'd him in a non-title a year or so earlier? This is one of the reasons he was stripped of his title. Failure to defend. Vicente Rondon was fighting the guys Foster should have been fighting like Jimmy Dupree and Eddie 'Bossman' Jones. But I will say that when he finally did unify with Rondon he started defending often and against very good opposition. Another oddity about him was a few years after relinquishing his title he makes a comeback and fights his way into a position for a crack at Victor Galindez. It was 1977 and the fight was set for South Africa with Bob set to make $70,000, which wasn't bad for the challenger. But a few days before the fight Foster refuses a pre-fight physical and the fight is called off. What? How many pre-fight physicals did Bob take in his career? Was it how he didn't feel he needed to take the mandatory physical? This was what his comeback was about and he does this. See what I mean? An enigma. A fantastic fighter, though.