Was Gregorio Peralta Ranked when George Foreman beat him the first time ?

Ronnie was landing very nice counter rights on GF with ease. Ali paved the way with his ballsy, powerful lead rights in Zaire - which some found an inexplicable strategy at the time but Ali landed them easily and they did a LOT of damage.

 

Scary KO - felt sorry for Gerry but Foreman? Wow!

 

Not to overly critique GF but last time I watched that fight he appeared very fatigued over the last 3-4 rounds but yeah, he hung in and saw it to the end.

In the rematch, which was set for 15, George stopped Peralta with 8 secs left in the 10th round - no knockdowns. Peralta was near 35 the first time around and 36 for the rematch. If the first bout was 15 Peralta might’ve outlasted GF - but that doesn’t allow for possibly modified approaches given a longer duration.

Even if Foreman managed himself better the 2nd time around, it’s possible that Peralta himself might’ve lost a step or two due to age and a long pro career behind him - but then he still had some wins following the TKO.

No film of the rematch but I’ve yet to find even a decent written description of the fight.

 

Nothing major, just a short clip of GF in 71 commenting on his upcoming rematch with Peralta and opinion on Joe Frazier:-

[url]https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/190437[/url]

 

Good post!
While Foreman did not always fight the best guys, most everyone builds up to that.
Although he was 19 when he was selected for the US Olympics team.
His technique was underrated, videos exist about this, although incredibly clever is going too far...

 

Peralta had always been on the cusp between heavyweight and light-heavyweight. When he beat light-heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano back in 1963 he was Argentine heavyweight champion and so the WBA rewarded him with a spot in the heavyweight ratings. Then they moved him to light-heavy when he trimmed down below 180 and started chasing a shot at Pastrano's title.

Six years later a similar thing happened in reverse - he was the #1 light-heavyweight contender and when he stepped back up to heavyweight he was moved to the #10 spot in the heavyweight ratings. Then he climbed to #6 by drawing with #2 Oscar Bonavena and slipped back to #9 by the time of the Foreman fight.

He was supposed to fight Jimmy Ellis for the title in December 1969 in Argentina. Cancelled just days in advance due to lack of money, lack of interest, and general promotional incompetence.

 

Top post.

 

Yes, most don't realize that even though he won the gold medal Foreman had few amateur fights and needed experience. It was a great move to let Foreman learn in the ring and move slowly up the ladder. I think Foreman had 37 fights when he fought Frazier. Today a guy will challenge for a title with less than 20 fights

 

I was going to say he must've been rated by the WBA because Jimmy Ellis planned to defend the WBA belt against Peralta in Argentina in December 1969, but the fight was cancelled the day before the match due to lack of ticket sales.

Which is how Peralta ended up on the undercard of Frazier-Ellis against Foreman a couple months later. Sort of a "make good" gesture by the Ellis camp toward Peralta's team. Had Ellis and Peralta won, they'd have likely attempted to make the fight again. But both lost.

[url]https://ibb.co/n6T5xDj[/url]

 

Sorry, didn't see this.

 

To be fair, both Lyle and Foreman seemed to abandon their defense in this bout. Especially in the fourth round. Foreman was also out for a year and a half against Lyle, and mentally destroyed.

All due respect Pug, I don't think Foreman was quite as vulnerable as some posts in this thread seem to suggest.

 

Sure Swag my man, my take is just an opinion and you made several, very valid points, as always.

However, your dissension has been duly noted - you’re now just 1-2 more negative posts away from my Ignore button.

For Lyle, Foreman’s 15 month hiatus (with the Toronto circus in between) and mental health should definitely be take on board and weighted accordingly.

But….you don’t think George was perhaps susceptible to lead/counter rights to some degree anyway?

As I recall, (haven’t watched it for a while) before it devolved into a brawl, with Lyle, ironically starting more aggressively than George, Ron had already a few heavy counter right hands in the first round, one that staggered Foreman clearly.

Are we also talking perhaps an over-weighting re Foreman’s stamina issues? I’ve ummed and ahhed a bit on that myself.

Swinging for the fences, as GF did, will tire you faster.

However, one significant fact, even going into the Ali fight, the amount of rounds under Foreman’s belt in the last 2 years was ridiculously low and then after just near 8 rounds with Ali , barring Toronto, Foreman had no real rounds for the next 15 months following.

George probably could’ve done with a few more Peralta type bouts to work him in even better over more rounds - that’s one negative of a power hitter - less rounds in the bag - Liston went into the Miami fight vs Ali with a similar deficiency in actual rounds fought over the prior 2 years.

Though he might not have thought it at the time, with just 3 rounds in 3 1/2 years after the Quarry bout, Ali was lucky to go near the full 15 vs Ringo before stepping in with Frazier - getting plenty of ring time and opportunity to iron out the kinks.

 

My friend, I have read Michael Moorer describing how he used to choke out and beat up people who called him Michael Moore.

As for the Foreman observation, spot on.

 

I just need one unbelievably in close right hand and moorer should fall like a house of cards. lol

 

Good point!