Is George Foreman the most overrated fighter in history?

Old Foreman said a lot of goofy things. Foreman would have been confused by Quarrys counters at first, but would have eventually suckered him into a slugfest and stopped him within 4. Quarry could only win if he kept a cool head and boxed a careful fight, but we all know this might not happen.

Quarry threw caution to the wind and got tagged by Shavers the instance he landed a big punch of Shavers. That only worked because Shavers had a shaky chin and often crumbled under pressure. That would have been suicide against any version of Foreman. Quarry was also reckless and fought Frazier (on the inside of all places) in back and forth exchanges, which again would have been suicide if that was Foreman. He had a lot of bad habits.

 

After that fight it was amusing when he was asked why he quit vs Foreman, Bert Cooper said he didn't want brain damage. Considering he said that he had been up the previous 3 nights smoking crack before getting in the ring.

Even with that Cooper referencing brain damage is or was testament to how much pop old Foreman still carried.

 

We gotta give George Foreman some credit for winning Olympic Gold in 1968. Then to go on and win the heavyweight title from a highly regarded undefeated champion 4 years later. Only the 2nd man ever to do that at the time Heavyweight Gold+ Heavyweight Title.

Still not top 5 IMO but fairly certain top 10.

 

Vingo was 6 feet tall and weighed 189lbs for Marciano, what relevance has that fight to a Foreman v Marciano matchup?

 

Bob Foster would not have been able to take the body attack of Norton.Foster never beat a top heavyweight,his frame wasn't built to take their power.

 

Tbh, that's what we loved about Quarry he was exciting. Unfortunate what happened to him later in life but I've always respected him in the ring n love his fights.

 

Nah it is even worse than that: Carmine Vingo was 6'4" (yes, 189 lbs.) & while a promising prospect, had only just turned 20 when they fought. Look it up!
Vingo was a string bean by even mid-century, HW standards.

 

Look up the amended stats on Box Rec

 

Thanks, but everywhere else seems to say 6'4".
That is a large difference. Also it would be unusual, although possible, for such a big difference to be true.

Why do you think boxrec is correct, & virtually everywhere else wrong?

 

This is the same person who thinks Machen would've beaten Liston in a rematch.... I wouldn't take anything he says to seriously.

 

After this came up a few months ago I stumbled on this pic of Marciano and Vingo together immediately before their fight. In fairness Vingo looks to be stooping a bit which may make the difference seem less than it was, but there's no way he was anything like 6'4".

https://ibb.co/ZNhwFqp

 

Huh it seems that even with the stooping, 6' even is accurate.
If so, I wonder how 6'4" gained such wide currency?
And who claimed it, I never heard of a height exaggeration more than ~ 2".
Maybe Carnera since he was a circus attraction & circus strongman.
But even then he was actually very tall, 6'5.5".

 

You may not be totally off in your assessment of Foreman v Tyson, but Foreman admits right here he wanted no part of facing Mike in his comeback

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You’re always bringing it - great stuff. Online pics of Vingo for comparison purposes aren’t easy to come by otherwise. How about Nick Barone on the extreme left? He looks like a slightly distorted version of Rocky - if he claimed to be his brother, I’d buy it. Lol.

 

Well, George tends to be a bit over gracious in interviews. It's quite common post-retirement.

But yeah, I doubt he'd have done much more than last the distance against 90s Mike.