Corbett vs Foreman. 1893, 45 rounds

Well played, Glass Cobra. Well played.

 

The fight would be over very quickly.

However, parts of Corbett would be found during archeological digs, many years later.

 

"Teeth were found in this cave, while jaw fragments were amazingly discovered nearly 70 feet away belonging to the same specimen. We cannot even speculate what caused this much damage to the skull".

 

I don't know which is funnier, the idea of a missing link called "Pompadour Man" or comparing Foreman to megafauna. That's gotta be one of the funniest fat jokes I've ever read.

 

Tyson is a million times more skilled.

 

Thought I'd bump because I find this match is much more intriguing after reading @apollack’s In the Ring with James J. Corbett.

Firstly, I think it's integral how Corbett is much, much more experienced with the 'fight to the finish' ruleset than George is. It's essentially a different sport, with Corbett going lengths Foreman hasn't even seen and that isn't even taking into account Corbett's grappling experience. Leading up to the Sullivan fight, Corbett was roughly 191 lbs and doing Greco-Roman sparring every day with a few wrestlers. That isn't significantly less than Foreman, who averaged 217-224 in his prime. I've seen wrestlers of far greater weight disparities manhandle the other, and the difference between someone with genuine experience in grappling and a boxer without any is immense. Even from the footage we have, it's pretty clear Jim was a skilled clincher and knew when, and how, to close the distance. He even seemed to have underrated strength as well, according to Tom Sharkey and Fitzsimmons.

And yeah, I know Corbett's punching form is pretty damn goofy. While he throws pretty decent straight punches, his hooks and uppercuts look incredibly sloppy and easily counter-able. If he wants to win this fight, he's gonna have to refrain from throwing for as long as possible. Maybe a body jab or right here and there, but he certainly shouldn't try throwing any fencer's lunges\straight lefts or rear uppercuts. Those leave him far too open to be countered by someone so skilled and dangerous.

If Corbett's plan is to sprint around the ring, clinch every time George tries throwing, while throwing very few punches at a time himself (like in the descriptions of his fight with Peter Jackson and early on with Sullivan), I think he has a better chance of beating George than anyone in his era.

 

Corbett was ko'd by one body shot from a 157lbs man.
Foreman was very good at cutting the ring off and hit like a truck, he was also extremely strong,Corbett would be rag dolled by George.
The first time he catches Corbett flush it is over.

 

I disagree,I think Johnson allowed Jeffries to expend his energy whilst taking no punishment himself.

 

Jeffries was down to weight 9 months before the fight. The difference here was he wasn't bulling a 40/50lbs lighter 12 years older man around, he was facing a man near his own size in his prime.

 

Foreman in a one-sided beating and an early stoppage.

 

Or...another possibility: With 10 seconds left in round 45, Foreman knocks Corbett down. Jim rises at the count of 9. Then with Jim Corbett ahead on points, and one second left in the fight, Richard Steele stops it and awards Foreman the victory by TKO. The after fight interviews last hours, and the controversy threads on BF24 lasts for years and years and years and years!

 

I among the few who think Corbett has a chance to score the upset here, not because I think he is a better fighter than George, but because of the style matchup. He had the tools to do it. First, Corbett had great legs and knew how to move. Second, Corbett knew how to clinch very well. Third, Corbett had very fast hands. Fourth, an in-shape Corbett knew how to go rounds with a puncher and carry him into deep waters, as shown with Joe Choynski, Peter Jackson, and John L. Sullivan. He was a survivor. Combine that with the fact that George tended to gas badly as fights progressed, with the fact that Corbett essentially would fight purely to survive for the first 10-15 rounds, utterly ignoring the booing crowd, and only sharpshoot a punch now and then when he saw an opening - and he would hit George for sure, then his odds of getting George badly fatigued from rounds 15 on go up exponentially. Do I think Foreman could last 2 or 3 hours like Corbett did against Jackson? Absolutely not.

 

In fairness to Jim, many men the size of Foreman have been stopped by that 157 pound man in the past. And even then Corbett lasted pretty long, even Jeffries appeared to need to prolong his beating and wear Corbett down before finishing him off.

That being said, I certainly don’t think Jim should look to trade punches in this one. In fact, minimalism would probably be ideal here.

 

I think Choynski was green, and a super middle.Sullivan was a washed up shell.Was Jackson's ankle healed? The first edition of Foreman gassed because he hadn't learned to pace himself.The older version had no difficulty going the distance,and did so without ever taking his stool.Corbett was clever for his time. but his resume is distinctly underwhelming to me.