When was Big George's peak during his comeback and how good was he then? I know some say the Holyfield fight, but I tend to think that was more him defying expectations.
1989-1991. After the Holyfield fight he was once again a wealthy man and not fighting nearly as much. That and he went from old to ancient. Of course beating Michael Moorer in late 1994 was by far and above the best thing he did in his ten year second career but he was talking a beating prior to landing that one-two combo.
Holyfield fight. You wrote something similar on my topic https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/peak-of-foremans-second-career.702457/
Yeah that’s always been my position on the matter. I watched most of his comeback unfold and I just feel that after the big Holyfield pay day his incentive to fight as often diminished. Plus ten years is a very long time for a fighter, especially one that is already aged. I don’t think he improved after 1991. In fact some of his later performances shows the contrary.
When he won the title. This was his "mental" peak, even if he didn't have as much explosive strength and a high workrate like the Holyfield/Cooney fights. Foreman had out together all the pieces and accumulated knowledge of his lengthy career to become a formidable glacier in the ring. One of the mistakes he made in his comeback was putting way too much force behind the jab. Sure, it was powerful and could snap guys heads silly, but it sometimes pushed guys out of range and he was unable to follow up with the right hand. It also made guys scared of him leading to them using lateral movement and fighting a cautious fight, making it that much harder for the big old man to pursue then. Foreman shortened up his punches in the Moorer fight and the results were devastating. Another adjustment he made was switching from the cross armed block to a traditional guard. The cross arm suited him defensively since he had such big arms and almost nobody could get through it to hit his jaw. The problem was on offense Foreman didn't always have the speed and fluidity to switch from defending to attacking. The regular Orthodox guard allowed him to immediately retaliate with a 1-2 down the middle. When you're already big and slow, you don't want to adopt a strategy that makes you even slower. The last adjustment I want to point out is that he became even more relaxed and paced himself remarkably well. He wasn't in the hurry to go for the KO, and this made Moorer even more confident to stay within Foreman's striking range. Foreman threw lots of light and medium punches to soften up the target, then started firing the heavy artillery only when he knew his opponent was in range and wide open. Relaxing also helped preserve his stamina and helped him absorb punches he couldn't block.
His win over Michael Moorer for me was his peak. I can see why many would say the Evander Holyfield fight, but I dislike assigning someone's peak to a loss. That is just me. I fully understand the Holyfield reasoning and would not argue with anyone who thought that was his peak fight in his second career.
