Foreman becomes a two time champ four years earlier, and without having to pull out his Zaire shorts.
I fancy Damiani. He could actually box well and he had the size. He's no power puncher but he is a solid hitter. He was basically whitewashing Mercer before he suffered a nose failure. The power advantage is definitely with Foreman but Damiani is a lot quicker and more skilful. If Damiani picks his spots (and he usually did that well) he has decent chances of getting a decision over Foreman. I'd say 60-40 to Damiani with Foreman's jab being the wildcard. Damiani had a good jab and good timing himself. I think he wins a technical fight and it would be up to Foreman to force the exchanges.
I like it, I likes it a lot! This is one of those fights where the more unknown guy gets the win over the big name.
Watching these back to back is pretty interesting. Damiani is more willing to exchange than I remember him being, which may be advantageous to Foreman. On the other hand Cooney is a way different fighter to Damiani. He's basically a glass cannon: his power affects Foreman but he is much more hittable than Damiani. His chin is also much worse. FD vs GF could be a good dust up actually.
It would have been a interesting fight I'm sure. More of a test for George than Cooney, much more lol.
Foreman by stoppage. Mid rounds. Damiani wouldn't be able to stay defensively sound for long enough IMO.
Damiani was actually considered as a possible opponent for Foreman in late 1990 but I remember George saying that there was too much confusion with the WBO organization or something to that effect. I’m guessing it was more like a negotiations problem. Anyhow, while Damiani had the boxing skills and hand speed to squeak out a decision over Foreman at that time, I don’t think he had the whiskers to take whatever shots George might have landed. I can sorta see this ending in similar fashion to the Michael Moorer fight where Damiani is ahead on points then gets hit big and knocked out. Also similar to his loss to Mercer
