George Foreman (Cooney fight) vs Prime James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith

I’d make Foreman the favorite but this would be a bloody and brutal fight, and not one that George would likely take unless there was a title and a ton of money on the line

 

Smith youth (although not a spring chicken himself), power and size would give him the advantage. I don't see Foreman bullying him at all, given Smith own size, punching power and physical strength.

 

Foreman has superior skills, but given how rattled he was against Cooney and his power, Smith has a really good opportunity here. In addition to this, George does not have the kind of power to knock out Smith- I'd doubt that many men do. Bruno never sent him down over 12.

 

Bonecrusher would have a better chance with 70s Foreman honestly.

 

The bolded is incredibly overstated.

 

Foreman ko's Bonecrusher, even an old Foreman is too much for him. But as has already been pointed out, it's not a fight George would have sought out.

 

The whole reason that Foreman tried so hard to finish him off quickly was because of him being buzzed off of Cooney's hard left hook. First round, George is getting jabbed and hooked, and though most hooks were rolled, he still got got hit hard enough to hurt, and hurt bad.

 

I bet George said that.

I didn't see him hurt "bad" in the entire fight. He soaked up a few hard very punches as if they were average. He was somewhat buzzed for a split second.

 

Guess we'll just have to disagree. Again.

 

Indeed. Foreman didn't even pause during the exchange when tagged and threw a huge off balance haymaker back which made things look worse than they were instantly followed by a huge 100% invested left hook which Cooney evaded racing backwards. He had a little stutter getting his balance going forward again after Cooney and the commentators got extremely excited. I'd say it's fair to say it buzzed him but the truth is he walked clean thru it while still looking to slug it out with Cooney. Cooney, a brutal finisher was actually racing away from Foreman getting the hell out of dodge while Foreman was chasing him down. That's how hurt Cooney thought he was. Foreman is an ATG story teller.

 

Foreman looked superb against Cooney. He looked sharp, aggressive and strong as well as extremely determined. Even as an old man Foreman had the shocking ability to make big hitting aggressive big men fight cautiously and back up. A lot of big come forward fighters don't go real well backing up. He also took an ATG punch and had ATG power in both hands. He's too good for Bonecrusher who would shell up a little at times and mostly dawdle his way to a decision loss. A stoppage isn't out of the question but it would be difficult to find if Crusher went a bit negative.

 

I would disagree that Foreman took an “ATG punch” whilst in his 20s he was almost stopped by Lyle in the first round, still fresh into the bout, it was the first meaningful punch of the fight. Foreman got better at mitigating power as an old guy though he was more aware.

 

Perhaps it was a little overstated. But George was definitely feeling those punches in that first round. Not that it changes my position in this thread however. Cooney started off pretty good.

 

A little? I find it hugely overstated. Foreman walked clean thru that left hook and had Cooney racing away from him. 2 minutes later Cooney was in the worst condition he was ever in, either before or since. Foreman didn't go down, he didn't go backwards, he didn't look ready to go down, he didn't look much of anything apart from a stutter when lurching forward to go after Cooney which may not have even been from being hurt.