What Are Holyfields Chances Against Foreman (Ali Fight)?

If they aren't in Zaire, Foreman has it. It's kind of funny that for most of these fantasy matches, people automatically imagine the fight taking place in a climate that George didn't acclimate to and go, "Foreman's gonna fall!", lol.

 

I do believe so.

 

People have George as a physical monster, and he was, but he was 6ft 4 and 16st for Zaire I think? Holyfield was 6ft 2 and 16st plus or minus change as a heavy. Not a huge difference. And he was also some kind of monster. I think old George was a better fighter than young George and by a considerable margin, and Vander beat old George...but that's almost like comparing apples and oranges. To throw cats amongst pigeons, I think both old George and Vander beat young George...

 

Holy is my fourth favorite fighter. ****ing warrior….. and that’d be his downfall.

 

I doubt young George has the engine to get Evander out of there. He would surely look like the more dangerous fighter for the first half of the fight, landing those big clubbing punches but, like v Ali but for different reasons...the main ones being Evander's conditioning and chin, he'd exhaust himself and ultimately take a beating for the second half of the match before being stopped late in a brutal war of two halfs. Ali knocked him out, and I don't think Evander has the grace under pressure to provide that kind of denouement to the contest, so Foreman would take more and more punishment the deeper the fight slides into those trenches Evander calls home...

 

Holyfield stuck to a game plan in the actual Foreman fight, I don’t see why he wouldn’t stick to a game plan against prime Foreman, the question is, would it work for the full fight?

 

Holyfield admitted to getting knocked out on his feet on two occasions during their fight. On a third and separate occasion he was positive Foreman had punched his teeth out.

Holy was very near peak for that fight imo.

So, yeah Holy (a greater ATG than Foreman) would go warrior on young George and take punches the like he'd never taken before. Certainly not as fast as Iron Mike, but so much faster than the old Foreman that Holyfield actually faced.

Holy looks great for a couple of rounds, but (as he was unfortunately wont to do) around the 3rd he takes easily the most powerful shot of his career, a blitzing overhand right that drops him like an overstacked sack of Deca-Durabolin. He's hit harder than by Bowe, Lewis, Tyson. He gets up, obviously in bad shape, and I see this kind of ending like Bowe/Holy III, where Holy was already so devastated by the knockdown that he kind of just staggers across the ring, with George's final shot a horrifying right to the backside of his head.

 

Prime Foreman blasts out Evander

 

Holyfield is lighter on his feet, and he's the better counter and combination puncher with the better stamina. He'd get George out of there late maybe.

 

Is the fantasy opposition allowed the benefit of the mental state that Ali had Foreman in before first bell?

Ali had Foreman rattled and literally wanting to kill him inside the first round - but Ali had already formulated the strategy to take advantage of the homicidal tendencies that Ali himself had deliberately encouraged George toward.

If Foreman came out swinging exactly as he did in Zaire, I could still see him taking Evander out - but he’d need to do it in say < 5-6 rounds.

Ali’s strategy, though ultimately successful, still involved the shipping of some serious punishment along the way. I can’t see Evander avoiding that.

Without the impact and benefit of Ali’s ongoing psyche job on Foreman leading into and during the fight, I could imagine a somewhat calmer and more measured Foreman doing the job in < 5-6 rounds - say perhaps the measured version that took out Norton inside of 2 rounds.

IF Evander was still somehow viably standing after 5-6 rounds, then George would be in deep ****.