Where do you rank George Foreman?

Unique career depends on what you value. Anything inside the top 15-20 is fair.

 

I could argue him anywhere from #4 to #7.

 

Lower end of the top 10 for me he has some of the most iconic wins over Frazier, Moorer, Norton, etc. The issue is he doesn't have a alot of filler to his resume and he only has 5 world title wins in total.

But whilst he doesn't have alot of depth to his resume his best wins are as I said very iconic and memorable. And his achievement for winning a lineal title at age 45 does considerably raise his standing.

I'm not sure where I would rank him exactly but definitely not in my top 5 personally but for certain in my top 10.

 

A) How can he be above Holmes who dominated for far longer

B) How can he be below that midget who beat up old has beens?

 

A) Because Holmes never faced his #1 contender and openly admitted to ducking him, whereas Foreman both has the most dominant winstreak in heavyweight history and the is the oldest heavyweight champion in history (AND STILL MADE TITLE DEFENSES), and somehow beat many different prime athletic heavyweights as said old dinosaur. The style you win in matters, and what Foreman did to Frazier and Norton was horrifying. He also has a great win against Lyle when he wasnt even at his best.

B) Because that midget (5'11 is a midget nowadays... inflation is tough...) had the most unholy streak of wins ever seen on the face of this earth at the heavyweight division in a period of time when it shouldve been theoretically impossible, back when fighters used to fight the best other fighters available. This is on top of his top end competition being some of the greatest heavyweights in history (prime Walcott, prime Moore, return to former condition Charles). Anything less than being an ATG pretty much entitled you to being blown out of the water by Marciano. He only defended his title against #1/#2 ranked challengers. Many of his wins had terrible circumstances going into them (cut vs Charles; jaded, lack of desire to train and body broken vs Moore and Cockell, blinded vs Walcott, scared to finish LaStarza in their first fight), yet he always found a way to win. He is the very epitome of greatness and achievement, which is ALL you can ask of an athlete within their time. You cannot judge fighters based off of the size and athleticism of their competition when they themselves dont have access to any enhancements that the future fighters have. I genuinely dont favor any pre steroid era boxer over Marciano. Had his willpower not been beyond his body, he wouldve been the greatest heavyweight of all time. The heavyweight champions after him tend to give him his due, and rightfully so. You literally could not have asked him to do any more. He was averaging nearly 10 FIGHTS A YEAR, after he started boxing at 21 YEARS OLD.

If you actually go beyond the hate and read about his life, it is akin to witnessing a miracle. You can only judge fighters by their achievements from what they could've achieved, and Marciano did everything he couldve done to achieve everything possible. I respect this far more than someone like Ali or Lewis, whom may have had better competition (due to PEDs... which Ali and Lewis also had access too, which evens the playing field), but lost fights due to showing up unserious or not in sufficient shape. That, to me, is more diminishing of a legacy than anything else.

 

I think he is 3 to 7, he mismanaged his career. The fight in Kinshasa was the biggest mistake of his life and it's a shame he didn't come back 5 years earlier. Can you imagine the rushing George vs Tyson 1988? But the style in which he won with Frazier, with Norton.. who destroyed other ATGs with such ease? unfortunately it was also a disadvantage. It is not properly appreciated and caused George not to develop as a boxer when he should have.

 

He has drifted in and out of my top ten for years, but is always top 15.

 

My top 5 tends to be.

Ali
Louis
Holmes
Lewis
Wlad

I don't really have a clear order after that but I guess 6-12 would be were I am at.

 

Top 10 easily...

 

I basically have few tiers of my Top 10:

1. The GOATs: Muhammad Ali & Joe Louis
2. Almost GOATed: Larry Holmes & Lennox Lewis
3. ATGs with amazing accomplishments hard to rate: Rocky Marciano, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman
4. Other Top 10 ATGs: Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko

So I would argue anywhere between 5 and 7.

 

Gerry Cooney was the number 1 contender to Holmes and he beat him. Holmes also beat the guys who beat his no. 1 contenders. And "the most dominant winstreak in heavyweight history" I think belongs to either Liston or Tyson.

 

In my opinion Foreman is in the top 10 heavyweights of all time. He obliterated Frazier and Norton and knocked out a tough guy like Lyle after a wild battle. And then he accomplished a historic action, becoming the oldest heavyweight champion of the world (45 years and 9 months). He regained the world title after 20 years, incredible career.

 

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Lower than most but I like seeing a different point of view.