Watching Foreman jab is really beautiful. As clumsy as he was in his prime, because he was ****ing sloppy. His jab was just, magnificent
That's a big claim. I think Foreman's jab was long, very heavy and his timing on it was good. But he was always a ponderous kind of fighter even in the 70s.
He had a ramrod cannon of a jab. Without question one of the all time great jabs .. he was often at his most effective when he used it because he maximized power with timing .. he is in there with the greats for sure ... top three, who knows but Tunney, Louis, Liston, Ali, Holmes, Lewis , Wlad, Fury all terrific jabbers ... very forgotten and underrated is Jack Johnson who when he choose to use it had a lightning , fast, cutting jab as well ..
Liston, Holmes, Ali, Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Louis, Lennox Lewis and Pinklon Thomas all had clearly, clearly better jabs IMO. When work gets done in the accuracy department, he's not outstanding. He certainly only showed anything like the variety you'd expect to see in a very top jab in his second career, and even then he was mostly jabbing at lesser opponents, so it's hard to be sure what he was up to some of the time. He had a good jab for sure but what makes people want to put it at the very top of the division, I just don't know.
He looked pretty good in Frazier 2 This content is protected LeDoux This content is protected Agosto This content is protected Norton This content is protected Dennis This content is protected When George focused and used it he had a fast , battering ram ... harder than any of the above and equal to Listons ... bListon, Foreman and Thomas had those powerful jabs that could really hurt a man ..
I always thought it was very underrated. It may not have been a well-timed points scorer and pace setter like the jab of someone like Holmes, but it was punishing to a degree greater than that of a lot of guys named on this thread.
Top 6-7 i would think unless I’m forgetting someone. Based just on power, Foreman goes up several rungs but of course the criteria/definition for a great jab isn’t just based on power alone. Liston had equal or near enough to power but utilised his jab in so many more ways than George did, including as a feint.
I would have him about the same. I was going to post top 10 but I'd have him well inside that, about where you do.
Second Foreman had the best ever jab at HW Conney getting his shield blown out and eventually down from jabs This content is protected Imagine Sam Peter walking into that. He's outta there in 3 rounds
Would it be an offence to add Tyson… I mean he used it better, in the way a short man could - shame his corner had to drill it into that thick skull of his, very stubborn and robotic at times.
While Foreman’s jab is the one in question here, and other heavyweights’ jabs have been mentioned, one guy who hasn’t been given a shout at all, Evander Holyfield. Ok, he wasn’t a pure boxer as he liked to get involved, often to his own detriment, he he had a demon of a jab. So sharp, fast and strong, and absolutely brilliant when doubled up. Check out the Bowe rematch for such evidence. And the Foreman fight among others. When Holyfield wanted to box, he could box.