In a deeply moving display of boxing skill & craft, courage, and sportsmanship, Schulz should've been awarded the historic decision victory against Botha as well as Foreman - that's what earned him the prestigious third IBF title shot for the vacant title against Moorer, after Faux Champion Botha was stripped for cheating. The judging so was outrageously brazen that Botha to run the gauntlet via a terrifying hailstorm of beer glass en route back to the dressing room, courtesy of a disgusted, enraged German audience...
Shannon's Cannon needed its own belt, reportedly. To hold up its own pair of one-legged pants. It's actually the most linear thing about him, I've heard.
This is not a fair accounting or timeline. 1)Foreman was the lineal champion he was under no obligation to let the bodies pick individual opponents. Tucker lost the shot he got to Seldon. While Tucker fought well in that fight this was the very end of Tuckers competitive window. Foreman fought Schulz instead of Tucker not Briggs. 2)If Schulz had won either of his title shots a Foreman rematch might have happened. He didn't. Between his world title shots and the Akinwande fights Schulz was 0-4-1 in his 5 biggest fights with all the others happening in his home country. 3)If Schulz was the lineal champ the lineage would have ended up in Moorers hands who Foreman beat. 4)Foreman fought Grimsley and Savarese before fighting Briggs. 5)Foreman defended his title 3 times and attempted a 4th in 3 years. During that time no one defended their title twice until 1997 when Moorer did it. Lennox and Holyfield didn't follow until the final weeks of Foremans reign when they beat Golota and Holyfield. Foreman set up a fight with Lennox right away with Briggs as a prep fight. 6)There was no clear champion challenging Foremans status for him to unify with. Lennox lost to McCall. Bowe had the Golota fights. Holyfield was out of the picture then had the Tyson fights. The dust only cleared at the end. Crawford Grimsley WAS ranked. I think by multiple sanctioning bodies. And the WBC handed Grimsley a regional title for beating guys who were 0-7 and 11-34. Foreman was not the one at fault here the sanctioning bodies were. They put him on the radar when they had the information to know better. Savarese was the undefeated USBA champion. At this point most NABF and USBA champs got world title shots. At this time the USBA alumni list included Mike Weaver, Greg Page, Bey, Berbick, Tony Tucker, Carl Williams, Witherspoon and Byrd.
Foreman was stripped of one of his two belts for refusing to face Tucker before Tucker lost to Seldon. That happened in March Tucker lost in April. He ducked Tucker. His team rather than face Tucker shelled out something like 200 thousand dollars to get Schulz ranked by the IBF or to get an exemption and not have to face a mandatory whatever it was, (so that he could keep the IBF belt) after Schulz beat Foreman in the eyes of everyone but the corrupt judges, Foreman dropped that belt rather than give, Schulz his hand picked opponent a rightful rematch. I still remember the New York Daily News headline - Axl Greased Schulz Robbed, The morning after the fight. Instead Foreman lingered on shamelessly fighting Grimsley, nearly losing to Savarese and then beating but being robbed by Briggs.
A return fight was somewhat close to happening; Foreman even announced it for Madison Square Garden, the return fight to take place in February of 1996. But it never happened, and Moorer says that while he very much wanted the rematch, it was Foreman who walked away. “I wished the rematch would have taken place, I wanted to avenge my loss,” Moorer said of the Foreman fight. “George didn’t want to take the fight, he didn’t want to fight me. There was a rematch clause in the contract but he didn’t abide by it so he had to pay step-aside money I believe and the fight never took place.” Source: Michael Moorer On The Rematch With George Foreman That Never Was: “There Was A Rematch Clause In Place But He Didn't Abide By It” (https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/michael-moorer-on-the-rematch-with-george-foreman/274308) According to Moorer, Foreman didn’t want it. Look I don’t fully blame Foreman for not wanting to fight the best fighters at an advanced age like 45, 46, 47 it’s dangerous to do so, but we can’t pretend like Foreman was looking to take on all comers. His second career was VERY carefully managed.
I never said he fought all comers. He was cherry picking. But people who he cherry picked would be suitable opponents for voluntary defenses according to WBA & IBF rankings. And at the end of the day, none of this changes the fact that he was still the lineal champion.
I think Tucker is great and Foreman v Tucker is a better fight then Foreman v Schulz but Tucker in 1995(1985 sure) is not the sort of opponent a champion should be stripped for not fighting. Mandatorys should be for when champs are trying to avoid the best fighter in the division and its morphed into bodies feeling entitled to pick the opponent. Foreman was the lineal champ he had the leverage because hes still the champ regardless. He didn't have to fight the IBFs chosen opponent. Is requiring someone to win fights before giving an instant rematch so wrong? In Schulz's 3 world title shots he had 3 close fights saw 9 different judges and won over 2. Akinwande draw makes it 2 of 12. 9 of whom were German. Were they all corrupt? I think the problem with the decision is that Foreman tired at the end but judges had Foreman clinching a draw after round 8 off of close rounds. So the fans saw Schulz pulling away in a close fight and the judges saw Schulz making a comeback. Foreman wanted to rematch Moorer in early 1996 instead but it fell through and Moorer fought Schulz. At this point Foreman was out for over a year and he needed a fight to work off the rust. He looked at the top 10 and its not his fault some geniuses put Grimsley there.
wait the belt already had briggs name on it before he was announced the winner? considering the terrible decision the judges gave him that seems a bit sus.
I understand your beef with the alphabet belts, they certainly have their own agenda. I’m not a fan of how they operate but you get stripped of you ignore the rules and it’s a bad look. Didn’t look good for Bowe dumping his belt against Lewis, didn’t looks good for Lewis doing same against Byrd. Sometimes you gotta fight the Alex Leapi’s of the world if you want retain your title like Wlad did. Anyway if you want to give Foreman a pass for not fighting Tucker and losing the WBA belt so be it, Foreman was a popular champion, but then Foreman’s team Paid the IBF money to get Schulz ranked. They were the ones to get Schulz accepted and when Schulz beat him, (that fight is a clear loss for Foreman) Foreman dropped his second belt rather than give an immediate rematch to the guy he went out of his way to pay for a cherry pick. You can’t excuse that. That was a clear case for an immediate rematch. Moorer is on the record as saying Foreman didn’t want the rematch with him either. So who did George want to fight? He ended up losing both belts and we the fans ended up with a title run of Schulz(loss), Grimsley, Savarese and Briggs. Foreman deserves credit for the amazing accomplishment of winning the title at the age he did, but his defense of said title was abysmal. And there were also accusations of bribes and corruption during his reign.
Theres always a case for an immediate rematch when a decision is controversial. Often times the winner does not want to fight them again unless they beat someone else. They just won a tough fight a redo doesn't benefit them. Want to push back on the "Schulz was unranked" point. Schulz was the highest ranked HW from continental Europe at the time. In the late 20th century a majority of the top 10 was almost always American and almost no Anglo Americans got ranked. Schulz had lost to Akinwande who was the 2nd highest ranked Brit. Of course he wasn't ranked. A few years later Lennox defended against Mavrovic. According to boxrec WBC ranked him number 1. No one else had Mavrovic ranked. Mavrovic was 27-0 and had defended the EBU title 6 times. Not ranked. So Schulz not being ranked isn't what it sounds like. I agree Foreman might not have wanted to rematch Moorer he had nothing to gain from that fight. But I also think his main agenda was having one last big fight and at the time he was trying to make that fight Moorer was the only one around. Lennox didn't have a belt again until 1997. Holyfield lost the Moorer, Bowe and almost Mercer. Tyson was in prison then Holyfield took him off the table. I don't think Tyson was ever going to fight Foreman regardless. Bowe had the whole WBO politics thing and then Golota took him out of the picture. Golota and Lennox fought each other after Bowe and McCall so Foreman couldn't fight them. Tyson retired both Bruno and Seldon Mercer had lost to both Lennox and Holyfield and while he fought well that put him out of the picture Botha got his belt stripped for PEDs then lost to Moorer. Ruddock had been knocked out of the picture by Lennox and Morrison Tommy Morrison got HIV so thats a rematch with Foreman that can't happen Akinwande also had the WBO politics thing then lost to Lennox Holmes and Witherspoon were old. Whose left besides McCall? People remember the 90s like it was Lennox,Bowe, Holyfield, Moorer, Foreman and Tyson all together going on runs it was very rarely like that. Someone was always out of the picture. It was like one of those shows where the cast is never in one place. It was a mess and the period when Foreman was champ 11/94-11/97 did not have a luxury of options.
Schulz was unranked. You can sugar coat if you like but the point is after Foreman was stripped of the WBA belt for not fighting Tucker (an American) Foreman’s team ponied up 200,000 dollars to get Schulz a ranking. This way he could keep his IBF belt. He wasn’t even forced to face his IBF mandatory but he had to face a ranked IBF contender. Maybe Schulz deserved a ranking, maybe the rankings were American centric, the point is Foreman paid to get Schulz a ranking. Then Schulz beat him up, and Foreman allowed himself to be stripped rather than give the man a deserved rematch. Pretty hypocritical to do that coming from Foreman who was awarded a title shot against Moorer the 2 belt holder and lineal champion, after Foreman himself was coming off a loss to Tommy Morrison. Foreman didn’t have to win a few bouts to get back into contention. Foreman cherry picked Schulz, lost, then faced Grimsley, Savarese and Briggs. To his credit for my money he beat Briggs. But Schulz is a stain on his legacy.
All of his defenses were against unworthy opponents. Nobody else felt the need to fight Savarese and Grimsley in title defenses because they were so obviously undeserving. Bowe, Lewis Holyfield all would have challenged Foreman for the title had he agreed to face them
Champions routinely fought guys like Axel Schulz. Foreman wasn't asking for an immediate rematch. I can admit Foreman didn't really deserve that title shot coming off a loss. But he got one. It would be hypocritical. Schulz got two in a row coming off losses just not against Foreman. Schulz was fairly compensated. Holyfield and John Ruiz got more undeserved title shots then Foreman. Big names get undeserved title or less deserved shots they always do. Foreman got one he didn't win a lifetime pass at the county fair like Walcott, Holyfield and John Ruiz got. After Holyfield he had to win 3 in a row. No rematch for George. I think theres a difference between the champion choosing one qualified guy out of many to fight and the champion being forced to pick that specific guy because its an outrage if you don't fight him. The case needs to be far more overwhelming for the 2nd one. They are both title shots but they aren't really the same thing. "Foreman’s team ponied up 200,000 dollars to get Schulz a ranking." Yeah everyone pays a bribe to get in the rankings and they rank everyone who pays them. It is what it is. Also did they get Schulz ranked? Boxrec says he was unranked by all the bodies. Foreman was the lineal champ he had more leverage. Sanctioning bodies stripping the lineal champ for breaking their rules is not recognized by the public and they just end up with a less credible champion. To dethrone the lineal champ you need a RJJ figure who is clearly more deserving then the lineal champion. Grimsley regardless of whose at fault for Foreman fighting him was an awful contender. Worst 20-0, worst top 10 worst regional belt holder. No sugarcoating that. Savarese, Schulz and Briggs are good opponents.