Prime George Foreman vs Zhang Zhilei

Looking at how he went life and death with Lyle, Zhang may be a nightmare for him.

 

Of course,; yes.

 

A repeat of Zhang-Joyce 2?

 

Zhang would be a nightmare opponent for a prime Foreman. We’ve seen what happens when a fighter with shaky defense faces Zhang, just look at Joyce getting his chin cracked. An older Foreman would actually have a 50/50 chance of beating Zhang, but both fighters aren’t really known for winning decisions.

 

No he isn't. He has a 4 round gas tank and doesn't have a high workrate nor does he use the perimeter of the ring or his height

 

Zhang might be the 2nd most overrated heavyweight of this generation

 

How?

 

The hell is Zhang up to nowadays anyway? Been over a year since the Kabayel defeat and doesn't seem to have a fight scheduled. At this stage, he needs to be more active before he fades completely. Still some awesome match-ups that could be made but the way things are going we're not going to see hardly any of them. It's a shame he "made it" so late in his career. Wouldn't mind seeing an old-man battle between him and Ortiz. Him vs Ruiz could be interesting too.

 

Because his only good win is Joyce

 

Foreman would beat the living daylights out of Zhang

 

I'd favour Zhang. Huge, hard hitting southpaw with a granite chin who can be quite sneaky with his shots.

 

I mean it obviously wouldn't be a good idea to try and outbox Zhang if you can bully him in the inside like Kabayel does except that prime Foreman did it much better.

 

The problem with an offensive fighter like Foreman is that he often was easy to hit, because he was quite happy to go 1-for-1 since he was the bigger stronger dude. This no longer applies in the case of Zhang. Zhang is a surprisingly clever boxer with quick hands and massive power. He's better than Foreman in all of Foreman usual areas of strength. His obvious problem is his abysmal stamina. 70s Foreman could be hurt and dropped. I'd give Zhang a good chance of doing so and maybe even finishing the job. Foreman would need the boxing nous of his older self, who was a much smarter fighter.

Not to say Foreman couldn't do the job, but he'd need to fight in a way not characteristic of him. Instead of pushing Zhang away to reset the distance, he would need to step in and suck up the space and rough him up on the inside. He'd need to protect his chin much more carefully and pay attention to defence. If GF got past the first four rounds I think he'd finish the job.