I have to admit I'd never heard of Gullick before but I don't think he did too bad against George...for one round. Foreman shows a good jab in this and ridiculous strength (note the nonchalance with which Geoge shoves a solid 200 pound man around with) and still looks as raw,unpolished but effective as he always did. Does anyone here remember Ted Gullick at all? He got destroyed but didn't run and did better than top liners like Frazier and Norton could manage against the monster that was 1970's Foreman. Anyway I hope you enjoy the fight. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_R2ZBjyiRY[/ame]
Gullick was out of the Cleveland area. He was considered a hot prospect in 69 early 70. Earnie Shavers mentions him as the top Ohio HW when Shavers turned pro. I think some boxing writer/expert thought Gullick was a better prospect than Foreman during the first year of his career. In 72 he was KOd bh Shavers, Foreman and D Bobick in consecutive fights. He must have had a "brave" manager.
Christ imagine that,Shavers followed by Foreman back to back.:-( I'll say this for him Gullick wasn't at all gun shy,going right at Foreman so he either had a ton of courage or didn't learn his lesson against Shavers. Probably a bit of both I'd say.
What lesson was it that he didnt learn? I thought he did everything right, tried his best to keep his hands up and defend himself, while still throwing punches and trying to do damage. The only problem was that Foreman's power eventually took its toll and you could see his hands drop, as the fight wore on. I thought that it was just a good fight, where Foreman was too good and he earned his win against a game fighter who wasnt up to the job, but would probably beat plenty of other very good fighters. He certainly didnt die wondering, Gullick. I wonder how he would go today. I liked his style.
The lesson being to keep the hell away from guys like Shavers and Foreman Seriously I agree that Gullick didn't look too bad at all.He threw tidy,compact punches and countered George well a couple of times in the first round, but Foremans huge edge in size,power and strength was way too much for a smallish heavyweight like that. But Gullick gave it his best shot and good on him for that. I thought it was an interesting fight and an impressive display of young George's brute force and physicality.
Very good coverage of an early Foreman.... Thanks.... As much as I love George, this fight showed exactly how badly his defense was lacking at such an early stage, and would not be significantly improved until his comeback years... Foreman might have suffered a loss against another very good prospect had he been matched with such... I hate to say it, but Lennox Lewis might have beaten him, had they been matched at about the same stage in their careers..
