Why was Foreman's Comeback successful?

Foremans style allowed him to comeback the way he did. He took a tremendous amount of punishment, but had a good chin and good power. He was brought back the correct way, and not too many former decorated champions would go on a bum of the month tour for peanuts, before stepping up the comp.
Bottom line is that it was carefully calculated and Top Rank did a great job for the most part matching George with guys that would allow him to get close and have a chance. Of course some of the fighters like Morrison and Shultz suprised everyone by becoming mobile, but for the most part it was a nicely scripted comeback. Top Rank has always been very good matching fighters, still are today with Bruce Trampler.

 

Genetics, timing, will and savvy.

 

It wasn't really successful if you look at his record against ranked opponents. But it was largely because he didn't have much wear and tear on him and had the size/power/talent

 

The goal was to get him a title shot to regain the heavyweight championship and make some good money. Mission accomplished. It was successful with exception of a mega money fight with Tyson, but he didnt do too shabby with Holyfield.

 

combination of things

- he was fresher than other guys 40+ as he had that 10 year break

-he took his time before he got back to the top and most guys arent willing to do the bum of the month club thing

-he worked on his style alot and improved his defense, he was very patient willing to wait for his openings to score his KO punches

-he was slow but made up for it with his timing and his power/strength, he may have had some belly fat but he worked his ass off to get in good shape

 

Bingo:good

 

True financially it was excellently managed, he could have never got a title shot if he wasn't kept away from contenders on the way up, so that was pretty smart

 

I don't necessarily think that he would have lost to ALL the top contenders at the time, but I do agree it was wise to keep him away from some of them... Gary Mason, Francesco Damiani, Orlin Norris, Mike Dokes and several others were all ranked at the time, and I think he could have beaten these men.. Other fighters like Ruddock, Witherspoon and Douglas were guys that I would have avoided.

 

I think that a lot of it is down to him being more shrewd than his historic predecessors.

 

talent, and his body did not have much wear and tear but yes ofcourse he carefully managed...

he was the kind of fighter who liked to walk his oppentents down and be the boss in the ring....so he was kept from fighters with whom this was hard to do


ruddock
bruno
mercer
douglas
bowe
lewis
dokes
tucker

see my my point, all of these guys were physically strong large guys who also punched hard
so foreman was kept away from them because he would a very hard time with them considering his style

 

I think most of the guys on your list would have matched up favorably to comebacking Foreman. Foreman had trouble with guys who moved or attempted to move. He wasnt afraid of punchers just runners.

 

Age has a prety good track record against the elite heavyweights:

Age vs John L Sullivan: Age KO21

Age vs Jim Jeffries: Age TKO15

Age vs Jack Johnson: Age KO26

Age vs Jack Dempsey: Age UD

Age vs Joe Louis: Age TKO8

Age vs Rocky Marciano: Age is blatantly ducked.

Age vs Muhamad Ali: Age TKO10

Age vs George Foreman: Foreman KO10

Age vs Larry Holmes: Age TKO4

Age vs Mike Tyson: Age KO8

Age vs Evande Holyfield: Age TKO9

 

You have to consider that Ali was fading because of his parkinsons syndrome as well as his age
I imagine if he hadn't of fought his "Martial arts" bout and not having parkinsons, he would have fought into his 40s like foreman.