Quite right. George was n't the man he was in Kingston,Caracas or Kinshasa. And George's team had grossly underrated Young.
He completely dominated Snipes aside from the knockdown, and got surprised by the punch of a lifetime. Renaldo had displayed absolutely nothing in the way of power against Cummings or LHW Mustafa Muhammad (where Easy Eddie never took a backwards step). Holmes may have had his guard down a bit for this one, most assuredly not a possibility with Foreman in the opposite corner. That Larry was ill with diarrhea for Witherspoon, and a severe cold for Weaver was well documented at the time. (Sports Illustrated reported on the former, while his voice during the post fight interview makes the latter self evident.) Kudos to him for competing and winning while sick against two subsequent title claimants. Shavers doesn't get enough credit for his left hook, but that punch floored Young and Lyle, and it was a hook which originally stunned Norton. He was no more of a one handed puncher than George was, and was a far better two handed puncher than Ingo and Frazier. (We have footage of Coetzee flooring Knoetze with his hook, as well as Cooney dropping Philipp Brown with his right, so I don't stereotype them as one handed punchers so much.) Larry didn't take a rejuvenated and confident Shavers lightly in their rematch, but whipped himself down to a trim 209 (on the brink of turning 30, he would never be that light again), and again dominated aside from the knockdown. I have to assume he'd be comparably prepared for the slower George (who did have slower hands than Earnie, and did not defend himself remotely as actively). Holmes did take his fair share of body shots from Shavers in their rematch, and generated a fast pace through the early going. Easy? Of course not. What I said was that George would be an easy target, and he certainly was for Ali, Young, and even Frazier in their rematch. One sided though? Absolutely. At the end, whether this went to the final bell, or got stopped late, the scorecards would tell a pretty lopsided tale. After just seven rounds in Kinshasa, George was trailing by two to three points on all three official tallies, and I agreed with referee Waldemar Schmidt's 118-111 card in favor of Young. Nor was he close against Morrison, Holyfield or Moorer before the stunning knockout. (In some ways, Foreman was most impressive after regaining the crown, when he finally proved in his late 40s that he could win over the 12 round distance.)
"asside from the knockdown" isn't the reality. He still got decked and by a man who was a relatively light hitter, and may also have benefitted from a controversial stoppage. Hence proving that Holmes could be vulnerable against anyone, let alone a man who had the highest win/ko ratio of all time, along with Holmes' cryptonite in the right hand. He had his guard down against Shavers as well, a fighter who he knew what was capable of. That's fine, but what you're doing is making concessions for Holmes' weaker performances, while using the Young fight to build your case. it works both ways. I will also ad that Jimmy Young, though not as good as Holmes, was at comparably a good boxer and durable heavyweight, wheras Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon and Renaldo Snipes are not even in Foreman's league. Fair enough. That knockdown was one of the most memorable ones in boxing history and one that nearly ended Holmes' reign, so I don't know if I'd call that a thoroughly domineering performance. Foreman was also a man who could follow up and finish a guy once he had him hurt, something that Shavers failed to do against Ron Lyle and Bernardo Mercado. Foreman could tie a man up and work the body as well or better than Shavers could though, and as for speed and defense, neither of these men can be highly accredited for their strengths in those areas. Again, I agree with you on Holmes taking the fight, but I don't think it would be a one sided affair, and using his fights post 40 or the young match to make a case are not the examples that I'd put forth to build an argument.
Holmes wins with scarier moments than he had with Shavers. Foreman when he wasn't wild, which he likely would be in the mid 70's, could catch Larry with a big right hand and hurt him. Foreman would follow up, stalk him and try to finish him. Don't know if he would have been able to the job because Holmes wouldn't rope-a-dope him. Larry would box George and punish him with his jab.