George looked like he did when he fought Jimmy Young; he was tentative and not aggressive even though he won. Why? [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMLkbz3mpmM[/ame]
I definatley wouldn't say that no one was scared of him, were people scared of Tyson after Dougles, Liston after Ali...
George changed his approach a bit when he lost to Ali. His confidence in his chin and power to overcome anyone in front of him definitely took a hit, so he tried to add a little patience and pace to his game, for fear of gassing out. He ended up in a middling area, where he was both less aggressive than he was as a younger man, and much less patient than he was as an older man. This didn't work out for him near as well as either of the other two styles. LeDoux certainly benefitted from this. In my opinion, so did Lyle and Young. A lot. I'd say tell Tommy Morrison that, but he broke the sound barrier running away from George Foreman, so its doubtful he'd be able to hear you. Standing up to a bully and beating them is a nice trope. But it doesn't apply in boxing nearly as much as its reported to. Whether you were afraid of Tyson or not, he could still really **** up your night with one punch. Same goes for Foreman. He'd break you the hell in half whether you were afraid of him doing it or not, provided you didn't have the tools to stop him from doing so.
I was at the fight. There was nobody in the audience with the thought that Ledoux was doing anything in there to worry Foreman. Nothing. It was a matter of time type fight and George didn't go after guys anymore like he did against Roman and Norton. Picture perfect left uppercut that put Ledoux in a heap. Rarest punch in boxing and so very few have the balance to throw it. And that's with zero consideration of power. And Ledoux was a durable type and nobody else put Scott in a heap. He might get hurt but he wasn't an easy guy to get off his feet, let alone end up in a heap from a 1 punch ko loss. But at no time did it feel like Scott was talking George to dangerous waters or anything. He couldn't hurt foreman and Ledoux always kept those hands low and didn't move around much. It was exactly like the Foreman-Frazier 2 fight I went to; the mouse in the cage with the boa type fight. The mouse might run around and do things in that cage for awhile but once the boa decides he's hungry, it's all over quick. and that mouse cannot do a thing about it.
Im sorry I thought Tommy Morrison beat Foreman by a fairly wide UD, I guess I watched a different fight that night.
Gil Clancy tried to change George's style. Also, as stated before, George did change after the Ali fight. By the way, Morrison did run from George. He was nervous of George's bombs.
Point being he didn't stand up to the bully. He boxed him because he and many others were still wary of his power. Someone said no-one was scared of Foreman after Zaire. That's simply not true.
He was slow but hardly tentative vs ledoux...he knew that the knockout would come..it was inevitable...he was slow and tentative vs Young because he was bamboozled...he had no idea of what to do..this was after a few rounds of course.
There were plenty who were still scared..or nervous of...Big George..maybe LeDoux wasn't, but he must have known wjat would happen when those big bombs of George's would start to land.
I read an article several years ago where Ledoux referred to Foreman as being a "scary dude" back in the day.