His blocking defense was great for one. Another thing is George wasn't shopworn for another he hadn't been in a lot wars in his first career.
I also think George's size worked toward his advantage. He was so big and so heavy and had that NECK... But not just that. I think the Jimmy Young knockdown gave George resolve. "That ain't happening again!" Because let's face it, George is great, but Young ultimately made him look lame.
well he did not face the elite fighters much. Some selctive matchmaking and George certainly knew how to scout opponents. It is going to take some tools to even beat an old foreman. But he sure did not want Lennox as a dance partner. Later on, he talked of facing Vitali, but that is a horrible match for an older foreman that struggled with the likes of Grimsley.
Man, that's an interesting thing to bring up. I think Holy had a better hook (even that's hard to say, Ali had a very good hook imo). But Ali had it all day with the right hand imo. Holy's left hook was the one punch I think could be called a Definitively Heavyweight Punch. I'm not so sure I can say that about the rest. Ali didn't always land the right with heavyweight authority. But imo he unquestionably was a heavyweight puncher with both hands...just not a great (though often blazingly accurate) heavyweight puncher.
Ali’s straight right was fast and hard. He has a high kO rate and is def an under rated puncher. Think he gets slack because he wasn’t always the best finisher. Played it safe sometimes or just wanted to toy/Clown some guys. Knocking out guys like foreman and Liston with two ATG chins is a serious accomplishment.
I think so too. I also think Larry kind of adopted that caution-first attitude (though both Larry and Ali could be some ugly, mean-ass finishers).
He had giant arms and used the cross arm defense perfectly. Paced himself well so he always had strong legs. He didn't take many risks and could anticipate most of his opponent's punches and brace for them. He kept his chin tucked and usually only took punishment in his big forehead, sometimes his eyes which did suffer damage but wasn't enough to rock him. Of course he couldn't do all of this if he didn't have that power equalizer that made everyone weary of being caught by him. So his opponents rarely opened up. Young Foreman had exceptional defense too, he was great at doing subtle things like catching or deflecting his opponents punches with his gloves and presenting a difficult target.
Watch again. Foreman deflected a lot of those with his arms and the top of his dome. He still took a few hard ones around his orbital bone area that had to hurt but he kept that chin tucked under fire. In his comeback, he would let guys beat his eyes closed but always protected his jaw. I recall later in the fight, forget the round, Foreman does get rocked from a clean right hand from Evander but Real Deal let off the gas as he was no doubt feeling the fatigue.
Foreman too a ton of shots from Holyfield all over the place and Evander , while not a huge one shot guy was a nasty combination puncher in his prime .. George was for real .. he actually looks tougher and faster to me the he did when I watched it ..
He took that combination so well because he was aware they were coming and was able to roll with them and take some power off the shots with his arms. He also wasn't helplessly fatigued like he was when Ali hit him. The Ali knockout wasn't so much a knockout from Foreman getting hurt, it was more him being exhausted and not having the energy to continue taking the punches. He also was caught off guard by a lot of Ali's combination and didn't do anything to defend himself. Even still, when he got up he wasn't on shaky legs, just had absolutely no energy left.
He didn't face any really big punchers in his second incarnation who would trade save Cooney. Morrison was a good puncher but fought a saferty first fight to protect his own vulnerable chin. Also, he learned to pace himself so there were no fatigue induced knockdowns like he suffered against Ali and Young.
I think this was a very significant variable. Also, surprise was definitely a factor: I think George was made really pissed off by Ali's showing him up in the first round (check that round out again sometime, imo Ali made him look bad). Pissed off and surprised. It effected his entire performance, from what I saw. It's as though he still had visions of Frazier and Norton bouncing off the canvas and got a snapping right hand to the face for it. Ali dominated that fight imo, I don't even give George a round. He got super tired, had his hands down and got caught by a picture perfect right hand.
