IMO, Foreman would stop him. Foreman may very well be the hardest puncher ever. If not, he's close to the top.
Foreman busts him up early, has him rocked and hurt by the third. By round 4 Vitali s face is a swollen, bleeding mess and the ref call s it off. George, too wild and hungry here.
A lot of good valid arguments have been made here for both sides. I have started this topic but have not made a choice yet. And i would not put my money on anyone here. I think both are pretty much the kryptonite for the other one....stylewise. When i think how Ali's right hands clipped George in Kinshasa... i think what would Vitali's straights cause? (Ofc Foreman had a bad day, bad preparations, and gassed out) When i think how Sanders bullied Vitali partially and managed to land some bombs, i think what would Foreman do. I think he would follow up with a barrage of bombs and hurt him very badly. (although Sanders was a southpaw, and Vitali didn't handle it well) But I also think about the Lyle Fight and George's Chin... Even though i think Foreman is the greater boxer by legacy and probably h2h, maybe Vitali is even a bit more uncomfortable and unfamiliar to Foreman than vice versa. Of course it's hypothetical, but imo also highly questionable if Foreman can bully a bigger opponent like that, cut off the ring etc. like he used to do it with smaller guys. This is where I have to disagree...possibly the pre-Ali Foreman in the late 70s, vs Lyle and Young, but not the Foreman of 72-73. But there are 2 points here i can not understand: Why do so many here criticize the cut vs. lewis in a mocking way? The same with the shoulder injury...we don't know how bad it really was! The cut looked really bad, and he wanted to continue. I think injuries can't be planned either. it's not a quality or a flaw when you get injured. Sometimes you have the best training, best nutrition, best preparation and you just have bad luck with injuries. And btw: Vitali never cut again like this, and if i remember correctly he was never down in his whole carreer. I'm no Klitschko Fan at all, but i think i needed to say this.
Vitali ain't exactly a mover nor is he defensively slick, Foreman uses his very underrated footwork and cuts the ring off and uses his own jab to get in exchanges with Vitali. By the second round Vitali is backing up and he can't fight effectively , Vitali is forced to clinch and finds Foreman a brutally strong man. George wobbles Vitali and stops him toward the end of the 5th round
No Sanders is faster than the fastest Version of Foreman. He doesn't hit as hard though This content is protected
LOL typical classic. The guy who was never even off his feet gets knocked out by the smaller guy who was KO'd by lesser fighters. In my opinion Vitali is exactly the wrong matchup for Foreman, who would have to come onto him and get knocked to pieces by the bigger man who is quite adept at fighting off the backfoot. Foreman tired. Vitali never blew himself out despite being busier. Vitali on points or by late KO if Foreman tries to push the matter and blows his gaskets.
Sanders was indeed a faster, snappier and more accurate puncher than Foreman and he found it difficult to land clean on Vitali. Granted Foreman has more clubbing power but looping punches are not the right medicine for a guy that fights like Vitali.
Suppose it's possible Vitali can land enough consistently on George as he comes in to get a stoppage in fact don't think that's far fetched at all, but.... Vitali is obviously not gonna stand and trade so he'll have to move for every second of the fight, can he do that and land effective punches round after round ?? Not sure, if yes he wins if not he gets stopped on his feet due to exhaustion.
Bingo If you get your face carved up by a old Lewis who has at best ok whiskers arm puncher VK anit got a prayer against prime Foreman VK failed the pass the torch test, full stop, absolute fact, TKO6. BTW, Sanders is a one hit wonder who struck gold against glass chinned WK, thats it.............he could not even get by glass cannon Rahman or pro sparring partner Tubbs...............he was picked out of the trashcan to face WK because he was a non entity..........struck gold, got stripped , lost again and fell right back in line to be a non entity again
I don’t understand the logic here. Any fighter can get cut at any point. Vitali lost fair and square, but it was on a technicality. The doctor stopped it. And rightly so. But he was winning the fight. It’s not like Lewis was out boxing him and really hurting him, where the referee had to step in to stop it in order to save him from being knocked out etc. It was an unsatisfactory ending, and Vitali was desperate for a rematch which Lewis wouldn’t grant him. What does this have to do with a Foreman fight? I could absolutely envisage George beating him, but I don’t think that Vitali’s fight with Lennox is really that relevant. I could also see Vitali not being intimidated by George, and George going it for it early but then slowing down and maybe leaving himself vulnerable. So I can also envisage a scenario where Vitali could have beaten him too.
