Prime Foreman vs. Prime Young who would win in a 12 round fight? We saw what Young did to a unmotivated out of shape past prime Foreman, but can he do the same against the Foreman from '73? Big George from '73 was an animal, who had freakish power in both hands and had some pretty interesting technique, when it comes to overpowering his opponents and smothering them inside. I think even his stamina tends to get underrated. Would prime Foreman finish, what he began in the 7th round? On the other hand we have Jimmy Young, who was one of the best defensive fighters from the 70s. Very elusive boxer, who didnt have much power, but he had enough to make you think twice. One would think that Young maybe has the right tools to beat a guy like prime Foreman. Im going with Foreman by KO before the 6th.
I honestly think if they fought ten times Foreman would win 9 of them. He almost knocked him out but a piece of me wonders if he was afraid of gassing out again like against Ali. Might not be the popular opinion just feel that way.
Foreman was flawed and couldn't deal with the Ali's and Young's of the world, regardless of which year it was. This thread isn't going to rewrite history.
He was naive against Ali an mentally damaged v Young. If you could get older foreman’s iq and put it in young foreman, the man would be devastating
George Foreman lost to Young for the same reason he lost to Ali. His ego. Foreman destroyed Frazier, Chuvalo, and Norton. 3 guys who either beat Ali or put up a good fight against him. Foreman probably figured since Young had various loses on his record he would beat him with ease. According to Gil Clancey Foreman's manager at the time he kept telling Foreman to just knocked Young out and stop toying around. Foreman chose to ignore him until the 7th or 8th round when Clancy cursed Foreman and told him to just knock out Young. Foreman almost knocked out Young but pretty much suffered a heat stroke because he wasn't used to that high humidity that Puerto Rico had/has. So any version of Foreman who wasn't full of himself would beat Young. Even a arrogant Foreman should of beat Young. People lose. Buster Douglas beat Tyson. Do you think that means he could do it again? Corrie Sanders destroyed Wladimir Klitschko. Doug Jones beat Ali ( Doug Jones got robbed). This doesn't mean it would happen again.
Jimmy Young arguably beat a better Foreman, Better corner for certain and his new approach may have served him better for the Ali rematch even when George turned up the heat Young survived as he does and in spots won out in the exchanges toe to toe George just had holes in his game that Young and Ali could take advantage of.
Young confused Foreman, and was very economical with what he did throw, and I think he was aware of how hot it was in San Juan, and used it to his advantage.
Totally agree. Foreman was better before his loss To Ali. On paper pacing himself better and doing this and that should have made him a better fighter but it didn't. Like quite a few others he just didn't take that first loss well at all as seen by his various crazy accusations post loss. Put young in Zaire and Foreman take shim out inside 4 for mine.
I agree with this. Foreman even made some better technical adjustments after Ali. Young just had his number, like Foreman had Frazier's.
Something like that. (LOL) That was one of the most poorly scored fights of the 1970s. People complain about a lot of Ali decisions, but the referee in Foreman-Young actually only gave George 2 of the 12 rounds. I don't know how anyone with working eyes could watch those 12 rounds and only give Foreman two rounds and award Young 10 points in 10 of those 12 rounds. One of the judges and the New York Times had Foreman ahead after 11 rounds (106-105 = 5 rounds Foreman, 3 rounds Young, 3 even), even after George had a point deducted in the third by the referee, and that official and the Times ended up scoring it for Young by one point because of the two-point final round. And I can see why everyone got swept up in the emotions of the fight. The crowd was going ballastic for Young because he was surviving and doing well on top of it. Everyone wants to see an underdog win, especially against George back then, because he was such a villain at the time. But you could make a valid argument Foreman didn't even lose their fight in 1977. Foreman had fought 33 times in the 1970s prior to the Young fight and only one bout - seven years earlier - had gone the distance. He was blowing out everyone. And Foreman (45-1) was expected to knock out Young (who had a record of 16-4-2) in a couple rounds. But some of the officials in that fight were seemingly giving Young rounds if he finished a round on his feet. I don't know if any of the officials actually thought their scores were going to be read at the conclusion. A knockout was expected. Jimmy Young even said afterward he was out in the seventh round, but George didn't realize it. Also, it's not a coincidence that both of Foreman's two losses in the decade took place in sweltering heat with dripping humidity. Foreman was so dehyrdrated at the end of the Young fight, he had to be helped back to his dressing room, he passed out, they had several people carry him to the shower and he started hallucinating. He spent the next couple days in a San Juan hospital. As Gil Clancy said after the fight: "Everything was against George - the heat, the crowd and the referee." It was just sort of a perfect storm. The conditions were ripe for an upset. It happens. In a return, I don't think George would've had much of a problem with Young. Young went 2-4 in his next six fights, only beating Jody Ballard and Wendell Bailey. Young really wasn't the fighter he was that night ever again, either. It was the absolute pinnacle of his career. It's difficult to duplicate that.
