Inspired by an earlier thread…which version of George Foreman’s comeback from 1987-1997 was the best version of himself? Whether you go by individual fights or periods of time, when did the older George Foreman look at his most effective? Was it the late 80s when he was still relatively “youthful” when he KO’d 17/18 fighters in a row including fighters such as Bert Cooper and Everett Martin? Or maybe the early 90s when he smashed former world title challenger and one time dangerous KO specialist Gerry Cooney to a 2nd round defeat amongst other victories over other seasoned pros. Or maybe you go by individual fights…his gallant defeat against Holyfield. Or his come from behind KO victory over Moorer when he became the oldest world champ. Or maybe his swan song against Shannon Briggs where he more than matched a guy 23 years his junior. So which Old George was the best Old George?
The best comeback George was after he was fully warmed up & attuned to fighting against many styles. When he was at his most fit & honed, but before he was declining after that due to age. So not when he made his first run. Not against Moorer, who he was losing to worse than against Holyfield-although the latter was at least a little better than any Moorer-before Moorer was lured into standing square against Foreman. So he was at his best against Cooney or Holyfield. Maybe slightly better in the latter, since he was up most of the night with family matters against Gentleman Gerry lol!
1990/91. That was when he was at his comeback best. In my opinion the only reason he looked good against Briggs is because Shannon was n't really that good.
Well, I don't know if I can agree with this 100%. Especially with that Lennox said about him. Snip from wiki: He is a two-time heavyweight champion, having held the lineal heavyweight championship from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs is known for his formidable punching power and aggression, possessing an 88.3% knockout-to-win percentage with 37 knockout wins in the first round. Undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis stated in 2015 that Briggs had the fastest hands and best punching power of any opponent he ever faced.[1] He holds notable wins over heavyweight champions George Foreman, Ray Mercer and Siarhei Liakhovich.
Hi Stevie, I can see why you see 90/91ish as George’s best comeback period. He fought a prime ATG fighter to a points decision and didn’t look out of place in there with Holyfield, that’s for sure. As for Briggs…I don’t think it was that Briggs wasn’t that good a fighter, I just think that that 1997 George managed to recapture his early 90s form that night. And Briggs had very few answers, despite the judges backing him. Rolling back the years can happen in boxing…look at the then 49/50 year old world champion Bernard Hopkins…though Foreman’s performance that night against Briggs surprised me. I was expecting him to either get legitimately and clearly outpointed with no controversy. Or he’d KO Briggs early… or late after being down on scorecards …I doubted that he had the stamina to produce a 12 round performance like that.
early 90s performances v Cooney, Holyfield and Rodriguez were his best showings. Looked slow and flat against Moorer but after that showed much better form v Saverese and Briggs (robbery)
His power seemed to be leaving him by the end unfortunately, because the way he fought against Savarese and Briggs was great. Had he opened his second career fighting more like that, when he still had real big power, that would have been something really interesting. I know he was a serious weight lifter in his second career, and I know if you lift, your strength definitely does not leave you by 50 (just go to any gym and look around; there are always some real big/strong dudes in their 50s there lifting like beasts), but he went 4 fights in a row without a KO. Seems his snap in his right was going, although his jab did look better than ever right at the end there.
The thing is though its easier for Foreman to have a better record in the 80s, because most of his opposition was less than stellar. The best shape I see Foreman in his comeback was vs Qawi, but Foreman said that he felt weaker and needed a few extra pounds.
i thought his showing against Qawi was one of the worst of his comeback. As stated above GF was the lightest he had been since his return (235lbs) but looked drained, ponderous and not even particularly heavy handed and was, at times, made to look foolish against a grossly out of shape Qawi.
Young George would of smashed older George in a few rounds. Older George was much slower, threw his punches much wider, threw far less combinations. The only edge that Old Foreman had over the younger George was that he was more calm.
Foreman was definitely looking relatively lean for that fight compared to his later fights,that’s for sure, but I wasn’t impressed with his performance. Qawi caught him far too easily on numerous occasions…it was only George’s bigger size and greater natural strength that led to the overblown and out of shape Qawi running out of steam, as he blew himself right out with his efforts.
As a period of time I have to agree with the guys who said early 90s. His victories over Cooney and Rodrigues amongst others and his losing effort against prime ATG Holyfield were very impressive. As for individual fights, I liked him against Coetzer where after a slow couple of rounds, George’s strength and punch power came to the fore and he won by an impressive TKO. But his fight against Briggs was my favourite individual Old George performance, especially considering the ages and presumably physical fitness of both fighters, plus the fact that Briggs was a top 10 contender…ranked no7 in the world at the time I believe…and his reputation for being an upcoming, fast punching, hard hitting KO specialist with a 29-1 record. I could see another Tommy Morrison type fight scenario here where Morrison hit Old George at will, with not too much response, winning a comfortable points decision. With George being even older than he was then, I assumed Briggs/Foreman would be more of the same. But no, that’s not how it turned out at all. George actually utilised his jab to good effect in this fight. backing Briggs up throughout the fight as he landed more punches than his dangerous opponent. That performance against a ranked fighter belied his age and apparent physical condition, and is therefore right up there as an excellent Old George performance in my opinion…a fight that made a mockery of his advancing years. How he actually lost that fight I will never know.
