1973 George Foreman vs 1915 Jess Willard

Willard has the stylistic advantage here, he had reach, a good chin, and was pretty hard to hit clean. Against Johnson he gave up the rounds, but conserved his energy, and did a pretty good job neutralizing Johnson's attack. Did he look like someone who took a 20 round beating at tge end?

Against Foreman I imagine Willard would fight with a similar plan, neutralize the early aggression, save energy, and wait for the moment once his antagonist is fading, then get in the big shot. Ali shown this type of plan can work against Foreman too, focusing on sapping his strength, though Willard would apply it differently.


Foreman by mid round KO.

 

Depends on the rules, if Foreman was allowed to stay beside him after a KD and push him around then

Foreman by Brutal life threatening KO

If it's 70s rules then

Foreman by Brutal KO

 

Foreman.

In Willard's day or Foreman's.

Makes no difference.

Willard is getting an as$-kicking.

 

I like Jess in this one. 1915 Willard was fit, durable and formidable. George loses an endurance contest, after doing well in the early rounds. Foreman collapses in the 10th round.

 

Foreman by 6 round tko .Not the easier of Foreman s opposition .,He'd find Willard a tough obstacle to put away ,the fight would see George swinging away wildly while Jess hangs tough .But George eventually does enough damage to hurt and stop the big guy .

 

I wonder if it's really safer to give fighters more time to recover from knock downs, or if it's just letting them recover more to take more punishment, though the way they let fights continue back then almost certainly would make it more dangerous overall.

 

Foreman by mid-first round KO.

 

Dempsey had free fully loaded power punches on Willard while he was getting up from the canvas, and Willard never got KO'd.
Foreman KO in 1 round? I doubt it.

 

He was it's true but then again so was Joe Frazier normally ..

 

I can't really see how Willard wins this other than by taking a life-threatening beating and then KOing an exhausted Foreman. Much more likely is that Foreman KO's him. Foreman doesn't have the speed and explosive snap Dempsey had, so I reckon he gets Jess out of there mid-rounds. Better have an ambulance on standby.

 

This kind of fight shouldn't happen. Willard was destroyed by a 6 ft 187lb Dempsey, Big George would probably kill or cripple him.

 

1915 Jess Willard, not 1919 Jess Willard.

 

Maybe. It does seem like giving them time to recover does mean they go through it again