1974 Ali vs 1997 Foreman

An obvious and easy Ali win.

 

I'm seeing a points win for Ali. He probably wouldn't employ Rope-a-Dope as such here.
Obviously Ali's slower than in prime but he's still fast enough to build up the points catching George.

 

Foreman would easily win the fight. Reason being, he was much more composed and intelligent in his second career. The reason he lost to Ali in the first fight is because he didn't pace himself, was way to anxious to KO Ali, and punched himself out very quickly, while sneaky and cheating Ali leaned on the loose ropes to gain an unfair advantage where he could stay away from Foremans power.

 

Ali was still superb in 1974.
Very few fighters ever would be favored against him.

Foreman was still a very good fighter near the end of his career, although he went from a legitimate top 10 contender who managed to earn the lineal title when Moore foolishly stood right in front of him, to a level below that by his late 40's.

This would not be a competitive fight.
Foreman however savvy was too slow to drop a bomb, & nobody ever kept Ali down, he would have no decent chance to even drop him + would easily be outworked & have trouble landing regularly, & win very few rounds-at best.

Better to compare something like the best fighter ever in their late 40's!
You have Foreman approaching 49, the best other contender is Moore, who already was 49 when he retired, & barely short of that when he faced Ali.
Now that would make a good thread!
Especially since Moore trained Foreman, including in his comeback.
HOLMES fought sporadically even older, beating Butterbean at 52. Maybe he would be #1 at that age.

Then you could see if other fighters who were excellent when older are deemed to have had the POTENTIAL to likely beat these 2 at that age-since almost everyone else was retired.
But it is somewhat speculative what say the Klitchkos would do at that age...

But an Ancient Foreman would have virtually no chance against Kinesha Ali.
However look at these [url]photos on the right[/url], & especially if as likely he was lifetime clean, very impressive comeback musculature...

 

Foreman would be utterly incapable of cutting off the ring on Ali when he was that age.
It is said by then Foreman's speed could be measured by a sundial.
Still being able to beat all but a relatively few top HWs then, maybe several dozen would have been favored over him then, is dramatically different than being able to be competitive against a great fighter.

Think of it this way-Moore was talented indeed, but I presume you understand that he was not as good at '74 Ali.
Still Moore was dominating before he was lulled & manipulated into being in range for a hammer-like Foreman short right hand.

Not only was Ali's chin much better, he would never get hit that square.
And Foreman had at least some decline between being almost 46 & almost 49.

If Ali went all out, it is hard to see Foreman getting more than 3 rounds out of 12, or 15-& that might be generous.

 

Briggs was great as a slugger, but Foreman even somewhat declined was even better.
He was not a boxer type, no work rate or elusiveness to trouble George.
He was 30-1 when they fought, but his competition was not elite.

Foreman did well to come back against Grimsley in his second to last fight to earn the decision.

 

Ali would be telling the referee to stop the fight within six rounds. Old George would be taking too much punishment. His face would lump up like it did against Alex Stewart but a lot earlier. Ali in 1974 may have slowed up a bit from his sixties self but was still very fast with feet and hands. Foreman would barely get a blow in. And he was a lot slower than his '74 self so would n't be nearly so effective in cutting off the ring against Muhammad.

 

Good morning,Vic. George's chin remained intact well into his ring dotage but in the fight you're talking about,the problem would be his face and eyes swelling up to the point of not seeing the punches coming.

1991 version was the best comeback George.