1994 Oliver McCall vs 1974 George Foreman

-But in the case of Foreman, he racked up several early stoppages over durable fighters. Banking on your punch resistance against him just seems disasterous, if he doesn't drop you, he'll pin you down and just keep hammering you until somebody stops it. Ali took lots of body shots but protected his chin, McCall walks into right hands and uppercuts like theres a magnetic attraction.

-He got the blow outs over Lewis and Oleg, but Bruno beat him into a survival mode in the first round, and McCall failed to comeback and stop him while he was badly tiring in the last two rounds.

 

McCall has an incredible chin but in reality he never took a lot of punishment in fights and never took a beating or was ground down, mainly due to the fact his opposition usually couldn't put a dent in him and so out boxed him instead of pushing for the KO.

Foreman was not only a huge puncher with either hand but he could batter you. Even when he lost to Ali, Ali took a huge amount of punishment. Chuvalo was another very durable fighter much like McCall but Foreman pounded him into submission and stopped him on his feet. I could see a similar scenario where Foreman over powers McCall and forces the referee to intervene.

 

Jimmy Young was a survival specialist. Foreman was so exhausted being held by and chasing Young all night in the heat of San Juan that he was unsteady at the end. Young's punches weren't what was bothering George. Also, the Foreman that fought Norton hadn't had his mind messed with yet by Ali. Watch how George fought Norton. George was methodical and calm in beating down Norton. This same George beats down McCall.

 

-Can't agree. If McCall gets a pass for walking away crying because he wasn't mentally prepared to fight, than Chuvalo gets a pass for turning his back to protect an eye injury he suffered from a foul in a fight 3 weeks previously. Could McCall stand up to Chuvalo's schedule of sometimes 7-10 fights a year?

-I disagree. McCall may have faced "bigger" men but Chuvalo faced the tougher overall gauntlet of punchers. Foreman, Fraizer, Patterson, Foley, Bonavena, and even Quarry and Jones could punch.

-He's mostly playing the old spoiler though against fringe and club level guys, not really taking shots from world class hitters. Still impressive though.

-My vote goes to prime Tommy Farr, stood up to the heaviest shots from Nova, Louis, Baerx2, Braddock. I think Chuvalo and McCall would have walked with at least one stoppage loss against that gauntlet of punchers in such a short amount of time.

 

Oh please...

McCall wasn't bigger and he couldn't avoid Bruno's wide swings. And its hard to run out of gas when you sometimes go 5 rounds at at time without throwing a meaningful punch.

 

Excellet post and observations.

 

-Some would argue he was discouraged by the pounding Lewis was giving him.

-If he was fighting on Chuvalo's scheudle, lingering injuries may have added up like that.

-Quarry knocked out quite a few of these supposed true heavies like Shavers, Foster, and London. He packed a punch, so did Bonavena who would be a HW at over 200 lbs. He was very heavy handed at times, he actually hurt Chuvalo more with single punches than Foreman or Frazier did.

-Yeah, but its not like outside of Bruno or Lewis, McCall took a pounding from some of these guys. He blew out Oleg in seconds for instance. In the instances of Chuvalo he ate these men's best shots over and over again while marching forward. McCall would go into a shell for extended periods, Chuvalo would march forward 10-15 rounds with grotesque cuts and closed eyes.

-Chuvalo totaled over 90 fights to McCall's 70 in a much much shorter span of time.


-No, you named the only guy who wasn't a world class hitter but he still had a nasty right hand.

 

Don't need to point that out to me I know this, McCall is a very durable fighter maybe one of the most durable of all time but so was Joe Frazier and a young Foreman took him out early twice. Young Foreman could take out extremely durable fighters who almost anyone else couldn't on his sheer power and aggression.

 

C'mon man Peralta was a survival minded fighter whos trouble caused issues for a very young George.

I am not a Foreman cultist but the reality is Foreman threw hard, heavy and fast and was a destroyer in the ring no time for crying or nervous breakdowns with George Ollie is no slickster he takes as many bombs as George can throw until he goes down in a heap or jumps out of the ring so he can have his nervous breakdown without getting beaten to death.

 

I was watching some McCall fights the other day, it's a shame Lewis haters label McCall a bum to emphasize the defeat Lewis suffered.

I was really surprised by just how good McCall was back in the day, surprisingly the fight that stuck out as one of the most brutal was against a old ass Holmes. Just watching that fight reminded me of how good the heavyweight division was back then, I know Holmes was old as **** but he put up a great fight against McCall and it made for a real exciting fight.

I was sat there thinking if this fight took place today everybody would rave on about it like it was one of the best heavyweight fights ever, McCall-Holmes never gets mentioned for **** all, but it was a top fight, I really enjoyed it watching it back. Holmes was bad ass even in his 40's, no wonder Foreman ducked him.

Just found some highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQsLoMiSBP8

As for Foreman-McCall... you would have to favour Foreman, but If Foreman couldn't get him out of there and tired then McCall would be ready to snatch a upset win without a doubt, he definitely had all the tools to do it.

 

Wait.. where was he hurt bad against Bruno.. I don't see it.. he felt some shots sure.. but was never in any real danger imo

 

Another thing don't mistake my early Foreman knockout prediction l for that I don't think McCall was a good fighter because I know McCall was quite good. But mentally at times he was flawed and got beat by a lot lesser fighters then a young Foreman. I just don't see the durable but stationary McCall being able to survive the Foreman early on slaught. With a fighter like McCall there is always a possibility of an upset as proven when he stopped Lewis but I think the chance is very slim of him beating a young Foreman.