Am I the only one that thinks Young would always have Foreman's number?

Same here. Young is too clever and makes Foreman look like a lumbering fool. As a matter of fact, he made Ali look like a lumbering fool

 

You're not alone Tommy...I think Young owned Foreman...no matter when or where they would have fought.

 

I have to disagree with you 100%. Gil Clansey made an awful change in George prior to the Young bout which is why were having this debate at all. In an effort to shorten George's hooks Gil brought his feet far closer together which resulted in an entirely malfuntioning Foreman. The picture right uppercuts of the Frazier bout were now going sideways, the step in power jab, ala the Norton go, was now just a nice looking, non landing arm punch. The right hand to the body that picked Kenny partially up and the short right that did the same to Smokin Joe were not able to be delivered anymore. Even when George let go and almost had Jimmy out of there his feet were ackwardly placed and almost tangled. Gil was a good corner man and a very good trainer also, but his awful experiment with George ended part 1 of his career badly.

 

At his peak, Youngs style would **** anybody up, moreso for punchers, like Foreman, Shavers, Lyle, etc. Guys will say Ali was old, fat, Foreman had Clancy screw up his style, maybe valid points, but, Young would ruin their night anyways. Even if they were able to beat him, nobodys walking through or knocking out a prime, in shape Jimmy Young.

 

I don't think 100% of the time. I believe Foreman hurt Young in that fight. It wasn't like Foreman chased Young and just caught air all night. Young himself talked about the incredible heaviness of Foreman's punch after the fight. I'd give Young 6 out of 10.

 

Well, anybody can be knocked out. But he was hurt, and he got out of it. I don't think it was because it was a bad version of Foreman, I think it was Youngs skill and determination to survive that onslaught and win.

 

The other thing to remeber w/ Young is that the guy was only razor sharp for like a 2.5 year period. the 79 version of Young is not schooling Foreman. The pre-75 Lyle nobody really knows unless you were there at the time live at his bouts.

 

I don't agree, I think Foreman ,focused ,and confident beats Young 8 times out of 10.
Foreman had Young out on his feet in their fight.Young admitted a breeze would have blown him over.
Regarding Foreman's knockdown ,he missed a swing ,and lunged forward the impetus of the miss ,and the forward movement ,increased the effect of Young's punch,and George went down.
He was up quickly and continued to take the fight to Young.
I am not a big fan of Young ,he was too negativve for me, but I do not underestimate him . I saw Young give British Champ John Gardner a boxing lesson ,dropping him along the way.Gardner won the European title by 5th rd stoppage of Lorenzo Zanon,[ a Holmes victim ,]a year later.

 

Had Foreman not gotten weird with religion in 1977, I think Foreman would've belted out Young in a quick rematch with a different setting and lower temps some place here in the states......... Foreman was off-beat in Puerto Rico.........

YES! Young won in Puerto Rico.... He handled the heat much better than Foreman... NO DOUBT!

Foreman was also losing focus in boxing by '77.................. '76 was a VERY good year for Foreman..... Foreman forsaked '77...... He also paid the Piper for it, too........

MR.BILL

 

We thought George's skills built up under Dick Sadler deteriorated under Gil's schooling. Several bouts before Young against Dino Dennis his punches were being thrown wrong and his feet were too close. Both before Gil took over and with Archie Moore in the comeback George had a much wider gate and natural delievery of his punches for his makeup including a really good left uppercut. George lost to Young and Gil contributed.

 

It was hot for Young too that n ight in Puerto Rico. Like Joey Maxim said after surviving the heat AND SRR in '52..."do you think I had air conditioning or something?" Peak Young had too many smarts for Foreman under any set of circumstances.

 

People accept hot and cold differently........ Myself, I like cooler temps....... When I used to to lace up the gloves at the Boys Club in the early to middle 80s, I always did better in the fall or spring, then that of the friggin' summer........ I hate the summer....

NOW! Be as that may be, "Foreman-Young" did a tango in Rico back in the spring (March) of '77, but the goddamn arena had no A/C going cuz some tight-ass Rican wanted to bank on more beer cabbage comin' in since the friggin' place was hotter than hell inside......

Foreman has always sucked in HIGH temps................ Me too........

I love the Batman character "Mr. Freeze."

MR.BILL

 

Focused Foreman can decision Young with his jab alone. Let's keep in mind the fight in PR as close, not one sided like the Lyle decisions ... as far as Young having Ali's number let's get real ... Ali was in the worst shape of his career that night ... Any near prime Ali cleanly decisions Young ... Young was a cutie and a spoiler ... he was not a great fighter ... great defense, good chin, semi-fast ... a less offensive minded Chris Byrd ..