Bob Foster - Brutal Knockouts

Boxing is littered with such occurrences since the dawn of time. The guy was 35-0 and ranked #5 by The Ring. The fight was fine even if the ending was a bit unfortunate.

 

Foster faced some pitiful opposition during his reign, it must be said. It was controversial at the time.
But on the other hand he did pretty much the same thing to Tiger, the champion, and to Vincente Rondon when he finally got in the ring with him.
And he went up to heavyweight and took on the best there, so he wasn't just a bully.

 

The other thing with Quarry that has yet to be mentioned is/was his style. He was a boxer with ringsmarts. Those guys that are 35-0 with 5 ko's get by with boxing brains and guile. Not a big right hand. Ringsmarts.

As a rule, they are the single hardest guys to ko. They go the distance all the time and you just don''t see the ko by results when you look at that style of boxer---the Ottke/Whitaker/Calzaghe types. Now Quarry was not as good as those guys but those boxers with that style are real real tough to stop.

And now we're talking a 1 punch ko, not an accumulation & ref steps in thing. 1 punching a ringsmarts guy.

How many times in the last 50 years have we seen that happen?

Let alone factoring in how poorly Foster was--and still defending his lh title--after suffering that brutal ko loss to Frazier. And then that long sustained beating to Muhammad Ali. The way he lost those 2 fights ruin careers. But Bob Foster was continuing to defend that title of his. And the Quarry ko came near the end of his title defenses.

Extremely impressive is how I thought of it then & it is stood the test of time since.

 

Excellent points. Also shows being skinny and somewhat fragile "looking" has no bearing on the ability to come back from debilitating losses.

 

I never claimed that he was just a bully. I clearly pointed out that he was an ALT fighter. Saying that would be just as illogical as as saying that Larry Holmes was just a bully because he was mismatched against Texas Cobbs or when he fought an ill Mohammed Ali or that Joe Louis was just a bully because he fought the bums of the month. It was simply a mismatch that should not have taken place. Nothing more.

 

The guy was number #5 what do you want Foster to do? Not fight at 175 because he's too good for the opposition?

 

I didn't think you were saying he was a bully. I just mentioned he wasn't one to give him his credit.
He KO'd some guys in mismatches but was KO'd in some too.

 

Saw him live in West Springfield Mass. on May 24, 1969 when he KO'd Andy Kendall in the 4th round...brutal!!!

 

Rad...ALL fighters meet lesser opponents. When you talk all time greats nearly EVERY opponent is a lesser opponent. There is no need to nitpick. Foster was a KO puncher of Herculean proportions and THAT KO is an example of that power.