Can George Foreman survive 12 rounds with Oleksandr Usyk

People forget that young Foreman's punching arsenal was really unpredictable - in the sense that his punches would all start in the same place, so you would have no idea what punch he would throw.

 

Oh hell yes …

 

Your entire argument rests on one assumption, that Foreman will successfully cut the ring off and trap Usyk. That’s the main issue in this matchup. Everything else only matters if Foreman can consistently get Usyk into position to land those punches. But historically that’s exactly the kind of opponent Foreman struggled with.

Ali and Jimmy Young both gave him major problems by constantly forcing him to reset his feet. Even Gregorio Peralta was able to circle and frustrate him for large parts of their fight. None of those fighters had Usyk’s combination of stamina, footwork, and ring IQ.

You keep saying Usyk’s feet aren’t fast enough, but based on what? Usyk has some of the most efficient movement in modern heavyweight boxing. He doesn’t bounce around like Ali did, but that’s because his footwork is economical. He takes angles, pivots, and resets without wasting energy, which is why he can maintain that movement for twelve rounds which is exactly the kind of style that historically gave Foreman trouble.

The feinting discussion also misses the point. Feints are not meant to scare someone into backing up. They manipulate timing and reactions to create openings. If Foreman ignores them, then he simply gets hit clean. At that point he either starts reacting or he continues taking punches.

You also argue that Foreman will just march forward through Usyk’s shots, but that assumes Usyk’s power won’t command any respect when Usyk has consistently shown enough power to keep much larger men honest.

Sure Foreman was a good body puncher but most of that work came when he had opponents trapped and stationary. The real challenge is getting Usyk into that position consistently. His entire style revolves around preventing exactly that scenario.

So the real question isn’t whether Foreman hits harder or throws better combinations. Of course he does. The real question is whether Foreman can consistently trap a fighter whose entire style is based on angles, movement, and conditioning. Historically that’s exactly the type of opponent that gave Foreman the most problems.

 

Yeah, if Usyk were somehow as good as or better than Jimmy Young, Foreman might be in trouble I guess.

 

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What a fantastic rebuttal

If Lewis gets kod by Rahman, that means anyone with a good right hand automatically beats him

if Ali gets knocked down by a left hook from Cooper, it means the 30 lbs heavier Liston with a even bigger left hook automatically beats him.

lol. It’s obvious to any sane person that Foreman had an off night vs Young. He retired after the fight which shows his head was not in the right place. Even then, he managed to hurt Young late in the fight. It’s not even that young did anything spectacular to keep Foreman off , it’s just that Forwman was slightly off and when he did step in, he hurt Young. Another night and he could have even stopped Young. The idea that Yoing beats him 10/10 times is a Usyk fanboy fantasy.

I have debunked every silly Usyk fanboy argument .

 

1) Foreman is slow. Usyk is fast.
2) Foreman's footwork is ponderous. Usyk is light footed.
3) Foreman got beaten by the two best boxers he faced. Usyk has never lost.
4) Foreman showed little ability to adapt in a fight. Adapting in a fight is Usyk's trademark.
5) Usyk will show him footwork and angles George never dreamed of. George will do a Mummy impression.
6) Usyk is bigger than "big" George. Yes, that is correct.
7) Usyk has fought bigger punchers than Foreman.
8) Usyk has fought better boxers than Foreman.
9) Usyk has stamina for days. Foreman is known for gassing.
10) Usyk has never even been knocked down. Foreman has been knocked out.

...

profit

 

Ali spent a large portion of the fight fighting off the ropes. Ali had faster hands than Usyk, better combination punching, greater resistance to body shots, a more proven record of stopping durable fighters, a far greater ability to fight off the ropes.

The idea that Usyk has greater stamina than Ziare Ali is also silly Ziare Ali was in tremendous shape and had outstanding stamina.

Young caught Foreman on a rare off night but even then, he was badly hurt in that fight. Just because he survived that night and won, it doesn’t mean that would be the outcome 10 times out of 10.

Usyk has excellent and efficient footwork. But he isn’t especially quick footed and walks into big shots. he walked into multiple uppercuts from Fury in round 6 despite Fury practically telegraphing that punch. He got nailed by some big shots from Joshua in the first fight and to his credit, he kept his composure and managed to deter Joshua with some hard left hands. He was getting nailed with big right hands by Breidis as late as round 12 of their fight. No matter how efficient your footwork is, if you don’t have lightning fast feet, it’s very hard to keep guys off you.

I don’t even have an issue with people picking Usyk to win. If Usyk can survive the first 8 rounds or so, he could potentially win. I have an issue with the reasoning. Foreman hurt every fighter he fought including stopping Perelta in the rematch and hurting Young. If Usyk makes even a tiny mistake and walks into a big uppercut or a big right, he isn’t dealing with Fury or Breidis here. If he even gets momentarily trapped on the ropes, Foreman could unleash a brutal body combination that could be completely crippling.

He is fighting a guy with a wider range of offensive tools and much greater durability than anything he has faced. Could he win? Sure. It’s possible. Is he likely to win without going through some extremely difficult rounds where he will need to use every ounce of his skill to survive? No

The title of this thread is absurd. Why would Foreman survive Usyk when he is the bigger hitter going after the lesser hitter? If anything, Usyk needs to survive until he can tire Foreman and hope to win late.

Usyk could win. But it ain’t a walk in the park where he will feint, twitch and turn and somehow magically avoid walking into any big shots for several rounds. If he walks into the same kind of shots he did vs Fury 1, Joshua 1 or Breidis, Foreman is a much better finisher than those guys and not nearly as hesitant to press forward.

 

Marciano never lost in twice as many fight as Usyk. I pick Marciano to stop Usyk using this amazing logic

 

amazing rebuttal

 

I don’t see why so many people bring up the likes of AJ and Dubois, Usyk historically struggles more with smaller HWs / CWs than he does with SHWs. He beat the juice out of Joyce one year after he barely beat Beterbiev.

Foreman has HW power but also the athleticism and speed that is reminiscent of Usyk’s CW opposition. This wouldn’t be an easy fight at all.

 

Reverse the names , "Can Usyk survive 12 rounds with Foreman"
Now,,probably not.

 

None of that really addresses the actual stylistic issue here. Usyk has far more efficient footwork, much better defense, and is far better at circling away from the ropes than Ali was in Zaire. Ali spent long stretches on the ropes because he couldn’t keep moving all night. Usyk has repeatedly shown he can move and angle for twelve rounds without needing to fall back on that kind of strategy.

So pointing out that Ali had better combinations or faster hands doesn’t really change the core matchup. The things that historically gave Foreman problems were mobility, angles, and constantly forcing him to reset his feet, and those are exactly the areas where Usyk excels.

The stamina point also doesn’t really help your argument. Ali was in great shape in Zaire, sure, but the rope-a-dope strategy existed because he knew he couldn’t keep moving around the ring for the entire fight. Usyk has shown multiple times that he can maintain his movement and positioning for twelve rounds. That difference matters when the opponent historically had issues chasing mobile fighters.

And dismissing the Jimmy Young fight as just an “off night” doesn’t change what actually happened. Young circled, jabbed, and forced Foreman to keep resetting his feet. That style clearly gave Foreman problems. Saying it wouldn’t happen 10 times out of 10 doesn’t change the fact that it did happen, and it happened specifically because of the style.

You also keep saying Usyk isn’t especially quick-footed, but compared to heavyweights his size he absolutely is. Maybe he isn’t as flashy as prime Ali, but neither was the 32-year-old Ali who fought Foreman. Usyk’s movement is more economical. He wastes less energy, which is why he can maintain it for twelve rounds.

And the examples you gave of him getting hit don’t really prove what you think they prove. Every fighter gets hit sometimes. Ali got hit. Holmes got hit. The question isn’t whether Foreman can land a punch, of course he can. The question is whether he can consistently trap Usyk and keep him in position long enough to unload.

Most of the examples you gave also happened because Usyk was the smaller man stepping into range against bigger opponents. When you’re giving up reach and size like that, you have to close distance to land your own shots, which means sometimes you get timed. Against Foreman that dynamic doesn’t really exist. They’re roughly the same size, so Usyk wouldn’t need to take the same risks just to get into punching range.

So saying he’s been timed before doesn’t really prove Foreman can suddenly trap him. It just proves what we already know about boxing: if you engage long enough, both fighters will land something eventually.
At the end of the day the matchup still comes down to a simple question: can Foreman consistently cut the ring off against someone whose entire style revolves around preventing exactly that?

Because historically, mobile fighters who constantly forced Foreman to reset his feet were exactly the type of opponent he struggled with.

 

I think you are underselling Joshuas durability. He took punches from Povetkin, Whyte etc without going down and seemed totally unaffected by the punches of light hitting guys like Franklin and Wallin. He's only been down against Wlad, Ruiz and Dubois and two of those guys are big punchers so no shame there.

Foreman in the 70s was down against Ali, Young, and Lyle so he could be hurt.

As far Dubois let's wait and see how he does against Wardley. Joshua and Hrgovic were not able to deter him from marching forward.

 

I remember the sleghammer right hand Wlad landed on him in the 6th and AJ got up well before the count.

 

Foreman would get Zaired. There’s no way he’d finish against Usyk, who purposely makes heavyweights fight at an uncomfortable pace.