Did Foreman really struggle with Peralta & Qawi?

I don`t think the Qawi fight is as important, as George got older he struggled and lost in a number of fights.

 

Not being able to put away Peralta in their first fight is no mark of shame Gregorio was famously durable.I thought it pretty ambitious matchmaking myself. He got the job done against Qawi, he didnt look a milllion dollars doing it but Christ he was an old man for the ring by then.

 

Which Peralta Fight? George stopped him the second time around, just over a year after their first fight. Peralta was a good fighter, while George was not fully seasoned, even by the time of the second bout. A good learning curve for George. The Qawi fight was another fighter on route to Georges eventual title fight.

 

I never understood some folks' view of the Qawi fight. It looks like a simple, cautious beatdown wherein the larger, stronger fighter imposes his physicality because he quickly figures out his opponent has no answer for it. Some flashes are probably enticing to certain spectators but the overall progression seems inevitable, a larger fighter slowly containing and disassembling a smaller opponent.

 

He didn't struggle with Qawi,...but he sure as hell did with Peralta. I saw that fight live via closed circuit tv...and that fight really provoked a classic "David vs Goliath" reaction with the crowd....and though he lost, Peralta covered himself with glory that night IMO.

 

Can you imagine 3 years later, Peralta saying to anyone who listened "He couldn't do that to me!" as George was clobbering Frazier around the ring.

 

Lol, I've thought of that. Gregorio Peralta didn't hurt his cause at all when he fought Foreman.

 

It was a late round tko, that rematch, I don't know for sure if he had the Argentine down, or whether it was an attrition type stoppage. Either way, Peralta had nothing to be ashamed of in either fight, especially the first one. That first fight was a harbinger of things to come vs Ali and Young.

 

If I recall, I don't think he went down, Peralta was stopped on the ropes.

 

I believe that's the way I heard that it went too.

 

Haven't watched the Peralta fights, but definitely wouldn't say he struggled against Qawi. The smaller, slicker man had his moments before inevitable end, that's all.

 

Btw, while we chat on the above fights, the last time I watched the Foreman - Qawi bout (for about the fifth time) was about a year ago, and I remember thinking that if the bout had gone on the way it did for the first four rounds, Foreman could have lost on points. I will have to watch it again to be sure.

 

It would seem that the press were watching a different fight to the one I saw as most of them scored it pretty lopsided for Foreman. Peralta took everything Foreman threw at him, but if you gave Foreman all of the close rounds you could have scored it lopsided for him though. At the same time if you were looking to give Peralta rounds, you can definitely find a few. Although Foreman was still green, developing and learned a lot from this fight, it's one of them fights that makes me question any poster that says 'well fighter A had good power and a 20 pound weight advantage so he wins because he's to big for fighter B'.

 

Big george broke them both fairly easily I thought