Do you think this fight exposed Foreman slightly?

Getting beat by Foreman not good for your health, but Gullicks death was rather grisly to say the least.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/12/14/A-burned-body-found-in-a-field-has-been/8717534920400/

 

We had the Gullick debate here several times now. I don´t think its about height rather than about George beeing open and not defensively focused. In other words: He got hit alot of times. It was just his style and didn´t matter that much when you´re just much more powerful than your opponent. If thats the case, your power becomes your defense since the other fighter has his hands full of handling this heavy hands.
This style backslided against a fighter with good power in Ron Lyle. 90s George on the other hand adapted a cautious safty first style and arranged his stamina.

 

If george hated fighting tall fighters he sure went out of his way to fight them. Even in his first career he has at least half a dozen or more opponents who were his own height or taller. Ditto for his second career.

What he hated were slicksters/movers with good stamina who could counter punch. He was afraid of tony tucker, quarry, etc and openly ducked them yet he was more than willing to fight big tall dangerous punchers like lyle, cooney, briggs, stewart, etc. It wasnt about the height, it was the style. Ali and young literally gave him nightmares for a decade.

 

That’s terrible. What a way to go. There must be a story behind that.

 

I have always thought this was a very interesting fight since this was about the most recent live opponent George fought before taking on Joe Frazier. So George really was prime here. What a raw talent George still looks. So strong, yet so open.

Thinking only of Frazier against Ali, there is no way anyone could imagine George beating Frazier going off this!

It just goes to show that sometimes it is impossible to guess how a fight goes down. Sometimes you really need hindsight to examine an example like the Ron Stander fight more closely to understand what just happened.

As it turned out, It took somebody like Foreman to show that Frazier had really declined rather than the closer inspection of the Stander film.

I think George was fortunate Ted lacked world class power. Frazier had the world class power, but he was not the same fighter anymore.

 

What did you see reviewing the Stander film? Frazier cut him to ribbons in 4 rounds.

 

Well that's awkward.

 

Somehow he'll make a dominant 1 sided beat down look like evidence frazier was an old man ready to lose his belt to any half decent fighter.

 

Frazier won the fight clear enough for sure. He indeed cut Stander to ribbons. But it was not the same Joe Frazier that had fought Muhammad Ali was it?

In the Ali fight Frazier’s footing was so good he could reach a fighter who outreached him on the outside. The required timing and anticipation to achieve this was breathtaking. This was completely gone forever after that fight. Sure Frazier could beat the crap out of a sitting duck, but by now he was having to walk up to the guy to do it. He was not meeting the guy at range anymore. He had lost a range that he had before. I have studied his fights and there is a difference. And it is evident in the Stander fight for sure.

 

I don't dispute Joe wasn't the same fighter he had been at his peak. I just didn't see anything in the Stander fight specifically.

 

Well you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Closer inspection shows Joe is getting hit more on the way in because He’s walking into range before punching. And he does this with Stander. This becomes a handicap against a puncher like Foreman. George can simply draw a line in the canvas where Joe can reach him, push him back beyond that line and swat him. It was one of Foreman’s easiest fights. Easier than Ted Gullick even. And this is because Joe has lost a range that he previously could land at.

 

"He was afraid of Tony Tucker, Quarry etc." .....

 

You may be read ing a little too much into those first couple of rounds. Joe was always a slow starter and he got hit even in his best years. Nobody hit like Foreman

 

Perfectly reasonable assumption. I just think the fight was made all the more easier for Foreman in that Frazier was no longer landing from a range he previously could. George was simply pushing him back into a position where he was the only one who could land. Because of this It was virtual shooting practice and was one of the easiest fights George ever had. But it might not have been so easy.

Previously Frazier would have been hitting George as he was trying to push him -as even Ted Gullick was able to do. That side of things could not have worked, and I believe it is reasonable to assume that would make it a very different affair altogether.