Early 1970s George Foreman really impressive

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

George ALWAYS pushed people around.

Did the same damned thing decades later against Morrison.

 

I'm satisfied that the early 1970s Foreman would have been too strong, too powerful and too overwhelming for most heavyweights in history. Sure, the young Foreman had weaknesses, but it would have taken exceptionally great heavyweights to exploit them.

As for why Foreman seemed less aggressive after the Zaire fight, that is because he changed his style. He fired his original trainer after losing to Ali, and he hired Gil Clancy to replace him. Clancy felt that Foreman needed to calm down, be less aggressive and work on dominating opponents with his left jab.

 

For whatever reason, George Foreman seemed to have lost his interest in boxing during the late 70's. In his earlier years, he was mean, aggressive, tough, a real Clubber Lang type individual if you will. He showed little or no fear of anyone, though he later admitted he was afraid of Frazier and Norton, but I think this was more out of humbleness in his old age.

George's wins in his youth are often forgotten. Some only credit him for the Frazier, Norton and Lyle wins, but he beat some very good fighters in Chuvalo, Kirkman, Peralta, Roman, Denis and yes even journeyman Wepner. These fights don't seem to earn him much credit, but I think they should. Foreman managed to beat 45 fighters and 42 of them by way of knockout in just 8 eight years. He also seems to get sold short in representing the United States in the olympics, winning the gold medal while his country was in the Vietnam war, and one of the darkest periods of its history. The black community embraced Joe Louis and it fell in love with Muhammad Ali, but never seemed to give the same praise to George Foreman. When Foreman traveled to Africa, he wasn't even accepted by the natives, who were of his own herritage. I find this to be disgusting. Not to turn this conversation into a politically incorrect one, but as a caucasion American, I am more than willing to accept George Foreman as a White Man's champion if no one else will label him otherwise. Probably not a good thing to bring up, and I appologize to those who are sensitive on the issue, but frankly , I think this man was deprived of his rightful dues. In defense of him, he had a rather bad role model, and he said so himself. He began his career as a sparring partner for Sonny Liston. He said that he liked the way he acted, but also said later on " that isn't the way to make friends ". He proved how great of a man he really was by changing his ways. He became a preacher. Started his own youth center for troubled kids. When the place ran out of money. He specifically started boxing again in 1987 to raise money for the cause. I don't personally feel that he did it because of his own greed, simply due to the fact that he had no idea exactly how successful his comeback was going to be. In all reality, he probably thought that he was going to win a few easy fights, maybe get a shot at a contender, and fight a few charity fund raisers. As it turned out, he did the impossible and became a legendary icon. He was and still is a role model for me.........

 

Well said, Magoo.

Foreman's career is riddled with good fighters, but he gets slack for taking some easy fights at an advanced age after fighting more, and longer than any of his peers.

 

I was driving thru the east side of Houston one day in the early 80's and I saw a 300 pound man on a street corner reading to all who would listen from a Bible that looked like a match box in his massive hands.

It was George.

Next thing I know he is on USA Tueday Nite Fights and talking about training on hamburgers and fried chicken.

What a life this guy has had.

 

I don't personally think Foreman looked impressive in the early 1970s, at least in terms of technique. All that bouncing around sapped the power from his punches and expended a lot of unnecessary energy; he had one of he most energy-intensive defenses ever, given how much muscle use all that pushing and parrying required; he didn't mix up his punches well and didn't throw them well.

What is impressive is that, despite all these technical flaws, he was very effective because of his strength, size and power. The fact that he was able to hurt tough men like Chuvalo and Wepner with what were little better than arm-punches is amazing. Of course, when Foreman planted his feet properly and unloaded, as at the end of the Norton fight or in the Frazier fight, his punches had outrageous power. Ask Ali's kidneys.

I actually think that Gil Glancy's Foreman had much, much better technique and a conservative strategy was actually better. However, the fact that Foreman wasn't quite as good under Clancy shows just how much of boxing is mental. You can have all the technique in the world, but if your mind is elsewhere, things are unlikely to work out properly.

 

He was impressive against Chuvalo. Excellent jab and he was moving around well. And boy could Chuvalo take some hard shots. I suggest everyone watch the fight. Young Foreman never went further than 4 rounds for many years before facing Ali. That loss destroyed him mentally. Never the same fighter again. Old Foreman won a title, young Foreman would've cleaned out the 90s division. I only give Lewis and Holyfield any chance but if a Young George caught them early.......

 

I think part of it had to do with him not expecting ever to get a shot against Ali again after the trouble he went through 75-76-77. He was trying to get that fight for a long time with Ali retiring and un-retiring and fighting some soft touches.... and when Foreman lost to Young, i guess he saw no end in sight.

Plus the fact that he not only lost to but thought he was humiliated by Ali, but couldn't seem to redeem himself, probably gave him many sleepless nights.




On your part of him not being recognised as champion, i think he said "No one called me champ untill i lost to Muhammad Ali". Maybe he was doing his regular praising of Ali, but it is often true that champions only get their credit due (long) after they lost the title. For some reason, people have more respect looking back.

 

Nice post. I agree on all points, especially the mental part of it.

 

Foremans early fights didnt impress me much really ,after the Ali era I found George clumsy in the extreme , he looked like a big old Lion playing with a mouse in a lot of fights pawing them out to long range , to deliver those arcing swings .what did impress me was the reaction of the guys he hit,when he landed you knew it was seriously heavy.George reminded me of a raw Liston he had the power but not the polish.

 

Nice history. I love George. My good friend and I watched him live in Oakland CA, 2nd or 3rd fight of his comeback against a guy named Charlie Hostettler. Didn't know how far he'd get in his comeback tour but we both thought with that power???????????

 

I think he did land one or two on Frazier ,along with the pushing