This was briefly touched on in the Louis vs 90’s Punchers thread (InMemoryofJakeLaMotta), & I thought it might be interesting. Let’s say 1991 Foreman -vs- prime incarnations of… Schmeling Baer Sharkey Braddock Throw the prime models of early 40’s Conn & the Walcott of the late 40’s in there, too.
Conn and Walcott have a very good chance of outpointing Foreman and sprinting around him, Sharkey too but he has a high chance of ****ing it up Braddock and Baer get destroyed. Schmeling has never fought a heavyweight of note that is near 90s Foreman’s size. Baer is the closest, but that fight didn’t end very well.
I fancy Baer & Schmeling to get the better of him. Walcott probably, & Conn, very possibly. Sharkey is an each-way bet & Braddock, the longest odds.
Under the 1930s rules Louis and Braddock have the best chance because they are the hardest to knock out and can win a majority of the rounds. Under 1990s rules where a knockdown is a 10-8 Braddock has the best chance because Louis is easier to knock down. This is assuming things about Braddocks chin that cannot be assumed but the only one to truly stop Braddock was prime Joe Louis who cracked Uzcudin, Scozza exploited a cut from the previous fight. Max Baer is not winning a firefight with Foreman. It just is not going to happen. Same goes for his brother. Carnera has a better chance than him. Schmeling, Tommy Loughran and Sharkey can win rounds against Foreman but they do not have either the chin and/or size to survive. But I'll give them a better chance than Baer(in the order listed) cause at least their gameplan isn't going to be to knock George out. Whether it be Louis, Baer bros, Braddock etc who have some power I'm taking it as a given they can't crack Foremans chin. Jimmy got Foreman down at the end of the fight but that isn't something that can be planned on he got that knockdown in the final round when George was behind on points. Of those 3 Schmeling has by far the best chance because hes got the most size but I'm thinking if Baer could crack him Foreman will. I wrote this thinking we were talking 70s Foreman. It mostly holds true but I guess everyones got a considerably better chance. Max or Buddy at their very best KO'ing Foreman is a possibility now but still Foreman at the very end was able to deal with Briggs. Max has a better chance than a Tyson but not as good a chance as a Dempsey. I don't have Walcott in this group cause he got stopped 4 times by guys under 200 pounds.
Schmeling & Walcott would likely beat Foreman IMO. Morrison did it but Schmeling & Walcott are going to come up short? Maybe, but I question it.
The slicksters might have a chance. The other guys get smashed. The only guy that is physically comparable to Foreman in Baer is just a terrible boxer and in my opinion Foreman absolutely whallops him because he at least has an idea of what he is doing.
