Safe to assume? George was an Olympic heavyweight champ, he followed that by destroying the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world who had beaten the greatest heavyweight of all time.. He made the greatest comeback in the history of sport and regained the title at almost 46 years old. The only bad news is for an unproven prospect to come to George Foreman. Foreman destroys Ike
Ike was like 20 - 25 lbs heavier than Lyle with more muscles and better muscle definition, so the fact that Lyle matched Foreman in strength suggest that Ike could very well be stronger than Foreman
What does that have to do with the fact that Ike was bigger than Foreman and more jacked? So Foreman is stronger than Ike cause he won the Olympic gold and destroyed Frazier? Huh?
Where's is the evidence he wasn't, Foreman out muscled Holyfield (in spurts) Fraizer *2 and Ron Lyle. Ike didn't out muscle any one of note. He out hustled Tua, not muscled. Sure he out muscled Byrd but he's a blown up Middleweight.
No, it means Foreman is much more proven. Muscles don't equal strength, they equal looks, in fact they're usually a hindrance on a fighter.
Except it's not a bodybuilding contest. Who has more definition means nothing. Ken Norton had more definition then George Foreman or Ike.
I agree. Ike played Patty Cake with Tua. He couldn't have hurt Frazier or even Norton with the punches he threw in that fight.
What does any of that have to do with his strength? Discussions like this confuse me. Half the posters seem to be talking about strength and punching power as if they were interchangeable. I thought it was obvious that they were two completely different things, but maybe I'm missing something? And I completely disagree that the punches Ibeabuchi threw in that fight wouldn't have hurt Frazier or, especially, Norton.
Because punches win fights not strength. Anyone being intellectually honest who views Ali in Manila @225lbs and compares how he was punching to Ike in his fight against Tua we'll come back and admit Ali was hitting much harder. I'msure muscle definition means nothing. I hope we can all agree on that much. IMO its far fetched if not a fairy tale all together to think that because a guy has 15 to 20lbs on George Foreman that he is gonna move him around at will or at all. Taking his actual punch is another story. If weightlifting power was that important we would have seen more succes from some of the NFL players that have tried to take up boxing. Maybe Norton if he could hit him which was difficult for some, not for others. It would depend on how Ike blended against a guy with a uncomon stance. Joe Frazier would have taken anything Ike hit Tua with. Not saying Ike couldn't take Joe's. He appeared to take a good shot.
