Foreman Vs. Lyle; how close Lyle came to winning?

Very,very close indeed.If Ron gets that last knockdown just a few seconds
earlier he stops George.
Great fight and a great display of power and courage from both warriors.

 

Very close, Foreman was very hurt. In fact i saw this fight for the first time in 1990, and for a while I forgot that Foreman had only lost to Ali and Jimmy Young.

 

He nearly had George going in that fight. But I recall him sayin something along the lines of this time there's gonna be no excuse for me losing.
So he dragged himself up off the canvas.

 

Foreman hit the canvas head first.

Lyle found Foreman at the right moment and made the most out of it, even if it was only losing in the greatest slugfest of all time.

 

Was very much a 50/50 fight right up until George landed the pay off blows.

 

Both taken to school too. Lyle must have liked detention, as he came back for a further lesson.

 

Thisclose. Although the bell was most welcome for George, my hunch is that he still would have survived had he been knocked down a few seconds earlier.

 

If the 2nd round hadn't been only 2 minutes long Foreman might of finished Lyle off, alot of people seem to forget that Lyle was in huge trouble in that round and that was a major break for him.

With hindsight for the fans it was the best thing that happened as we witnessed a great slugfest.

 

This is the only time 70s Foreman had someone his physical equal who was ready for it and Lyle realised what “allegedly” “Cus” didn’t. Lol. You can absolutely “come forward” on Foreman with great success. Who would’ve thought those big wide, behind the ear swings sucked inside.

 

“Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the centre of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round – remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.” - James J Corbett.

 

Nice quote.

 

Very true and he was willing to go back for a THIRD detention too. Ron called Jimmy out after the former decisioned Joe Bugner in '77.

 

Maybe Ron should have starred in The Breakfast Club?