George Foreman , overrated ?

How is George Foreman rated? If you have him in the top 3 or 4 I could see a case that he is overrated. I think top 10 is fair. His comeback regaining the title made it a little tricky rating him.

 

None of this was wrong. The best way to look at it was Foreman was a special puncher with a good chin, but he wasn't fast, had stamina related issues, and didn't always fight smart

 

A problem i have with rating Norton highly is his terrible record against big hitters. The Shavers and Cooney losses indicate that he simply cant deal with big hitters even if they are not great fighters. This lack of versatility hurts his ranking. I feel Young may do better against various styles.

 

He did go up against some big guys:

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The problem with Foreman as I've pointed out is the win over Frazier is not enough to compensate for a lack of depth in his resume as well as failing to dominate. There are other heavyweights outside the top 10 who have wins that are comparable or close in scale.
Max Schmelling beating Joe Louis
Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson
Riddick Bowe beating Evander Holyfield
Oliver McCall beating Lennox Lewis
Hasim Rahman beating Lennox Lewis.

If Bowe's wins over Holyfield don't propel him automatically into the top 10 then it seems silly to think the Frazier win is enough to put Foreman there.

As far as Norton goes he was kayoed by Garcia, Shavers, and Cooney. He clearly had big problems with punchers which objectively makes Foreman's win over him a lot less impressive. You have to take the good with the bad when assessing a fighter and Norton showed that it didn't require a great fighter to beat him merely someone who could hit hard.

 

Over the sum total of his career Norton beat five top contenders-Ali, Quarry, Bobick, Young, and Tex Cobb. The Ali win is exceptional but I don't know if that win alone is enough to put him ahead of guys with much deeper resumes.

 

Let us all know when one of those guys wins the lineal title at 45 or older. Forgetting that bit are we?

Let us know when anyone else in history has done it at Heavyweight actually?

 

But Moorer wasnt the best heavyweight in the world and neither was Foreman. Bowe, Lewis would have beaten either of them. Usually the champion is the best heavyweight in the world but Moorer wasn't and Foreman couldn't even beat Morrison and got gift decisions against guys like Alex Stewart and Schultz. In his next fight after beating Moorer a guy outside the top 10 beat Foreman in the eyes of many observes. How are you reconciling the Moorer win being a big achievement with Foreman's overall poor performance in the 90s against top-tier fighters?

At age 40 Vitali Klitschko was considered the second best heavyweight in the world whereas at a similar age there are many guys I would pick to beat George like Holyfield, Witherspoon, Tucker, Ruddock, Tubbs, etc.

 

Also, lineage gets complicated when fighters refuse to face the best available. When Bowe refused to fight Lennox why does he deserve to still be called champion? I think Lewis would have beaten Bowe at that stage and don't see any reason to regard the Holyfield-Moorer-Foreman lineage as more legitimate than the Lewis-McCall-Bruno lineage

 

Anything and everything Foreman's ever done is discredited by yourself and the OP. You are out to paint a negative slant on every positive that could possibly arise.

It's a very easy game.

 

Perhaps beating the Undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World by knockout is still a big win. Fact is Moorer was the best in the world at the time as he beat the man who beat the man. Moorer never tasted defeat until he fought Big George.
The rest of it is meaningless. What you think someone might have done means nothing. There is a reason why they fight the fights.

You didn't predict Foreman would beat Moorer.

 

Putting the most positive spin on Georges achievements is not enough to put him in the top 10. What about all the guys with more title defenses? With more wins over raked opponents fewer defeats? If we are going by how old someone can compete than Vitali would be ahead of Jor Louis and Ali.

 

You havent addressed Bowes wins over Holyfield? Are people unfairly keeping him out of the top 10.

 

Someone ranking Foreman outside their top 25 is unreasonable but i dont think he makes the top 10. Since he wasnt the best of his era he would rank behind the guys who did dominate and beaise those who came up short.