Ok..so many threads on this guy lately..lets pull them into one. Is he.. A. Nice guy sparred with a washed up Liston beat loads of no names on the way up,then stumbled on a lethargic Frazier and happened upon a terrified Norton who hated big guys..then blew it in the jungle with naive tactics against God then luckily won a punch up v Lyle then got outsmarted (again) by Young..then quit.....then came back beat some nobodys then came up short against good fighters before chancing on lazy Moorer before scabing some dodgy decisions against second tier challengers...as well as reinventing oneself and making millions as a nice guy..... OR.. B...First guy to make Liston back up in the gym..demolished 40 opponents..flattened ATG Frazier then Norton..looked unbeatable..lost in Zaire due to heat,Dick Sadler,naievety,drugged,immaturity...came back to flatten Lyle Frazier,Le doux,Dennis, lost by way of abberation to Young..came back won title defended it several times Complete opposite of nice guy he paints himself...tough guy GEORGE FOREMAN...awesome or boresome. ?
Sorry Big George lost in Africa, because Ali was the better all around fighter, not because of heat, dick, immaturity, or some other lame excuse.. I wish they would have rematched in 1975, or 1976, Ali would have thumped him again, slick savvy boxers gave GF, nightmares..
combo of both but mostly B. although the lost to ali was no one's fault but his own and ali hitting him. He is a nice guy who potrayed a sonny liston like image early in his career
The nice guy stuff is said by many to be an act. The ESPN Sportscentury episode on him had some people (Jim Brown, Teddy Atlas, some boxing writer talking about Foreman cussing at Richie Giamatti) talking about Foreman....what came out of it was basically saying that he wasn't some total monster in his younger days and he's not the total nice teddy bear he appears to be now. I agree with that.
Ali schooled Foreman. Even in the rounds when Foreman was throwing too much and getting himself tired, he was eating the cleaner shots to the head.
He was an all time great no matter how one tries to slice, dice it, or twist it... And many have tried using some of the most bizarre angles to belittle his legacy, ie. " he beat a crap version of Frazier." " Norton was too chinny." " he fought bums in his comeback and got lucky against Moorer," blah, blah, blah... He was one of the division's greatest punchers. An exciting fighter to watch. A bit of a dickhead in his first career, but very refined and charasmatic in the comeback. A two time lineal heavyweight champion, and the oldest man to capture the HW crown, plus an olympic gold medalist. He definitely makes my top 10...
Steve Bunce the boxing correspondant said this...."George Foreman, lovely guy, nasty piece of work !!!" Like most of us he is each of those in some measure.
A very good fighter overall. But he wasn't the God-like man-mountain that some hero-worshipping Foreman apologists on here claim him to be. Like many good or great fighters, Foreman had his strengths and weaknesses. He was big, strong, and powerful; he had a great chin, awesome punching power, and great determination. But he was also limited. He wasn't the best boxer, and he didn't really pace himself well in his first career. And he showed that he could be outboxed and hurt on occasion.
True Anthony, still an ATG & very few could beat him prime. He was not 100 % after Ali, & even Ali needed loose ropes & frequently hanging on him + pulling his head down-one of these things he would likely have won later in the fight, without both he loses. He admitted being out on his feet a couple times as it was, even with Foreman fighting stupidly & Ali minimizing the impact of so many blows.
