George Foreman vs Oleksandr Usyk

There is a difference between a natural 220lb man and a bulked up 220lbs man.

PS - Even in his younger days Foreman was walking around at 240lbs.

If Usyk stops training he will fall down to the 200lbs range.

Furhermore, Foreman's exceptional power meant he could KO much bigger man than him too, late or early into a fight.

Foreman

 

How do you know this?

 

Possibly. But if we start imagining fighters as they might be and not how they actually were we enter anything goes territory. Maybe Usyk in the 70s has even greater stamina and no one can match his workrate? Maybe 240lbs prime Foreman gasses even quicker than his 70s iteration?

Anyway, I think we're splitting hairs a bit. I don't disagree that Foreman was the naturally bigger man. He's much thicker set, and just generally more massive in his frame. But he's not going to dwarf Usyk in there, or be tossing him all over the ring like a ragdoll unless Usyk tries to get physical himself or Foreman inexplicably abandons his usual methodical style and just goes in all guns blazing.

I think Foreman's size and strength makes itself felt if he can pin Usyk down in the corners. Otherwise he's mostly going to be standing tall, jabbing at range, attempting to parry Usyk's blows and trying to get in hard shots of his own when Usyk darts in and out trying to land shots of his own. He won't have time to manipulate Usyk because Usyk won't be staying in one place long enough for him to do so. Or he'd have very little success following up on any pulls, pushes or off balancing cuffs he might catch Usyk with due to how mobile the latter would be.

Yes, he doesn't look comfortable in the clinch, and if he panics and tries to clinch Foreman I can see Foreman's physicality coming into play in a big way. But Foreman would need to effectively close him down for that to happen, cutting off Usyk's angles of escape to the point where his only options are to fight out or tie up. Possibly he could do that. I'm not confident on the matter either way.

 

Anyone who voted for Foreman needs to watch the closest-to-prime-Foreman we ever see at 26, 229 lbs fighting Jimmy Young, who is slightly shorter and lighter than Usyk. Leaden-footed Foreman gets his head jabbed off chasing a ghost for all but two rounds and loses 118-109 on my card. After 6 or 7 rounds of getting schooled and effectively clinched by the smaller man, an enraged Foreman goes into rampage mode and tries to take Young out but fails, then tries to same thing a couple of rounds later and fails again. Foreman's dodgy gas tank gives out and he finds himself on chicken legs before getting dropped in the 12th by the featherfisted fringe contender. Usyk vs Foreman would be more of a one-sided schooling than Usyk vs Gassiev and Foreman could easily get stopped in the later rounds.

 

Lets wait until Usyk has beaten someone of value at heavyweight

 

Usyk would lose to young, aggressive gunslinger Foreman but would outfox old, patient Foreman.

 

Amazing, that there are people picking a guy who's beat Chaz Witherspoon and a shot Chisora at heavyweight to beat a prime George Foreman.

 

Based on what? The guys Foreman fought in the 1970s are around the same size as the cruiserweights Usyk beat sizewise. So it should give a good gauge of how he would handle Foreman.

Gassiev might well beat everyone Foreman beat

 

Hell no, Fazier, Norton and Lyle would outclass Gassiev

 

Usyk is better than Jimmy Young, and don't say young is more proven at heavyweight because lots of cruiserweights nowadays would be heavyweights in the 70s. Thats the entire problem. Prime Foreman didn't fight in an era of super heavyweights. He fought in an era of small heavyweights who aren't much bigger at all than the cruiserweights of today

 

At that point Foreman had lost his desire for boxing. He was burned out. Before Ali, Young would have been a duck. A dead one.

 

george beat a 230 lb 6'5" savarese who was 36-0 and favored to beat george, who was lineal hw champ at the time. and he did it as a frickin old man. but you want to talk about guys like chisora cause supposedly george fought a bunch of cruisers compared to todays beasts. 6'5" 230 lbs and undefeated in 36 fights.

 

Ali fanboys believe this.

 

Genuine question who do you think would win. Prime Muhammad Ali or prime Oleksandr Usyk

 

Wouldn't be surprised if Usyk defeats him on points. Good stamina, good size, hand speed and defence.

I would favour Usyk to beat every single boxer faced by "Prime" Ali.