George Foreman vs. Ray Mercer in 1995

George by Ko. Mercer lost every major fight he was in and this would be no different

 

LOL@ this argument about Holyfield "coulda, woulda, shoulda, stopped Foreman." The reality is that he went the distance regardless of whatever close calls he might have had, and its not like he held on for dear life over 12 rounds to do it. He was a forty two year old man on the comeback trail and survived the best from a prime all time great who had stopped his last 13 strait opponents, including several heavyweight contenders and 4 or 5 of the best cruisers around.. George hit Holy with plenty of decent shots too, some of which would have dropped other less durable men... Boy the straws people draw sometimes.....

 

Talk about straws..

 

Yes and the big difference is that the one Foreman fought was clearly better. No need to elaborate.

Since you're so hell bent on focussing on activity comparisons, I'll point out that within an 18 month period prior to meeting Tyson, Evander had faced all but two opponents, which included an ass kicking from Bowe and an overmatched washed up Bobby Czyz.. Tyson within only 15 months going into that bout had defeated no less than four fighters including Bruce Seldon and Frank Bruno who were better than Czyz, plus Tyson had suffered no recent losses or health issues the way Holyfield had as of late...That was on top of being four years younger and suffering less wear and tear. In 1991, George Foreman had fought a grand total of 6 rounds within a year leading up to Holyfield... Once again, Tyson was more active heading into his meeting with the real deal than Foreman was, while already having the advantages of facing a more deteriorated man and NOT being old enough to remember Lyndon Johnson's inauguration.

I have no doubt Tyson was diminished.. But you seem to think that Holyfield was impervious to old age, inactivity and health issues.. I don't know how old you are or how closely you followed the scene at the time, but HOLYFIELD was the one who was viewed as being washed up... Not Tyson... And Foreman who was 42 years of age, having his career divided by 10 years of inactivity before launching a comeback, and facing a far more primed version of Evander shouldn't be viewed as being in the easier position.

 

Briggs was regarded as a future man in the division, must be in your mind he isnt regarded...Savarese was undefeated, and some were wondering if Big George had underestimated him going into the fight...
If you look at it logical, Briggs were every bit as good as Mercer, plus he was dangerous with both hands.. They both won the WBO Belt and both lost it in their first defence...Briggs was considered a future man and still was beaten up by a 48 year old Foreman.

 

You are completely forgetting about the Wilson defeat that stopped the Briggs train prior to Foreman. You even called him undefeated when he had just lost the year previous by knockout to a no hoper. Nobody was calling Briggs the future of the division after this...

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKduOqSmeBY[/url]

And he did nothing to rebuild his reputation after this either prior to Foreman, no decent wins to get him back on the map, just a steady diet of bums.

Briggs was not every bit as good as Mercer, and I'm not even a big Mercer fan and have cut him down quite a bit on these forums.

 

I just shot down an absurd claim, not sure what you are talking about.

 

You are right, I forgot about the Wilson loss....However, if you compare careers afterwards, they were equal in succes....

And I still believe Foreman would have beaten Mercer in a fight in 95....

 

Biggs was nothing but a frontrunner who got dropped by Atlas after the Wilson debacle, Biggs claimed he had a ahstma attack , Teddy said BS you talk the talk but dont walk the walk and that was that.

Savereasy was a Tuesday fighter on the USA network..............nothing more or less, good guy but very limited .

All fighters that Foreman/Arum handpicked in his come back had asteristics attached....

Holyfield for the belt but regarded as that point not a true heavy with true heavy punch

Moorer, glass chin light heavy

Stewart,Saverese, Biggs Schultz, Crimsley,Rodriguez, Cooper Morrison C/D level at best and even then he struggled with some of them. I am not even mentioning the long shoreman or bouncers he fought at the beginning of his comeback.

There is a lot of romantic revisionist re writing in regards to Foreman going on on this site.

The fact remains he was seen as circus act sideshow when he was active and he was not taken seriously, yeah HBO hugged his nuts but that was about it. How do I know ? I was there .........

Foreman never faced ANY dangerous contenders or present/past belt holders with gas in their tank besides the above mentioned and explained why Holyfield / Moorer.

There were many top tier guys aching to fight Foreman, for top money and having his name on their record but he avoided them like the plague....Bowe Tyson,Lewis, Bruno, McCall etc etc would have signed in a heartbeat.

Foreman also never fought himself into any serious title spots............he relied on HBO/Arum hype and his name........

I always liked Foreman but in his second career he was nothing but smoke and mirrors, he did write history with his somehow lucky punch KO win for a major belt but beside that he was just a very smart well managed fighter facing handpicked lower tier boxers

 

I remember Briggs being considered a hot prospect up until he lost to Wilson(?). But after that, his stock certainly fell. Going into the Foreman fight, Briggs was considered a good opponent for the 48-year-old Foreman, but he wasn't considered a top dog in the division.

 

Excellent post. I agree with everything you wrote. Foreman, somehow, established himself as a legitimate title contender without facing any real threats along the way. He was a very shrewd businessman/salesman, and he knew how to capitalize on his whole 'former heavyweight champion, reborn preacher man, grandfather story line' to open doors that should have been opened via him winning important fights. I was a teenager through most of Foreman's comeback, so I was not mature enough to recognize Foreman for the con man that he was.
And his whole "I returned to boxing to fund my youth center and charitable enterprises" was pure B.S; the MAIN reason Foreman came back was that his bank account was practically empty and he desired very much to be the rich man that he once was.
Preacher George believed wholeheartedly in the "prosperity gospel." Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but he sold his return to boxing as a charitable endeavor, which, to me, was flaky!

 

That's why Holyfield was holding at the end.

 

Lots of Foreman haters here...

 

You were where?

 

Without a doubt!