Do you think George Foreman purposefully fought at 250+ pounds for the majority of his comeback on purpose, or do you think he simply could not train hard enough or restrict his diet enough to fight at a more svelte weight? By all accounts, Foreman trained like a dog, at least for his big comeback fights, yet never managed to show up looking lean and trim...The closest he came to that was against Dwight Qawi, when he weighed in at 235 solid pounds. There are a lot of "older " athletes in their 40's and beyond who manage to maintain svelte physiques and high levels of fitness together..........Against Holyfield, Foreman was a glacially slow and ponderous 257 pounds. I think he would have performed better, yet still lost, if he were around 230-235.............Thoughts????
oh yea, im sure he did train like a dog. he wanted that championship as bad as holyfields still wants his as we speak. i think his metabolism slowed down a bit and from the pictures and video i saw of him training, he is not as into weight lifting as holyfield or maybe diet and weight loss as hopkins. i heard something like "every ten years you gain ten pounds" im sure something could be with foremans personal preference too. he may have felt better and more commanding with more weight.
I think George trained very hard in his comeback fights, especially as he moved up in competition. He was coming down from the mid 300's when he started back. I just think his genetics caught up with him. Some fighters have to stay in the gym year round non stop and any long time off of exercising causes their body to change big time as they get into their upper 20's and 30's. Anyone in their 40's has experienced body changes. There are people who dont put on too much weight through life, but most do. Hopkins is a perfect example, but even he couldnt stay at 160 and has admitted he could never get close to 160 again once he started slowing down.
Foreman weighed "267" pounds for his comeback fight against Zouski back in 87. He was as low as 235 for Qawi. 15Lbs. over his prime Wt. He prefered to fight at around 250. He said he felt stronger.
Correct answer. He could have stayed at 235 or lighter, but he said he didn't feel any benefits. And at 250 he felt stronger. Age, metabolism, genetics, are just excuses people give when they let themselves go in their middle age.
I dont know if he could have gone down to 135. He could have gone down to the same body fat percentage as he had been at 135 though.
For the type of training he was doing, I think he was at his best around the 250 mark. Foreman was always big and slow, but very powerful. If I'm right, he mainly did strength and cardio training (chopping wood, pulling cars, hitting bags and sparring) and not much conditioning.
Foreman would run up steep hills and mountains during his comeback at an extremely slow pace, but reportedly for up to two hours at a time. Aerobically, he seems to have been as much of a freak as he was in the area of functional strength. His typical waist measurement was reported to be 38 inches during his second career. He did do some weight lifting, and appears to have increased his muscle mass over the course of his decade long return.
