how did foreman make such a comeback after 10 years out ??

Foreman's comeback was mostly smoke and mirrors. He fought about 20 bums until he ran into Alex Stewart, by who he got beaten up badly. Lost to Holyfield, Morrison and Schulz and landed a lucky punch on Moorer. Still a good effort, but it's only the best comeback of all times, because there haven't been many others.

 

He had a padded record in his first career, only the Lyle fight and Ali fights were damages, so he was pretty rested and took good care of his body while off

 

While there is some truth to your response, I think that its a bit unfair and certainly over simplified. Foreman's comeback record was hardly stellar, but let's not pretend that he fought 25 guys who were all 0-5 tomato cans. The types of guys he fought were at least good enough to be considered journeyman, Trial horses, and at times even fringe contenders. Over the course of his second career, George compiled wins over Michael Moorer, Lou Savarese, Alex Stewart, Adilson Rodriguez, Pierre Coetzer, Dwight Qawi, Bert Cooper, Gerry Cooney, Terry Anderson, and arguably Shannon Briggs. What's more he stayed active fighting several times per year and destroyed many of his oppoents with greater ease than a lot of prime contenders were the same opponents. His comeback was architected to have a vastly improved defense along with the ability to conserve energy, use straiter more efficient punches and pace himself for the long haul if necessary. He gave Holyfield one of the best fights that he had gotten to that point, dethroned Michael Moorer to become the oldest man in history to regain the title and retired with a comeback record of 31-3-26. That's pretty damn good if you ask me.

 

You carry heavy hands for a long time. It's the last thing to go. George basically took that weapon + his jab, steeled his will and determination and built a style around it -- piece by piece, fight by fight. I don't agree with the ones that say he landed a lucky punch on Moorer -- he had given himself the best possible chance to land that shot by his actions.

 

Big George.....I shook his hand once, and I would shake it again if given the chance.

 

George foreman's comeback smoke and mirrors,no way.He fought his way up just like any other boxer has to and fought guys like holyfield and morrison who basically just boxed him and would hardly stand toe to toe with him so I'm guessing they didn't think George's comeback was a joke.On his comeback he brought his still tremendous power and also brought a granite chin,improved stamina,heart.I don't know what you were watching in the Moorer fight but when I watched it there was no lucky punch as a matter of fact he hits moorer with the same combination that droped him a couple of times that night so i'm guessing he knew which punch would probably drop moorer,not just some random punch.

 

I never said his comeback was a joke. It was remarkable in some ways, but it wasn't like he came back to rule the HW division. His record against top 10 guys was 2-3 (1 KO) (including Schulz and Briggs, which is a bit of a stretch).

 

How do you see it vs SRR's major comeback success?

 

SRR was only out of the ring for 2,5 years. So that's another story. Foreman, to my knowledge, was the only one to pick up a title after ten years of inactivity.

 

His chin, his power, his brain... plus he fought a bunch of bums with a few names in the mix like Dwight Qawi, Gerry Cooney, and even Bert Cooper.

 

Then he fought a great fight with Holyfield. He looked far from great vs. Stewart and Morrison and walked away from those fights 1-1. He shocked the world by beating Moorer. He was lucky to get the win over Schulz and Savarese was tougher than expected. He was robbed vs. Briggs.

 

He was a biological anomaly. A doctor examining him before the Moorer fight said his data looked like that of a 25 year old athlete. His consitution must be one of a kind, with his junk food eating and weight issues and having his number of fights, he is still in good shape today in his 60's, sharp mind, no blurred speach at all. Of course he didn't take much abuse in his first career and was a smart fighter in his comeback.

 

Padded? He fought some bums on the way up like everybody else but he beat good fighters as well. He didn't take much punishment like you said though.

Frazier x2, Norton, Ali, Lyle, Young.

Even before winning the title... in his 4th pro fight he took on the much more experiencd Chuck Wepner (who was 18-4-2 and had yet to fight Liston and Ali) and crushed him in 3.

In his 16th fight and 8th month as a pro he took on the very tough G. Peralta (W10). Foreman stopped him in 10 a year later.

In his 22nd bout he crushed G. Chuvalo in 3. Frazier was the only other fighter to stop Chuvalo in 93 bouts. Chuvalo fought Ali x2, Ellis, Floyd Patterson, and Ernie Terrell among many others.

Boone Kirkman was considered a good fighter when Foreman crushed him in 2 (Kirkman was 22-1). Nobody else ever beat Kirkman like that. Kirkman fought Doug Jones, Ken Norton, and Ron Lyle among others.

 

Its certainly unfair to George that its labelled a lucky shot because he did whatever he could have to ensure that the shot landed. He tipped the scales towards his favor and took advantage. But I personally think that Moorer's bravado and the fact that he basically ignored Teddy Atlas instructions should suggest that Moorer lost that fight more so than George won it.