How did George Foreman stay in better shape than Ali and Frazier?

I find it rather fascinating how a guy like George Foreman was able to live a rather healthy and successful life after boxing, considering how his boxing style was more of a puncher/brawler and he never had a good defense. Plus some of the countless wars he's been involved in.

How was it that he was able to age well, especially compared to Ali and Frazier? Did FOTC, Sunshine Showdown, Rumble in the Jungle, and Thrilla in Manila really take so much out of the 2?

 

Foreman was in much less wars than Frazier and Ali, and certainly not over 15. Against who did he ever take consistent punishment? It was a shootout vs Lyle, but the match was too short to do the kind of damage Norton vs Ali or Frazier vs Ali does to the body.

 

Apart from the fact of being a physical phenomenon Foreman took less beatings than Frazier and Ali.
I do not recall many fights in which he received severe punishment.

 

Its all to do with the Lean, mean, grilling machine. Especially when you consider he sold his interest in it for $ 140 million.

 

I might say taking well over a decade off, enduring NO punishment, might have a great deal to do with it. atsch

 

Well Ali got hit with a terrible life altering sickness, and Frazier passed away from cancer in his late 60's a while back, but Ali and Joe didn't get the benefit of taking a decade off from the sport either...

I don't hear anything or see George on the tube anymore so i really don't know about his health? he's been overweight for many years, and at 65-66, im sure he's got some age related issues...

 

He's lose his hair?

 

He took some crazy shots during his comeback. Holyfield beat the hell out of him. I'm surprised he speaks so well.

 

Luck of the draw.

Pernell Whitaker was a defensive genius and npw talks with a thick tongue. Guys i know who played minor league college football (american) are slurring their words while expros are doing radio shows...

Luck of the draw.

 

Tommy Morrison beat the crap out of him too, and i remember when his face grotesquely Swelled up in the ALEX STEWART fight many years ago, Foreman took a lot more punishment in his 2nd career than the first..

Some guy's i guess have the genetics to avoid serious health problems after boxing for decades, look at Lamotta he's 93 freaking years old..

 

A lot of Foreman's fights were against guys that had zero chance to win with lopsided losing records,even with 30+ fights Foreman was fighting guys 4 rd fighters fight. Foreman had some pretty easy one-sided fights with Norton and Frazier but the Ali,Young and Lyle fights made him leave the ring for 10 years. Age should not be an issue if you take care of yourself and Foreman improved his game and weaknesses.

Old Archie showed him a thing or 2 as well

 

Jim Mcmahon of the Bears revealed that he has advanced Dementia, as did several other NFL players and THOSE GUY'S WEAR HELMETS!

 

Steroid abusing Tommy Morrison ( he admitted this) ran from Foreman the entire fight and won on points.

Can you imagine being in your prime mid to late 20's and on steroids, fighting an old fat man in his 40's who has never used a steroid in his life. Tommy was a coward and a disgrace to the sport.

 

In his first career Foreman took very little punishment.

 

All these things. And yes, "luck of the draw" mostly amounts to genetic roulette.
Some guys have much better or worse ability to take the same punishment.
It likely is correlated with difficulty in being KOed, but not necessarily.
Head thickness, brain & spinal fluis, who knows what else.