How good was prime George Foreman?

A prime George Foreman was one of the best heavyweights who ever lived.

If you took Foreman at his best and matched him with every heavyweight who ever lived at their best ... George would beat nearly all of them.

Like he once said, he never trained to beat a specific opponent. He always did what he wanted. He always trained the same way. He'd work on things here or there. But George did what George wanted in the ring.

He said it was up to his opponents to alter "their" styles to try to beat him. He never changed the way he fought to beat a certain guy.

And he was right. Ali had to change his style to beat Foreman. Morrison had to change his style to beat Foreman.

If you didn't change your style to counter his attack, he usually won. If you went in the ring and did what you normally did, and he did what he normally did, you were going to lose. So YOU had to change.

To me, that speaks volumes.

 

and the lineal one. Not that fake one Lennox ended up getting

 

The most dangerous h2h fighter of all time.

 

The most dangerous h2h fighter of all time.

 

really theres no reason to ask this question, just look at his fast KOs against the cream.

 

One can add up problems & make an error in evaluating their overall ability & ranking.

If you did that with Ali what do you have...
No great KO punch or superb power. Yet still a headhunter; rarely went to the body. Lacked basic boxing skills in parrying, blocking, leaned back from punches, etc...So why is he not a sub-journeyman, instead of somewhere between easily an ATG & the GOAT?

Because that does nt take into account both the way fighters minimize or compensate for their deficits, or weight how important they are against the kinds & degree of native talents & skills they have. Which includes will & effort.

Other than this thread, rarely do we SEE comments about how Foreman could walk in punching, did not need to get set, control of distance...Though his jab & rting cutting abilities are better known.

While his endurance was not top noth, How often did he really gas from the start of his career until Ali. through his whole prime?
And that was in great heat, fighting foolishly, & with Ali getting away with not only much clinching, but often pulling down on the back of his neck with all his weight, illegally.

A few could get prime Foeeman, but the vast majority would not.

 

So what happened against Mighty Jimmy Young? And how many truly top-notch opponents did he fight during his entire prime?

 

I would've picked Iron Malik myself, but I see what you're saying.

 

Young Foreman in his physical prime was a wild swinging brute who could have pounded his way to a title in any era where he had the size advantage due to exceptional athleticism and strength even for his size.

In the 80's had he not retired he would have started struggling with equally big, skilled quality heavies, Dokes, Holmes, Witherspoon, Tucker, Thomas, Greg Page. His physical advantages wouldn't mean as much in an era where your average heavy was about his size.

When he did come back he had a totally different fighter mentally with his experience, maturity and age with added weight and strength he was able to do well with the modern heavies. Foreman did try to comeback at 230 and found when he trimmed down to 237 he wasn't as strong as he used to be so he went back up in weight.

Foreman with the athleticism of the early 70's with the mind of his 90's maturity would have never been beaten in his prime. As it was his impatience and lack of skill in his first career he only dominated because he was alot bigger and stronger than the fighters of his time and the ones who were his size weren't exceptional.

Pre 67 Ali would have beat him alot easier than the immobile, slower 70's version.

 

You must know the answer KK. It is very well known that his mentality was damaged after Kinesha, he boxed overly cautiously due to fear of gassing, & was no longer in his prime. Still it was only his 2nd loss, & many say Young got away with some of the same hanging tactics Ali used in Zaire.
He also should not have been dehydrated, I question whatever program he was on for nutrition, & wonder if the rumors about Saddler having him come in too lean/dry are true.

You have a point about his completion. Though most HWs get the same rap, & mmmso many champions. But Frazier was not so declined that it was not at excellent win, Norton was prime...One cannot say because he had a stylistic advantage against 2 very different top fighters that they do not count!

Ali was not nearly immovile in '74, but he agreed to a ring floor & size suited Foreman, & almost nobody would have gotten away from Foreman then.

When he fought Ali he was 49-9 wiith 47 KOs during the Golden Age of HWs.
His competition was not great every time....Like most all, but it was nothing like, say, Wilder's.

I do not agree that when HWs got to be his size he would have often struggled.
Those '80's guys would be mostly bulldozed.
And he did have some boxing abilities with his jab & combos, he was not as much of ONLY a brute as, say, Max Baer.

 

I completely agree; good post.

 

Jimmy Young didn't come to fight. He came to hold and survive until Foreman exhausted himself in the sweltering heat.

 

So can we agree that if a boxer gets knocked down by a feather-fisted fighter who didn't even come to fight and barely makes it to the final bell, he has some pretty serious flaws as a boxer?

 

Foreman didn't look any worse against Young than he did against Ali. He looked like the same ol' sloppy slugger. He also fought fairly dirty against Young and still couldn't put him away.

 

Foreman definitely had flaws. It was exhaustion that put George down against Young, not Young.