How Good Was the Comeback George Foreman's Chin?

I agree with you. I think the majority of Foreman's weight was just fat gain, but I would wager that he probably did add a few pounds worth of muscle mass as well; something that tends to happen when a person gains a massive amount of weight.

But the point that you made about arm size is excellent. I tend to carry a lot of excess fat in my chest and upper arms, so when I gain a substantial amount of weight, my triceps and biceps look big and meaty, and my chest looks pretty big. But the majority of that size is pure fat.

 

Holyfield also dropped Mercer. The man could be brutal in there.

 

This is what I think as well. Holy was a very sharp puncher, with plenty of velocity and snap on his punches.
What Chris said also rings true.

 

Yeah, there are definitely many variables that come into play. What's funny is that Holyfield could look devastating with his punches one night, and then the next night look rather anemic.

Against Bobby Czyz, Holyfield hit him with some pretty good shots, and Bobby said after the fight that his punching power wasn't all that special.

Even Jeremy Bates, who fought both Holyfield and Golota, said that there was no comparison between the punching power of Golota and Holyfield; that Golota was a much bigger hitter than was Holyfield. Although, to be fair to Holyfield, he fought Bates when he was clearly on the down side of his career.

 

These were not prime renditions of Evander Holyfield who fought Bates or Czyz, as you already pointed out, so frankly I don't see the validity in their claims. The Bates fight in particular is a ludicrous comparison. Holyfield was some 43 years old and managed to stop Bates in two rounds regardless. Czyz was known for having a granite chin, albeit spent most of his career at lighter divisions, but Evander was 34 and coming off the worst performance of his career, having been pounded by Bowe.

Like it or not, Holyfield's power was though not legendary, was fairly decent. From the time he beat Dwight Qawi for the cruiserweight title in 1986, to the time he beat Douglas for the heavyweight title in 1990, Evander stopped 13 straight opponents, including 6 top rated cruiserweights and 7 respectable heavyweights. If looked at during his prime years, I'd say Evander's power commanded a fair amount of respect. I will also throw in the tid bit, that Foreman was the first fighter to have gone the distance with Holyfield in many years, and the first heavyweight to survive him ever.

 

No **** sherlock

 

Hey, that sort of thing can happen when I'm posting while tanked (as is often the case). By the way, did you happen to notice the name I used for that post? (However, I give you major points for actually reading it through thoroughly. I thought Pontius was my only stalker.)

 

Holyfield at age 34 probably hit just as hard, if not harder, as he ever did. As was pointed out earlier, Holyfield seemed to lose a lot of his speed and combination punching ability as he gained in punching power.

Holyfield hit Bert Cooper with everything but the kitchen sink and he never dropped him once. And Holyfield was really landing some flush, hard shots on Cooper.

Later on his career, he dropped Riddick Bowe with a single left hook, and he seriously hurt Bowe in their second fight as well.

I agree that Holyfield was a pretty good banger overall. The Holyfield that fought Tyson was probably a better puncher than the Holyfield that fight Douglas or Foreman. But I think the quicker, speedier Holyfield was the better fighter.

 

Holyfield was more devastating in his earlier years as a heavyweight. Using the one example of him flooring Bowe does not convince me that he was more destructive later on.....

 

only playing school teacher with u

 

THE BEST:smoke:smoke:smoke:smoke

 

Sorry to be a nit-picking ass, but Holyfield dropped Cooper in the 1st with a body shot.

 

I remember that as well. I was wondering what Anthony was talking about. I clearly recall Bert being down in the first, then coming back to drop Holy in the third.

 

I should have said with all the punches he landed to the head. Sorry, my mistake!

That single bodyshot was a good one.....But I was focusing on all those solid uppercuts and right crosses that Holyfield landed cleanly on Cooper.

 

And to my memory, Cooper was getting hurt by most of those shots. When Bert was in shape and motivated, he was not any easy opponent to beat. In the summer of 1990, he slugged it out life and death for 12 rounds with Ray Mercer. A few years later, following he Holyfield fight, he went back and forth trading knockdowns with Michael Moorer. It should also be noted, that Cooper was a last minute replacement for Francesco Damiani, who in turn was a replacement for Tyson. Holyfield's opponent for November of 1991 changed names on about 3 different occasions in like a month. Sometimes this can mess a fighter up and cause him to perform at a lesser level. Still, it was a very good fight for both Cooper and Holyfield. I probably still have it on VHS sitting in a box somewhere.

Sad thing is, a kid who doesn't know any better will look up that fight on boxrec and likely say, that Holyfield was floored by a 26-7 journeyman. The truth is, Cooper was a much better fighter than his record showed for those who had the privelage of seeing him at his best.