Is George Foreman the most overrated boxer in history?

How do you figure he was number three? Where does that put Tommy Morrison or Shannon Briggs? Both those guys beat him. I don't see George as easily top 5. Riddick Bowe was there and more dominant. Tyson to me won the title back and was decent then.

 

You lost any real credibilty when you said Briggs won that fight. That decision was atrocious. Morrison was too inconsistant (getting torched by Bentt in one, etc.), and when he defeated Foreman, bascially had to switch to boxing and avoid any serious attempt to engage with George in a fight that I thought was actually pretty close.

 

I don't see how Foreman could ever be considered a top 5 heavyweight during his comeback years. He avoided all the top 5 guys, and he only took on tougher opponents when there was a title involved. There were a lot of guys, many of them unranked and unheard of, that would have beaten George.

 

Easily the greatest big heavy of any time. No doubt in mikeys mind if he fought Ali say in Vegas foreman wins it. He lost the zaire fight before it began. Voodoo, poision, lol. Easily the greatest 2 career heavyweight ever.. he took thunder shots from a young strong holyfield.. still has a clear mind and welcome to the machine...those burger machines..yummy. if I could of had any ones career it would of been Big george foremans.. DRMULLEN.

 

Your argument about Bentt takes down Morrison, who beat Foreman months before. That just proves Tommy was overrated. So what does it mean if he outboxed George? And with Briggs the fight was debatable and George was beaten up and retired. Fact is George does not belong in the top 3 in the 1990s or all time. He had 3 cracks at the title in the 1990s. He never fought Lennox.

 

Holyfield is a great fighter but thunderous shots? Evander was throwing those punches after he stunned Foreman, but he was not throwing thunderous punches but rather short sharp punches which were stunning George. Holyfield at heavyweight was a sharp puncher but not a hard puncher.

 

Foreman has to be rated highly in the rankings of all-time heavyweights.

He beat Frazier emphatically, no excuses. Frazier was unbeaten and favoured to win.
And Frazier went on to give Ali hell again, once or twice..

And his comeback is remarkable. It's true that he beat a weak champion in Moorer (IMO, Moorer was lucky to get the nod against Holyfield in a razor-close fight where Holy fought as if he was injured), but he beat him, and beat him by KO.
Also, outside of that Foreman was a contender in his 40s after a 10-year layoff.

I think Foreman should be rated above Frazier, and Frazier is firmly in the top 10, IMO. Foreman is arguably top 5.

 

Really...?

Were you saying this in 94 when Moorer was an undefeated, 26 year old, heavy punching southpaw linear champion who beat the man who beat the man? Or were you like the rest of the world believing that Foreman was in danger of real injury? If you claim that you favored Foreman in that fight I'd question your honesty.

Anyone who dismisses the plain fact that Foreman stepped into the ring 20 years after he lost the title and took it back by knockout has a real problem with cynicism.

 

I had Foreman at 5, but switched him with Lewis at 6 due to some grave and fair arguments from posters here. The honest observer just cannot consider that Moorer fight anything less than jaw-dropping. Literally and figuratively. That fight catapults George... it is unprecedented.

 

I agree completely. The match is often disregarded as a fluke around here. But, no matter how one tries to rewrap or repackage the facts, it was still a legacy enhancing win and probably won of the most earth shaking victories in the history of the sport. Imagine if Joe Louis had comeback around 1960 to beat Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight championship of the world. It would have been just as awesome regardless of what people made of Patterson's chin, lucky circumstances, the world being off it's axis, whatever.

 

Foreman could fight in any decade and have a good chance because of his power. He had talent made it to the gold in the olympics. He was the most built up fighter ever (fought the most bums for a Padded record) but he did beat Frazier(a burnt Frazier) however I think the Foreman that was exposed by Ali would have been vs Walcott, Charles and any excellent fighter who could avoid his wide swings. Still Foreman learned to relax in his comeback and is top 10 ATG heavy...He was a puncher extrodanare and had a good jab and got off the floor to win (Lyle) his Ko by Ali was because he could no longer lift his arms and lack of stamina....Do I think Foreman could have lost to Louis,Marciano,Dempsey,Lewis,Tunney,Walcott,Charles,Lewis....Yes but he can not be counted out against any of them because of his power...however his chances would diminish as the fight progressed because of George's poor stamina

 

Those last moments of the fight were the most dramatic moment in sport's history that I've ever seen. The fact the Foreman came in wearing the SAME red and blue shorts that he wore against Ali in Zaire -all worn out and faded- and then did what he did after losing damn near every round made George Foreman John Henry in my book. He became a damn folk hero.

The nay-sayers should be fed castor oil and gagged.

 

I know, and I remember it as vividly as if it were yesterday.

I was 20 years old and my best friend and his father came over to my house because I had HBO and they didn't. We were drinking beers and having a pretty good time. In those days, I was a cigarette smoker ( no longer. ) Foreman looked like he was way behind on the cards, so I stepped outside on to my patio to have a smoke, when I heard my friend yell " Holy **** ". I ran back in the house to see Moorer lying on his back with blood coming out of his mouth. I missed the punch initially but then saw it in the replay. That monday at the college I attended, the only thing anyone was talking about was Foreman's win, and mind you, boxing was already a pretty dead sport by 1994. But, when Foreman won back the title at age 45, the sport was briefly revived for a moment.

 

Yes indeed. I was living in Albany, NY and had sparred some rounds up at Arbor Hill with some dudes who didn't appreciate a white boy in their gyms. I was alone watching it and wishing that I wasn't after he landed the first right that softened him up before the closer. Sports Illustrated came out with an article after the fight that was penetratingly good. See if you can find it sometime. It's a read that rivals Heinz.

 

Its always fun when you remenisce on these fights, then look back on the times when they occurred, and recall the circumstances. It makes you take a deep breath. Lord has the world changed in 15 years eh stonehands?