Is George Foreman the most overrated boxer in history?

George had an amazing system around 1972-1974,with his cutting off of the ring and the use of his physical strength and jab and left hook to funnel his opponents into his right uppercut and hook .


Almost like a heavyweight Sandy Saddler

 

Yes, but his punches were to wide, he hardly had any combinations and his defence was wide open. Seeing him "defend" himself by stretching his arms out towards the opponent is pitiful. And they were so certain that his barrage would finish off any opponents once he was cut off that there was no plan B.

Those cards were always going to be in grave danger of being called by skillful and durable fighters like Ali, Young and Holmes. Hell, if he had been ten years younger he'd been smack in the era of big and skillful (if somewhat erratic) HWs. Dokes, Page, Thomas, Douglas, Tucker, Williams... One of them would be bound to have a good night at some point and give Foreman a nightmare if he was active in that era. No way does any version of Foreman get by all of them without losing at least once.

 

1. Name 5 guys that could beat Foreman.
2. Name 5 guy with a better record statistically.

Ps Tyson would have almost no chance h2h of beating Foreman. George only got KOed through exhaustion once. Can Tyson continually take the punishment getting inside Foreman's range to get his own shots off?

 

1. Well, two guys did beat prime Foreman. The rest is speculation. But, off the top of my head, Holmes, Lewis and Vitaly all would have a good chance IMO.

2. This is very easy. Ali, Louis, Holmes, Holyfield, Lewis, Tyson, Marciano to start with. Foreman has by far the worst record against ranked opposition of anyone I'd consider ranking in the top 10. Number of wins and win ratio against ranked opposition are the top statistics for me. Anyone can put together a great looking record against cans, it's the top opposition that really matters.

 

How many names on both lists? Bowe? You sincerely rate Bowe h2h over Foreman?

What's the point.

 

Good question. What's the point with a simple win ratio to start with? As the stats of Brian Nielsen etc showed anyone can get impressive numbers by only taking on cans. It's the good opposition that counts. And against ranked opponents Foreman has almost as many losses as he has wins. No other ATG has such bad numbers.

And personally, I think the Bowe that beat Holy would beat any version of Foreman. But that's just speculation.

What we do know is what they actually did. And Foreman, even in his first career, had one of the most padded paths to the title in HW history. Then he had two very impressive wins, before losing to the only two world class defensive boxers he met.

 

And how many champs had an era? Joe Louis and Marciano. If Foreman from 1973 fought in a shitty division he would have had an era. But he had to fight guys like Ali. And George never quit in a fight he just retired from boxing. After a handful of competitive fights? Almost 50 fights,lost only 2 of them. What almost happened doesn't matter. What did happen matters. He beat most guys by KO/TKO inside of 4 rounds. He got hurt by Lyle,big deal. He came back to win. He lost to Young,big deal he came back 10 years after and won the lineal championship again and held it until age 48 when he was able to push around a Prime Briggs and not get rocked once. What Moorer could have done other times didnt matter. Moorer 2as 26 years old and he was fighting a nearly 46 year old man and he lost by a 1 punch KO. That's his problem.
Foreman in his prime was amazing and still very good and strong past his prime. How would a 45 year old Joe Louis do? How would a 45 year old Tyson do? I have George at #4 or 5 on the ATG list.

 

Foreman could have had an era but he blew it. Ali was as old as ezzard Charles when Marciano beat him.

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Exactly. George retired when he was still good. How many ATG’s did that?

How many were not called Joe Frazier or Ken Norton?

Did Lyle hurt Ali. Quarry or Bunger? Did Lyle hurt Cooney, peralta, or Lyn Ball?

Who the hell is Briggs compared to all time greats?

It is Moorers problem but was he the best heavyweight in the world at that time?

All those fighters did not retire after 4 competitive fights. They did not retire as young men with miles left on the clock.

 

Ray Leonard retired young, and came back. Dqd of because of his injury. Benny Leonard retired at the height of his powers. So did Vicente Saldivar. Carlos Zarate quit because of a bad decision. That's off the top of my head...

 

Foreman is a great fighter but greatchampions who did not retire young (and did not need to comeback because they did) desereve to be rated higher.

 

So no eder jofre in your top bantams?

 

obviously ! have you not seen mike spinks demolition job of the great gerry cooney?

 

So you're saying because Foreman retired in his prime,he is ****? That's interesting. Who are you to say when someone can retire? And it's funny how you expect Foreman to fight all ATG's or else he was ****. How many ATG's did Marciano beat? Wlad Klitschko? What kind of reasoning do you have?

How many 48 year old men could fight like that against a Prime Shannon Briggs? I never said Briggs was an ATG but he was in his prime and a future champ. Briggs was also deemed a suitable opponent for Klitschko just a year ago so the prime version must have been even better. George didnt retire because boxing was hard. He retired because he wanted to. He retired but he did come back,what dont you understand about that?