I finally got round to rewatching this fight (the first time was at about 2 AM after watching hours of Monzon and Holmes tapes that I'd procured) again. I've come to the following conclusions about Foreman's 1970s comeback- 1. The Ron Lyle fight was primarily a matter of Foreman being very rusty (he'd only faced outmatched opponents in short exhibition fights since 1974) and Lyle giving a career-best performance. 2. Foreman's performance against Frazier in the second fight was more impressive than the first, since Frazier fought with a much better strategy in the second fight. Foreman's awkwardness can be assigned to ring-rust and the outrageously bizarre style that Frazier adopted, which would make anyone look a bit *****. In this fight, Foreman fought at a stunning workrate and didn't look tired; I think he was more relaxed and expended less energy through wildness in his first comeback. 3. Foreman was a MORE effective fighter in his first comeback. LeDoux, fighting with the counter-punching strategy he adopted, would have been effective if it hadn't been for Foreman keeping his defensive (relatively) tight and not swinging his arms about. LeDoux was trying for a counter-right hand every time Foreman attacked with conviction, but Foreman didn't expose himself as he had before the Rumble In The Jungle. 4. Paradoxically, as the Jimmy Young fight showed, this Foreman would have been MORE vulnerable to Muhammad Ali. While Foreman would be too cautious to be stopped by any version of Ali, Young showed that a little bit of movement and the threat of a quick right hand could be devastating against this more refined Foreman. While Young's style (one of a classic boxer) would be more suited to beating Foreman than a slick boxer like Ali, I think Ali had all the tools to handle this Foreman as well. I even think the Ali of the Norton fight or the Shavers fight could have pulled it off. Finally, a bonus point- 5. Jerry Quarry's expert commentary was much better than that of any boxer not called "Roy Jones", and he was more humble than Roy. He made good observations (Foreman wasn't an inside fighter) as well as humourous asides ("He looks like he could be 260 lbs!"). It's sad that Quarry spent his latter years boxing towards an early grave, when he could have been gold when combined with Howard Cossell. Fate was unkind to good boxinhg commentators from the 1970s; Norton certainly deserved better than the paralysis that he had to battle.
Haven't seen the LeDoux fight, but could the fact that he looked tight defensively have something to do with the French man's ability? Because his defense didn't look tight before (Ali, Norton, Frazier) or after (Lyle, Young, Frazier II to a certain extend).
I think he was defensively better than his previous efforts in the Young fight as well; a lesser boxer would have had trouble connecting against Foreman that night, I think. Foreman was also defensively better in the Frazier fight than his earlier career. As for LeDoux, while his ability was mediocre his strategy was perfect that night... For a pre-1977 Foreman.