This is not a head to head match-up necessarily. I am interested in opinions/thoughts on the careers of both fighters and where they should be ranked relative to one another.
Jesus bud, how did you miss this fifteen page monstrosity that's been doing the round for what feels like 10 years? http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206082
Yes, I steered clear of that one. I am interested in the comparison because it is not even close if Foreman does not have a second career. He was coddled, had one meaningful defense, then started to fall apart against b-raters like Lyle and Young. Meanwhile, Tyson defeated 10 past, current or future heavyweight champs, had a Dempsey-like reign of terror and cleaned out the division... then fell apart. It is an interesting contrast which hinges largely on how you rate Foreman's second career.
it is pure crap, foreman destroyed An UNDEFEATED 29 years old joe frazier,prime norton( they both did beat ali), and he did beat george chuvalo. tyson did beat berbick in his 30s, smith in his 30s, a lhw spinks in his 30s, shot holmes, past prime holyfield and past prime lewis destroyed him, tyson lost by ko against buster douglas. and never won a rematch . WITH SECOND CAREER OR NOT, FOREMAN IS ABOVE TYSON ALWAYS, AND PRIME VS PRIME FOREMAN WOULD KO TYSON.PAST PRIME VS PAST PRIME FOREMAN WOULD KO TYSON.
Foreman proved himself in his second career. But his destruction of Joe Frazier in his first career is better than Tyson beating Spinks or Berbick, surely.
Frazier was on the decline. A fighter of his style on the decline is not a pretty sight. A taller, better jabbing fighter who uses distance rather than destroys it tends to tail out in his career in a more subtle manner. My point? Frazier was there for the taking. The fact remains that Tyson beat 10 champions and boxing heavyweights in their 30's are pretty much considered in their prime any longer.
foreman would ko any version of frazier because styles make fights, and anyway frazier 73 would smash spinks,berbick and shot holmes any day of the week. prime norton74 would beat spinks,berbick and shot holmes for sure, past prime norton gave the hell to prime holmes. no contest ,second career or not foreman is above tyson
Maybe, but he went on to give Ali two more tough fights, (an Ali that was still good enough to dethrone George), he beat up Bugner and Quarry well enough too. That's more than Berbick, Spinks, Thomas, Tubbs, Biggs, Smith did combined when Tyson beat them. Those guys were 1/3 champions in the alphabet soup musical chairs era. Not "champions" in the Frazier, Foreman or Ali sense.
