To be honest, Foreman was very rusty in this fight, and it exposed a serious flaw that Lyle capitalized on, which almost cost Foreman the whole fight. If you notice, Foreman would throw a left and Lyle would come right over the top with an overhand right to counter. Lyle has a very strong overhand right, and this is the punch that staggered foreman at the end of the first round. Lyle continued to hit Foreman like that throughout the rest of the fight. Still, I do not think he was not outclassed by anyone on this list and here are my predictions: I'll start with the big names Sonny Liston - Foreman KO in 3rd round (foreman knew his weaknesses) Vitali Klitschko - Foreman K0 in the first round (first 30 seconds) + broken nose Mike Tyson - Put it this way, these two would never go the distance. Someone is getting knocked the **** out Muhammad Ali - After fixing the ropes, Foreman would have no problem delivering crushing blows to the body of Ali. Foreman KO Ali in the 5th round after softening him up Joe Louis - Joe wins on a split decision Larry Holmes possibly - Foreman KO in the first round and broken jaw and missing teeth Lennox Lewis - even but Foreman would in on points Riddick Bowe - broken ribs Some others that might of been interesting. Some of the damage Foreman will inflict: Razor Ruddock - Fight would go the distance but Foreman would have commanding lead Oliver McCall - McCall would start crying Ray Mercer - Foreman would test that granite jaw to the breaking point Deontay Wilder - Foreman KO in 5, Foreman would throw him around the ring like a rag doll.
Well George did say he'd never been hit as hard as he was, with right hands against Lyle. He says that he he got knocked down twice and was fatigued. If I hit him he'd start hitting me back, and he had power, something I hadn't been affected with before that.
There definitely a few guy on your list that could possibly stop that version of George. Mike Tyson either gets crushed himself or stops him. Lennox has the power as did Liston.
Despite showing a ton of heart that wasn't a very good performance by George. Besides the big names mentioned someone like Ray Mercer would have a chance.
No your right, it wasn't George at his best. Tho he does say it was his greatest night. Getting off the floor to win.
How do you think the prime version of old Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz would have done in his prime against this version of George Forearm? Ortiz was known as the knockout man a few years back.
Few fighters would have taken the approach to Foreman that Lyle did. Essentially, a boxer-puncher, Lyle was particularly aggressive and quickly became the pressure fighter in there, against Big George. I'd expect many to have been more cautious, e.g. Holmes, Lewis, Vitali K, altering the complexion of the fight that we saw between Foreman and Lyle. The exceptions might be: - Louis - Liston - Tyson Of these three, I would give Louis the best chance of coming out on top of the kind of barnstormer, Foreman and Lyle put on.
Still shocking to me that Foreman was floored twice in the 4th round and got back up to win it. And those were hard knockdowns, no mistake about that. Face it, he took a lot of punishment that would have easily KOd lesser heavyweights. I think the style of the fight and the pure punching that went on between both men was exactly what the public wanted to see. It was also what George needed to continue fighting at the time. Of course, he was stopped by Jimmy Young, but everyone knows Young is more of a "points stealer" and not a real boxer.
Alot of people forget that the 2nd round was only 2 minutes long, and at that point Foreman had Lyle on the verge of being stopped. It's like fate intervened and gave Lyle the benefit of the doubt, so us fans could witness one of the greatest Heavyweight slugfests of all time.