(Pre Zaire) Foreman vs Holmes title challengers

Pre Zaire model absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

Im making him a favorite over em all .But could he remain consistent enough ,like Holmes to keep on winning ?,

 

The only people on this list who would post any threat to that version of Foreman would be Tim Witherspoon. Then you realize Holmes himself almost lost to that inexperienced version of Tim Witherpoon.

 

Williams and spoon could make it interesting if they hear the final bell. Shavers obviously had a punchers chance. Thats about it. He'd dominate the 80's if there were no Holmes.

 

Foreman would probably lose to Michael Spinks and Witherspoon, but cleans everybody else out, since Spinks still had healthy legs when he beat Holmes. Smith would give Foreman a tough fight, but Foreman would stop him eventually.

 

Lol Spinks got knocked out in 1 round against Tyson but he would beat Foreman? Spinks best wins were against a old Holmes in fights he should of lost and he beat a drugged out Cooney. Yeah clearly that means he could beat Foreman.

 

possibly but then we are just matching him here against the fighters that Holmes defended his title against. There were plenty of other notable heavyweights in the 80s that Holmes didn’t fight such as Thomas, Dokes, Page, Tubbs, Coetzee, Tucker, Douglas and it’s entirety plausible that one or two of them may have tripped up the young pre-Zaire Foreman had he fought them all.

 

Well obviously but i was just responding to the conditions in the thread.

Douglas had the talent but was too inconsistent. The Guy couldnt even convince all 3 judges he beat Randall Cobb. He was stopped by 2 men who had KO% below the 50 mark. He gained weight until he weighed 300 lbs after he won the title and was KO'd in 3 by the average puncher holyfield. Unless his corner shoots his mother before the foreman fight, he loses. He wouldn't have the chin or defense to survive.

Tucker was another highly talented but highly inconsistent guy. Other than larry holmes himself, he's the only guy in tbe 80's who'd have i50/50 odds with foreman if not slightly favored based on styles. Depends on tucker's stste of mind and work ethic in training camp.

Page, again, good boxer, had a good chin and respectable power, footwork, etc but couldnt stop eating the donuts and pizza.

Basically if you factor in tbe foreman would be in his mid 30's using an extremely aggressive style fighting good technicians in their 20's of course there could be an upset (look no further than Holmes/spinx or Tyson/Douglas). The problem was you never knew if these guys would be in shape, on drugs, etc. Foreman could either reign Supreme for a decade crushing everyone, have 1 or 2 hiccups and lose the belt temporarily, or he could have multiple embarrasing losses depending on how the dice rolls.

 

Easy pickings for George- I think all by stop-Weaver could punch but not sure he would be able to take George type power but dangerous same with Shavers-they could dish but not sure they could last early rounds with George

 

Spinks had two shot knees and was coming off a long layoff and he came in the heaviest he had ever been in his career. Spinks basically showed up for a payday, since he knew with two shot knees his career was over. The Spinks that fought Holmes was a completely different fighter than the broken fighter that showed up against Tyson.

To see how important good knees are for a fighter see what happened to Tyson himself when his knee gave out against Williams. Tyson was helpless and got stopped easily. Tyson’s started having knee problems after the Golota fight, which is why his conditioning was no longer good, since it isn’t easy to train on bad knees.

 

Foreman would run any version of Spinks out of the ring.

 

He could have lost to Witherspoon and Williams but then again the older Holmes came very close himself. Berbick might surprise too ..

 

He'd wipe out all of them imo. Weaver might floor him...and, unless he gets that big shot off quick I think Shavers would too. But Ernie wouldn't last long either imo.

It's only when you bring other greats into the equation that the comparison becomes more difficult imo. And that includes (I know practically no one will like this, tough ****) FOTC Frazier. Holmes, Ali, Louis, Lewis, Holyfield...all would have given him a hard time imo. Jack Johnson might have actually beat him, now that I think about it.

I just don't see contenders beating Foreman...but then, we do have the Morrison, Young, and Briggs losses (you folks in the know are aware of what I speak re: Briggs and also Alex Stewart).

 

Williams chin scares me in this matchup. All it takes is one. Shavers if he lands one could put Foreman on the canvas and have him in trouble. But I back Foreman to smash in this fight.