Prime Vitali vs Prime George foreman

Foreman destroys him. Inside of three rounds. The fighters of that era were light-years better than today's mediocrities. And I'm not just basing this on historical legends, I followed these guys as a kid.

 

Ah, but don't forget that Vitali was fighting a clearly declining version of Lewis. A prime Foreman would be a whole different ballgame.

 

While Lewis wasn't at his physical best, he was still a great fighter imo and at his best in the intangible department which may be even more important, such as intelligence, toughness and ring generalship. Think about it....a younger version of Lennox had some toughness questions and i dont know if he could have hung in there against Vitali. Although, id say Lennox from 1998-2001 was the most physically dominant Lewis....

moreover, i think a lot of people like to say Lennox was old and faded just to discredit Vitali. There are a ton of Klitschko haters here. :yep


Vitali gave Lennox the worst hammering of his career. He never took that many big punches before and his diehard fans like to make that excuse. Did you see his face after the fight? Only Mercer did that kind of damage to him and that was over 10 rounds. Look, Lennox is one of my 5 favortie boxers of all-time but i can be objective unlike 75% of this board :deal

2003 Lennox = great fighter. good chin, tough, very intelligent, huge puncher, big jab. Can u give me 10 fighters that could beat that Lennox? i dont think so

As for Vitali-Foreman, I really feel Vitali is a nightmare stylistically for both prime versions Tyson and Foreman. I feel Tyson-Vitali would be a coinflip fight with the slight edge to Tyson but believe Vitali would beat young Foreman. George was just too sloppy and threw too many wild punches. Vitali isnt going to walk into his power like Frazier or Norton. He will counter and keep tall. Vitali became excellent at throwing those big counterpunches. If Vitali fights intelligently the first 1/2 of the fight, he puts Foreman down and out late.

 

1998 or later Lennox stops Young Foreman IMO. too smart and techincally sound :good

 

Vitali late TKO or wide points decision.

Vitali has an iron chin, great stamina, and pinpoint straight punches. He also has great defense and is much larger than Foreman.

Foreman was an awesome brawler with great power. Vitali negates all of Foreman's strengths. This is a bad stylistic matchup. As a prime Foreman would kill Tyson, Holyfield, Holmes, etc...he would get owned by Vitali and Lennox.

 

Your outcome is very possible.



Foreman was , IMO, the hardest puncher I've seen.

And Vitali probably had the best chin I've ever seen.

And on balance, I don't believe Foreman can KO Vitali with one shot.


However, a 1973 version of Foreman, not yet broken, could break Vitali down with the constant onslaught of damage, and probably stop him late, on his feet.

This is too difficult to call.

If it goes 15, George loses the decision.

And George could get KO'd here.

But my best guess is a mid-to-late round stoppage in favour of Big George.

 

50:50 for me, both with monster punch and great chin.

 

Good post this.

Let's face it, George bullied people. He overwhelmed you with raw power but as a technician he sucked badly.
When George's sheer physicality was not enough as in the Ali and Young fights, he was found wanting.

I reckon Vitali has the tools to make this very interesting.
As you said, he's a tall man and George's vaunted uppercuts would not be much of a factor.
In addition he fought tall, making the most of his height. He also had that awkward lean-back-and-punch style which troubled Lewis. The key factor for me is his toughness, which would see him through the rougher moments.
He also has formidable size, being much, much bigger than the likes of Frazier and Norton, weight what? 245 or so? George would not have such an easy time bullying and pushing him around. George would actually be smaller by some margin than Klitschko.
Vitali also proved he could fight through a fair bit of adversity as he did against Lewis.

That's quite an impressive list of obstacles for Foreman to overcome. Klitschko was also a decent boxer with solid but not bonebreaking power.

As long as he doesn't engage Foreman in a slugfest I think he could win this by boxing smartly.

 

It's a fight that really could go either way.

If anyone could take Foreman's shots (outside of Chuvalo and McCall) it's Vitali.

And Vitali could make Foreman do the dance as well.

Ill make big George a slight favourite though, for an early rounds KO.

 

Foreman used his size and strength well, but compared to Vitali he´s simply very small. Vitali would outbox him EASILY from the outside and KO him in the mid rounds. It put my left kidney on it.

 

Vitali would decimate George, he's as big if not bigger, faster, more powerful and far better technically with better stamina. George was a powerhouse back in the day but that's all he was; a crude slugger.