Tyson and Cus, Ali and Dundee

It was a one-time madness. Spitting pure facts on Foreman.

Jokes aside, I'll try to find the clips of notable head movement from George, though based on his fights v shorter opponents and his commentary in the 90's, he was a proponent of fighting tall when you are taller, so against the likes of Frazier or Chuvalo, he was more often elbow flipping, framing, and stopping whilst moving backwards and realigning. He absolutely moved down as well, though never in that proactive fashion you'd see in Quarry-Foster for example.

 

I highly doubt you’ll find much from 70s George in the way of effective / impressive head moment but I’m willing to be wrong.

 

You can turn on something as old as Foreman-O'Halloran and you will see using upper-body and head movement when he feels like Jack is looping around his long guard or loading shots at a distance where his shots will curve due to the demands of body mechanics. The further you go into early 70's, the more often he does that, later adding clinchwork and resetting action as well.

Going from no head movement (he always had it though it was ingrained in his style more on reaction, rather than proactively; long guard, frames, and parries were his proactive, defensive drumbeat) to 'impressive' head-movement is moving a goalpost, because a fan of James Toney or more classic stylists will not find Foreman's utilitarian movement impressive even if it was extremely effective in helping his style flow. Modus operandi of George was hand-fighting, taking away the jab, framing and resetting action when smothered or engaged up-close. Head and upper-body movement covered moments when his opponent looped around his extended hands, or loaded his shots at a distance where punches naturally curve (which is an important concept when using the crossguard, because the closer you are to an opponent, the more you have to shorten your height or bob and weave given how effective punching lanes naturally change with distance.)

I don't really have to look for it because I remember those moments well. I always liked the way his employed head movement, especially since he could follow up with body shots as well, much like the Futch trained fighters when they rolled down the line with the right cross (Freddie Roach later taught it as well, calling it Eddie's favorite counterpunch.) I'll time stamp my favorite moment on a rewatch though.

 

So could you just list a couple bouts? O’Hallaran really isn’t a credible opponent to build a case for him having head movement, that guy wasn’t exactly any good, I don’t really see Foreman slipping or rolling anything frequently or effectively, I’ve seen him pull back in a straight like a few times? I’m not really moving a goal post I’ve been pretty straight forward.

 

An alright opponent for a guy who made his professional debut six months ago, and it's most fights really. I don't want to point at specific bouts off-the top of my head, but even in Rumble in the Jungle he slips the very first left hook thrown by Ali, and with 1:42 left in the first round extends his rear hand to draw a left hook which he then dodges and lands one of his own, sending Ali moving back. Naturally, he gets tagged a lot in this bout as well, given how he was looking heavily for a knockout, and his employment of head-movement (a reactive 'panic button' when seeing or anticipating loaded or looping punches) left him vulnerable for dynamic, non-loaded leads, especially when he was found setting up his offense.

He has some good slips against Norton.

 

contrast this to real “greats” and I don’t need to pick O’Hallaran as a guy to show he could counter off head movement (that is what it’s for at the end of the day…) I think when you’re using bouts where he got turned into a bobble head and another where someone who couldn’t fight going backwards as showcases Id resign to saying his head movement was so-so for a heavyweight champ, another example of how he wasn’t a fully baked fighter. Wonder what a great like Holmes would do to him…

 

I hear you.

Ye, Holmes-Foreman would probably be one of the all-time great bouts.