When was George Foreman at his best as a fighter?

Well, there was Hopkins...

 

Yes. Although I will say in your (and Big George's) defense that the sheer length of time he hung on was still amazing. I wonder how much of it was giving his brain 10 years without getting concussed in fights and sparring; essentially to heal. But I suspect a lot of it was also his intelligence, willingness to adapt to new conditions, and being born with some great athletic gifts.

 

Definitely, totally agree

 

His comeback career was very impressive, but George I his prime was a different kind of beast.

 

I don't understand why people think Foreman was better in the 90s.

Do you think a prime Foreman in the 70s would go life and death vs the likes of Stewart, Savarese.

Or lose to Morrison ? Or go 10 rounds with Moorer whilst losing nigh on near enough every round ?

I don't see how logically you think 70s Foreman would do worse vs those opponents hence I don't see how you can say 90s Foreman was better in a H2H sense.

Old Foreman was far slower, far more hittable, and struggled to land follow up punches to stop better opposition.

Yes Foreman may of paced himself better in the 90s but a younger Foreman could do that aswell look at his rematch vs Frazier that was a measured performance from Foreman.

It's total nonsense and a myth that 90s Foreman is better and its only example I've ever seen where people claim an athlete in their 40s is better than their younger self.

 

Look at it this way, if they were two different fighters, you would not rank them particularly close together.

 

I think this guy is the strangest poster I’ve ever countered here. Not even necessarily the worst (though he’s not far off from that either).

 

Probably the 70s but he did some things better in the 90s

 

Just from within the same family, here are two examples:

26 year old Wladimir Klitschko from the Sanders fight wasn't hugely better than 41 year old Wlad from the Joshua fight.

28 year old Vitali from the Byrd fight wasn't a major improvement over 40-41 year old Vitali from the Charr or Chisora fights.

For comparison, Foreman retired at 28 after losing to Young, IIRC, and fought his best fight in his second career against Holyfield at 42.

My own view is that even though Foreman in his second career benefited from training advances his younger self didn't have, the best 90s Foreman was probably a small step down from the best 70s one. But his changed style and attributes meant that he would be expected to do better against some types of opponents, and worse against others. 70s Foreman would've done a little better in the 90s, but not much.

 

The Kiltschko's in particular Wlad had a very unique way of staying in shape all the time. They are sort of more of a anomaly in boxing history.

On the other hand someone like Foreman was very heavy in the 90s and didn't have his peak physical condition.

 

Agreed Ferg, we'll never see the likes of what he did again.

 

I think a lot of it was the 10 year break if he’d kept fighting during that time like most guys his age he’d likely have fizzled out in his 30s from the cumulative damage like everybody else… it’s a feat to make a comeback but he rebuilt and essentially started a new career with very little mileage not quite Archie Moore’s level of longevity or Hopkins who played the game the whole way through… just a unique circumstance with a Rocky story ending. Holmes hung on a long time too but he only took 6? years off, wonder how Ali’s career looks without the break? Could’ve helped to a degree, light training in exile (as I’ve confirmed as a FACT ) no hard fights or pressure, if he’d been fighting in those 3 years it would’ve made the 70s a lot harder on him if he’d hung around for the same amount of time.

George was an active pro for roughly 18 years just eyeballing it, I’ve seen quite a few guys do just that Holyfield for example was a pro for roughly 27 years… that’s way, WAY more insane to me.

 

I think the Foreman who fought Holyfield beats any version of his younger self. Better defence, more prudent use of energy, more efficient punches, better short game, better 'hands on' grappling/pushing game. I genuinely think he might make (relatively) short work of his younger more gung ho self and win before the tenth.

 

You forgot Axel Schulz. As to Moorer, even prime Foreman could have troubles with his movement like he did with Young.