Which of all his comeback fights were George Foreman's best?

He looked best against C00ney, Rodrigues, Holyfield, that I can remember.

He probably lost something after the Holyfield fight, and certainly after the Alex Stewart fight.
That beating must have taken something out of him.

But he looked good against Pierre Coetzer, who was made to order for him.

 

That and I think two other things also happened.

1. He had made his money and the motivation wasn't as great

2. He went from old to ancient.

People act as though George Foreman's comeback was an isolated 10 year period of time during which he never aged, deteriorated or got worse. I think its very probable that the Foreman of 1990-91 was better than the Foreman of 1993-97. People say that the time frame between when a fighter is 30-35 is big gap in which a lot of men lose most of their ability.. Well what about 40-45 or 45-50? He was already an old man by boxing standards when he returned to the ring but that doesn't mean he stopped aging. And going from fighting five times per year to only fighting once or twice a year could have had something to do with it as well.

 

Holyfield.

Co-oney was washed up but I was impressed at how George pressed him a great in fight adjustment when he realised Co-oney was dangerous from the outside.

 

Exactly.
With fighters age, say, 28 - 38, no one would ever suggest they were the same fighter throughout, especially if they were taking a few beatings along the way.
Yet people talk of "comeback Foreman" as if he was a constant identical entity in each and every fight.

Also, agree 100% with the money/motivation factors. Post-Holyfield his celebrity went through the roof, and he had made millions, and was making millions outside the ring too.
He seemed even slower and even less inclined to go for the kill in some of those fights.

 

Agree completely which is why I don't factor the Briggs, Schultz, Morrison or Stewart fights to heavily into the equation when people wonder how comeback Foreman would do against certain opponents. The Foreman who flattened Rodriguez and took Holyfield the distance in 90-91 would have likely done the same or similar to some of the previously mentioned names.

 

Good post as always, mr. magoo

I always wonder why people keep sayind that Foreman from ****ey and Holyfield fights is the same as Foreman from Briggs ans Savarese fights. He was 41-42 for the earlier and 48-49 for the later two. A big gap I'd say. He deteriorated quite obviously from 1991 to 1997, and was inactive, too.

 

Indeed. I remember watching Foreman vs Stewart live on HBO back in 1992 and George putting Alex down twice early. Stewart rose and then proceeded to make a fight out of it which left George swollen and bloody like never before in his career. I seriously doubt that if it was the Foreman of 1-2 years earlier that he would have let Alex off the hook once having him down twice... Stewart was no better than Rodriguez if truth be told.

 

Same with Holmes, too

At 42 he was able to clearly beat young undefeated Mercer and look good vs Holyfield.

By 45 he gave very close fight to McCall, but he declined in that 3 years, I believe Holmes from Mercer fight could outpoint Oliver.

And at 47 Holmes arguably lost to Maurice Harris.

 

Absolutely. That Jab of his was still very sharp in the Mercer fight. By 1995 that thing looked terrible.

 

Yeah, it's probably a case that every extra year and every hard fight after the age of 41 or 45 is even more damaging than whatever year the fighter started to decline.

It seems obvious really. Fighters might peak or prime at different age, but once they start on their decline, the process is only going to carry on, and even accelerate with age.

 

Yes it should be admitted even by the most hardcore Hopkins fans (I'm one of them:roll. You can easily see the difference between Hopkins from Calzaghe and Pavlik fights and B-Hop from Shumenov and Kovalev fights.

 

I know it was hardly much of a fight but I pick the Terry Anderson bout, just because I was there, and Big George did all that was expected of him, with a little bit of 'show'.

Thinking about it and going along the lines of this thread, maybe his best win was the Qawi fight. Foreman certainly was in the best shape of his post Young career, and Dwight, although soft, still had a bit left to give, and no quit in him. That was the first fight I saw of the 'second coming' and although not super impressed at the time, with now 27 years (for ****s sake, 27 years!!!) of hindsight, I think it is a big plus to that Foreman's career; it showed he might still have chance of making a big splash in that time period.

And to put a further downer on us who remember Big George; more time has pasted since the Moorer fight, than passed between The Rumble in the Jungle and the Miracle punch...