Watched the Ali - Foreman fight last night, first time in ages. Love it. Anyway got me thinking, who else could have been in there with George that day, and beat him? I'm thinking, ain't many!
Mike Tyson (not saying he would for sure but he has a good chance) Lennox Lewis K2 Brothers Fury Usyk Wilder (he could land something huge that Foreman doesn't see coming) Evander Holyfield
Liston is the only other person I favor. Lewis is a live underdog. Withholding judgement on Usyk, till I see a bit more of him.
Larry Holmes (Maybe) Sonny Liston (Maybe) Lennox Lewis - as long as he avoided George's bombs for the early part of fight.
I know what literally literally means and if Big George hits Wilder with a body shot he might literally defecate on himself.
The idea of Usyk is nonsense, his punches wouldn't phase Foreman, and his chin has never been tested against even Wilder or Ruiz Jr let alone arguably the biggest puncher in heavyweight history, Holyfield was a bigger puncher than Usyk, Morrison was a bigger puncher than Holyfield and neither of them could drop old Foreman modern heavies have terrible footwork and ring movement compared to Foreman's era, the only reason Fury stands out is because of his oddball size, Wilder telegraphs his right so bad he would never land it on Foreman, even if he did the chances of him actually KOing Foreman are very slim realistically, 88 Tyson, maybe Lewis or Bowe on their absolute best night, and you can never count out Louis
Here's Wilder showing terrible footwork and telegraphing his right hand. This content is protected Truth is, George Foreman, at 6'3" 220, would be, BY FAR, one of the smallest guys Wilder has faced since 2015. Hell, Spzilka was taller than George and 13 pounds heavier than Foreman in Zaire. Wilder doesn't lay on the ropes, cover up and let guys pound away on his body, like an older Ali did. He never has. And George did his fair share of "telegraphing" his punches ... see him here against 5'10", 190-something pound Joe 'King' Roman, who was actually a fairly high-rated heavyweight back in that "era." This content is protected Wilder retains his power even very late into the fight. I'm sure Wilder would've done fine in Zaire against "Little" George Foreman.
I think Foreman is a strong H2H fighter on the whole but not top top tier. There are certain fighters I just have a hard time seeing getting stopped early. Tyson Holyfield Bowe Ali Fury Holmes etc being stopped in a few rounds to me isn’t gonna happen in these match ups. Foreman might surprise me against one or two of these ala Tyson with the way he dispatched (and imo always would’ve) Holmes. But these are durable guys there who have much better skills and will be in better condition late on. I don’t buy Foreman having atrocious stamina but it will always be an issue for him and I would expect him to lose on points against all the above. Maybe knockdowns and cutting the ring makes it close but Foreman finishing poorly should seal his fate.
Lennox Lewis (Michael Grant fight) would be my first favorite in this case. In any case, I couldn't name many boxers who beat Zaire Foreman, even though it was a bad fight by Foreman.
Importing a particular version of a boxer from a specific fight can be somewhat abstract and non applicable in varying degrees. Ali’s unique words and actions leading into and during the fight in Zaire had a lot to do with how Foreman fought imo - and one of the things Ali did was to make Foreman acutely angry. So, if one expects to see THAT Foreman, Zaire Foreman, against anyone else, the opponent has to do exactly what Ali did and absorb exactly what Ali absorbed and I can’t see anyone else replicating that. In a more generalised sense, anybody else fighting prime Foreman at his absolute best might have more likely encountered the version that cleaned up Frazier and Norton. Norton boxed extremely well in the first round also, but Foreman coolly and calmly boxed and stalked before taking Ken apart in quick time. Before Zaire, Foreman’s well earned status was that of a legit beast - and also, I don’t know if too many fighters, if any, could completely divorce themselves from Foreman’s aura and execute their game plan as perfectly as Ali so famously did.
IMHO Ali upset George more during the fight than in the run up to it. I think George was more bemused by Ali than mad. I do believe when Ali made him think his punches didn't hurt he lost his composure.