Would Jimmy Young win..

He should, due to his greater height and reach, but this is definitely one instance where I strongly believe he and his team should plan to key his jab for the win. One simply didn't overpower Ringo. He was too strong and too mobile, a combination Foreman wouldn't confront until Ali. Bonavena may have been just the guy for George to take on immediately after Peralta II from a developmental standpoint. Oscar only had the DQ win over Blue Lewis in 1971, and Ali had proved he could be halted.

Even if Foreman couldn't stop Bonavena, a second scheduled 15 rounder in defense of George's newly acquired NABF Title would have afforded him a valuable opportunity to utilize his jab more to keep Ringo at range and pile up enough rounds to clinch it early on the cards.

The nascent NABF Title was virtually ignored, but defending it could have afforded a premise for George to obtain some championship round experience, and an impressive win over Ringo might have gotten him to Frazier a year or two sooner. [Ali was his immediate predecessor and successor to that hemispheric title, and still holds the record for most NABF Title wins. Muhammad also remains the only three time holder of that championship, and used it as a stepping stone to both the FOTC and Kinshasa. Little known trivia in light of his other accomplishments, but a useful domestic tool during his wilderness years in the early 1970s.]

Foreman blew an opportunity to turn a neglected afterthought into a meaningful secondary title and useful promotional tool, like the EBU, Commonwealth and BBBofC titles had been for decades. George could have made it meaningful in a way former world champion Ali could not.

No, nobody saw the rope-a-dope coming, including Ali, who utilized his toughness and experience to improvise it on the spot.

As the 1970s progressed, Foreman's jab began gathering dust. Watching him knock Chuvalo's head back with it repeatedly during that final assault, that was the one weapon he had which might have been an effective counter to the rope-a-dope.

Nearly two decades later, Ray Mercer likewise failed to learn anything from his experience against Damiani [which was an absolute schooling from Francesco until a freak lucky punch saved him], and he paid for it dearly against Holmes.

In my view, Angelo Dundee's developmental template for Ray Leonard remains the exemplary model for matching an upcoming contender with appropriately risky opposition. Foreman's rise through the ranks reminded me of Billy Conn's axiom that, "When a fighter's undefeated, there's something wrong." That's a sweeping statement by Conn, not necessarily true, but it was in Foreman's case, and the modern cascade of undefeated title challengers and champions remain very much in the future when Billy was competing. [In fact, so near as I can tell, Rocky Marciano was actually the first challenger for the HW title who had a perfect record, as Corbett and Jeffries had draws on theirs. I'll leave that for others to verify though.]

 

Very very few fighters could have beaten the Foreman that fought Ali that night. He was well prepared to walk Ali down and knock him out. He had Ali against the ropes within the first 30 seconds of the start of the fight and continuously during the round. he hit Ali with bombs several times that I don't believe Young could withstand.

 

Alis lead right took away the foreman jab early on.