Just been thinking about when George shocked Frazier, the way he constantly pushed him back. Would he do or attempt that against Tyson, Marciano etc? Did he do with other opposition similar? One other aside. Berbick tried a similar thing against Tyson I noticed, the pushing him, maybe to break his stride, idk.
Frazier wasn't as fast as Mike, but yeah I can see George using his longer arms to his advantage. It wouid be interesting to see if he could overcome the hand speed advantage and basically position Mike into punches...George was the master at that.
Young George, probably yes, at least most of the time! Old George was a different fighter and would probably use different techniques against different Swarmers each time. I believe he did more thinking in there in his second career.
We already have the answer to this question. 70's Foreman's management chose guys who had similar qualities to Frazier such as Ted Gullick, Scrap Iron Johnson, and George Chuvalo to prepare him for his title match. In these fights, you can see Foreman learning how to control a bullish pressure fighter with his jab, framing, and matador tactics. There is an interview on YouTube where Foreman's brother discusses how good managers pick opponents who resemble the champion in their style to fine tune their skills in preparation for a potential fight with the champion. It wouldn't make sense to have the prospect Foreman fight a bunch of tall athletic guys who can stick and move when Frazier was champion. He likely would have fought swarmers/pressure fighters who stepped out of a time machine the same way. Dominating mid range and preventing them from getting inside with a stiff jab and powerful uppercut as deterrents with lots of rough shoving and guard manipulation to force them to reset.
He was very confident against Bert Cooper. George knew how to fight big, own the center of the ring. That alone throws off a pressure fighter's confidence. Smother hooks and uppercuts. Taking away their forward momentum.
And he really had a point. Going forward in to the punching space of THAT man, really bad for your health.
