Would Young have been able to beat 1973-1974 Foreman?

Well, Jimmy did go down in two different bouts from Earnie's left hook (the only knockdowns Young sustained in his career). I blame Ali's current condition specifically on Shavers. Muhammad's hand-eye coordination and timing never again looked right, even in the rematch with Leon when he got himself into the very best physical condition still possible.

Holmes got up from what was probably the hardest single scoring punch Shavers ever landed to the head. (Fortunately for Larry, he was also in the absolute best physical condition he could've gotten into at 209.)

Foreman was no Shavers in the power punching department though. None of the six common opponents of Earnie and George disputed that. (Leroy Caldwell, Charlie Polite, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali.)

Chuck Wepner took on Foreman and Liston eight months apart, and was emphatic with Jim Clash that Sonny was the harder puncher.

James Tillis, while talking about the power of Tyson, enthusiastically brought up the vast superiority of Earnie's power on his own initiative in a telephone interview which has been on youtube for years.

Sure, fighters talk baloney all the time, but are you going to cavalierly dismiss the unanimous consensus of seven different heavyweights that George Foreman was NOT the hardest puncher they ever took on? (Tack on Holmes and Tillis for rating Shavers over Tyson.)

Waldemar Schmidt was the third man in the ring for Young-Foreman, and a scoring referee, the closest man to the action, and not only did he not stop the action in round seven, he provided the most lopsided official margin of victory, 118-111. I'm not aware of any interviews he conducted about that match, but did he also recognize at the time that Jimmy was feigning distress all the way?

 

Jimmy Young was a drug addicted shell of himself when he fought ****ey.