Zaire, who else could have beat Foreman that night ?

Even Frazier himself noted that George was fighting very foolishly and not staying calm. I think it could be argued that George's brute power and meanness bought him the heavyweight title and the defenses... but deep inside he might possibly have been the amateur Ali accused him of being back then. Certainly the mistakes he made in Zaire seem to point that out: losing his temper, punching himself out, spending too much time attacking without thinking, being too easily psyched.

One wonders if Foreman really ever lost that immaturity in the 70s, perhaps not completely growing out of it until, say, Coetzer.

 

The correct answer is "Not Joe Frazier"

 

No way, Foreman is much too big for Eubank.

 

I don’t think so...there were times Foreman could have gotten him out (young’s words). I’ll have to rewatch the fight but was Foreman trying to pace himself better after the rope a dope fiasco? Had he gone all out (hell if he went all out against Holyfield he probably would won in that round 4)!

 

60s Ali, Joe Louis, and Larry Holmes for sure, quite possibly Marciano...Steward-era Lewis maybe (not sure Lewis would do too great with a flush shot).

Liston would have given him a real good fight imo. Liston was a better boxer than George overall, so I wouldn't bet against him. No way.

Bowe couldn't take the heavy shots for too long. He wasn't much of a holder, so he'd have to take a terrible beating.

I did consider prime Holy, because he just might have been able to ride the storm out like Ali...but Holy did tend to be more of a warrior than was necessary at times, which means he'd get hit too much. He got rocked pretty bad against old man George, so I see him going out against the Zaire incarnation in a tough fight. Keep in mind please that I would still not bet against Holy on this fight, as the man was outrageously great in his prime imo.

Even prime Mike couldn't have taken the POW-ah! As great as Iron Mike was....no.

 

Dunno.

 

That would be one time when a fighter (Louis) get 100% compbubox. Foreman would be an inviting target.

 

Very, very few, reason being nearly all would have been afraid of him, like they would have been of Liston, it took Clay/Ali to expose these two and zero in on their weaknesses ( Liston the bully syndrome, Foreman the stamina syndrome ) that,s why he is my No 1.

 

Marciano KOs him, too much stamina,power and heart. He will take whatever Foreman throws and keep coming relentlessly forward and Foreman will gas and then it's good night nurse.

 

When he flattened Jose Roman Foreman used the exact same philosophy against Ali. And that is really what was wrong with Foreman at that time. So much had went his way it was almost like George felt he did not need to differentiate gameplans between the styles of Ali and Roman. His experience of competitive exchanges of blows with world class men was nil.

Foreman was not a complete fighter yet. This is the problem with the Zaire performance.

Young George Foreman was a victim of his own success. Norton froze and Frazier was past his best,,George knocked both of them senseless before either had a chance to get going. What else did he do? Jose Roman and Ted Gullick offered the exact same resistance between those key wins.

You could go through the list of champions (in their prime) picture the Guy who was so bad against Ali and for many of them you would say "Johnson too experienced" "Dempsey too ready" "Tunney too experienced" "Holmes too experienced" "Wald too experienced" in fact on that performance a hell of a lot of champions on their best ever nights beat George on his worst night.

That is not to say anybody else could be so good as Foreman against Norton and that version of Frazier..because Foreman was great in his own right, but Foremans over all Greatness is measured using two careers. His capability to produce significant longevity proves greatness. Elements of his first career prove greatness. But you cannot combine the atributes to decide a victory out of his worst performance.

 

Lennox
Bowe
Vitali
Fury
Holmes
Holyfield

I'm 50-50 with Tyson, Joshua, Louis and Wlad for various reasons

Also guys like Joe Walcott, Jimmy Young, Chris Byrd, Tony Tubbs, James Toney give him all kinds of problems but I won't pick them outright