Jim
06-29-2007, 12:14 PM
By Monte D. Cox
Imagine the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears lead by Jim McMahon, Richard Dent, Mike Singletary and company coming out of retirement to win the Super Bowl in 2005. Or imagine former Wimbledon tennis champion John McEnroe coming back and winning that tournament. Doesn’t seem possible? Couldn’t happen in a million years? But that is precisely what happened when an old George Foreman came back against the odds and regained the world heavyweight championship, the greatest prize in sports, when he regained the heavyweight championship in 1995 some 20 years after having lost it. On longevity alone George Foreman deserves to be considered among the all time great heavyweights, but he is often over-looked because he was over-shadowed by and lost to Muhammad Ali. However, this is no disgrace as Ali is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight champion ever by modern observers.
George Foreman at his awesome best was the most powerful heavyweight champion ever. At 6’3 ½” and 220-225 pounds, with an 82” reach he was the best of the “super-heavyweights.” Consider that George Foreman, in his prime had the highest knockout percentage in boxing history. After his destruction of Norton, he was 40-0 with 37 knockouts, for a knockout percentage of 92.50. In his career Foreman had 15 first round knockouts and 18 second round knockouts. That's 33 knockouts inside of the first 2 rounds! He had 46 knockouts that were 3 rounds or less, which is more than any other heavyweight champion. George Foreman’s incredible two round destruction over Joe Frazier was the most one-sided beating ever delivered upon an undefeated heavyweight champion.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5583/frazierforemannu8.jpg
Foreman was a man of great physical strength and can be favorably compared to the legendary strongmen of the past. It was said that John L. Sullivan once single handedly lifted a derailed trolley car back onto the tracks. Jim Jeffries once ran 9 miles to camp carrying a deer on his shoulders ahead of his entourage. Likewise George Foreman once trained using a harness so he could pull a car uphill as he did his roadwork. Strength, size and power are the adjectives used to describe a true super heavyweight. George Foreman was as big and as bad as they come.
After destroying # 1 contender Ken Norton the Aug. 1974 International Boxing magazine wrote, “The pre-fight strategy, the planning, the training, the waiting…they were all ended in less than two rounds by the punishing fists of possibly the most powerful heavyweight champion ever.” Indeed such was the devastation that Foreman’s sledgehammer fists had laid on opponents that all time greats such as Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis both commented that Foreman was the strongest heavyweight hitter that they had ever seen.
At his peak Foreman had a true aura of invincibility. When he glared down opponents with his baleful stare it was not an act of false bravado as it was with some fighters, it was out of a belief that no man could stand up to his crushing power. George Foreman, in his prime, truly believed that he was unbeatable.
Just watching George train with a heavy bag was a terrifying experience. The rafters shook, the floor rumbled. His trainer Dick Sadler commented, “It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving those punches, much less staying on his feet.”
Tex Maule, a writer for Sports Illustrated, compared George’s punches to a baseball pitcher’s deliveries. “He does not throw wild swinging hooks. That is you’d say he throws sliders not curves. The punches reach their destination faster than a wider punch would and land more heavily.” George was a very heavy hitter, and he threw more correct punches than he is given credit for and he put the full weight of his super-heavyweight sized body into his punches. In his title winning performance against Joe Frazier Foreman used a hard left jab, shoved Joe’s shoulders back to create punching room against the swarming fighter and scored knockdowns with short right hands, uppercuts, hooks, and a long overhand right. Foreman was nothing short of devastating as he bounced Frazier like a basketball off the canvas six times.
As a fighter George brought to the ring not only his outstanding raw power and confidence but also a frightening arsenal of deadly punches. His uppercuts could lift a man off their feet, his hooks were paralyzing, his strong left jab was true, his right hand, although not often thrown straight was a decapitating blow thrown short or long. He used his massive arms to block punches and could parry punches with his rear hand. He would sometimes slap opponent’s guards down with his hands and then slam home massive power shots to the head and body. He also became very good at cutting down the ring on his opponents.
........END PART 1................................................. .................................................. .....
Big George was like the Tyson of his era.Norton was scared to death,as were most.I saw some video of George jabbing a heavy bag when he was around 39 & not long into his comeback.The snap & thud of George repeated left jabs smacking the huge old bag were pistonlike & hard.It wasnt a rapid or range finding jab it was more like a power shot..
Legendary stories of George hitting the heavy bag are about.I think[correct me if Im wrong]Nat Fleischer wrote of the awe he was in watching George hit the big bag.Fleischer had seen them all,even Liston,and he said he's never seen anybody hit a heavybag like George.
Imagine the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears lead by Jim McMahon, Richard Dent, Mike Singletary and company coming out of retirement to win the Super Bowl in 2005. Or imagine former Wimbledon tennis champion John McEnroe coming back and winning that tournament. Doesn’t seem possible? Couldn’t happen in a million years? But that is precisely what happened when an old George Foreman came back against the odds and regained the world heavyweight championship, the greatest prize in sports, when he regained the heavyweight championship in 1995 some 20 years after having lost it. On longevity alone George Foreman deserves to be considered among the all time great heavyweights, but he is often over-looked because he was over-shadowed by and lost to Muhammad Ali. However, this is no disgrace as Ali is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight champion ever by modern observers.
George Foreman at his awesome best was the most powerful heavyweight champion ever. At 6’3 ½” and 220-225 pounds, with an 82” reach he was the best of the “super-heavyweights.” Consider that George Foreman, in his prime had the highest knockout percentage in boxing history. After his destruction of Norton, he was 40-0 with 37 knockouts, for a knockout percentage of 92.50. In his career Foreman had 15 first round knockouts and 18 second round knockouts. That's 33 knockouts inside of the first 2 rounds! He had 46 knockouts that were 3 rounds or less, which is more than any other heavyweight champion. George Foreman’s incredible two round destruction over Joe Frazier was the most one-sided beating ever delivered upon an undefeated heavyweight champion.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5583/frazierforemannu8.jpg
Foreman was a man of great physical strength and can be favorably compared to the legendary strongmen of the past. It was said that John L. Sullivan once single handedly lifted a derailed trolley car back onto the tracks. Jim Jeffries once ran 9 miles to camp carrying a deer on his shoulders ahead of his entourage. Likewise George Foreman once trained using a harness so he could pull a car uphill as he did his roadwork. Strength, size and power are the adjectives used to describe a true super heavyweight. George Foreman was as big and as bad as they come.
After destroying # 1 contender Ken Norton the Aug. 1974 International Boxing magazine wrote, “The pre-fight strategy, the planning, the training, the waiting…they were all ended in less than two rounds by the punishing fists of possibly the most powerful heavyweight champion ever.” Indeed such was the devastation that Foreman’s sledgehammer fists had laid on opponents that all time greats such as Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis both commented that Foreman was the strongest heavyweight hitter that they had ever seen.
At his peak Foreman had a true aura of invincibility. When he glared down opponents with his baleful stare it was not an act of false bravado as it was with some fighters, it was out of a belief that no man could stand up to his crushing power. George Foreman, in his prime, truly believed that he was unbeatable.
Just watching George train with a heavy bag was a terrifying experience. The rafters shook, the floor rumbled. His trainer Dick Sadler commented, “It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving those punches, much less staying on his feet.”
Tex Maule, a writer for Sports Illustrated, compared George’s punches to a baseball pitcher’s deliveries. “He does not throw wild swinging hooks. That is you’d say he throws sliders not curves. The punches reach their destination faster than a wider punch would and land more heavily.” George was a very heavy hitter, and he threw more correct punches than he is given credit for and he put the full weight of his super-heavyweight sized body into his punches. In his title winning performance against Joe Frazier Foreman used a hard left jab, shoved Joe’s shoulders back to create punching room against the swarming fighter and scored knockdowns with short right hands, uppercuts, hooks, and a long overhand right. Foreman was nothing short of devastating as he bounced Frazier like a basketball off the canvas six times.
As a fighter George brought to the ring not only his outstanding raw power and confidence but also a frightening arsenal of deadly punches. His uppercuts could lift a man off their feet, his hooks were paralyzing, his strong left jab was true, his right hand, although not often thrown straight was a decapitating blow thrown short or long. He used his massive arms to block punches and could parry punches with his rear hand. He would sometimes slap opponent’s guards down with his hands and then slam home massive power shots to the head and body. He also became very good at cutting down the ring on his opponents.
........END PART 1................................................. .................................................. .....
Big George was like the Tyson of his era.Norton was scared to death,as were most.I saw some video of George jabbing a heavy bag when he was around 39 & not long into his comeback.The snap & thud of George repeated left jabs smacking the huge old bag were pistonlike & hard.It wasnt a rapid or range finding jab it was more like a power shot..
Legendary stories of George hitting the heavy bag are about.I think[correct me if Im wrong]Nat Fleischer wrote of the awe he was in watching George hit the big bag.Fleischer had seen them all,even Liston,and he said he's never seen anybody hit a heavybag like George.