“George Foreman hit me the hardest of all the fighters I ever fought,” the five-time heavyweight titlist confessed. “Some people didn’t get a chance to hit me hard because I wasn’t there. George Foreman got me. Lennox Lewis, Tyson, they hit real hard, but George Foreman hit me harder by a mile."
Considering that Holyfield fought in one of the last great 15-round wars against Dwight Muhammad Qawi, battled a prime Riddick Bowe over three grueling battles, and ate shots from the man many consider the hardest hitting heavyweight ever in Mike Tyson, Holyfield’s compliment means something. And if he hit Holyfield that hard in the 1990s, think of how Ken Norton, Joe Frazier, and Muhammad Ali felt in the 1970s. "I think it was the 7th round," The Real Deal recalled, "he hit me so hard, I thought all my teeth had got knocked out."
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