The incredible thing that we don't talk about when it comes to George Foreman

[mikeeod]

i think that its easy to forget (or maybe you just dont know) how inexperienced he was as a fighter and how quickly he rose the ranks despite his lack of experience. he started boxing at the age of 17. that is pretty old. he won the state golden gloves and national golden gloves title a year after he started boxing. that is very impressive. then less than 3 years after he started boxing, he won the olympics. that is a very impressive feat. he used his sheer athleticism and strength to win.

he then started fighting professionally at the age of 20 (remember that he only started boxing at age 17). then he got to 37-0 with 34 KO's by the age of 24 and 3 1/2 years of professional experience before facing frazier. frazier was a force to be reckoned with and was expected to destroy foreman. obviously foreman easily won the fight. imagine that though. after 3 1/2 years, most people are still very protected. and that is also understanding his short amateur career. most people who move fast in the professionals had an extended amateur career.

lets look at wlad right now. he fought a high ranking HW in chris byrd after 4 years (safe fight but high ranking) but had an amateur record of 134-6 compared to foremans 22-4. that is 114 less fights. what foreman did would have been equivalent to wlad facing lewis at that time instead of byrd which everybody would have thought that wlad was too green to win. i would agree with that (although i would agree that wlad would never beat lewis but thats beside the point).

anyways, i just wanted to write how fast foreman went to through the rankings. no wonder he was so out of control early in his career. he never got the chance to really slow down and work on basics. it was basically throw punches and knock people out. and since he was winning, he just kept doing it and didnt develop a lot of basic boxing skill until after his first retirement.

Solid post. What George did during his first career was impressive, without a doubt. One of the most menacing champions to ever set foot in the ring. He then had one of the greatest transformations ever and came back decades later to make history becoming the oldest ever to win the the lineal championship.

A quick question though: Do you think that could ever be accomplished at any other weight class? Someone with so little amateur background winning a lineal title and destroying an ATG in the process? I can see it in the cruiserweights and maybe light heavy, but not below. To me it illustrates how much tougher the competition is at the middle to lighter weights. Don't want to take anything away from George though...

[Beanflicker]

What's more amazing is the fact that Foreman was an olympic gold medalist with a 22-4 amateur record. WTF

[Bill Paxtom]

1968

George had to get through some pretty damn good American Amateurs to win a berth on
the 1968 United States Olympic Boxing Team.

[powerpuncher]

i think that its easy to forget (or maybe you just dont know) how inexperienced he was as a fighter and how quickly he rose the ranks despite his lack of experience. he started boxing at the age of 17. that is pretty old. he won the state golden gloves and national golden gloves title a year after he started boxing. that is very impressive. then less than 3 years after he started boxing, he won the olympics. that is a very impressive feat. he used his sheer athleticism and strength to win.

he then started fighting professionally at the age of 20 (remember that he only started boxing at age 17). then he got to 37-0 with 34 KO's by the age of 24 and 3 1/2 years of professional experience beifore facing frazier. frazier was a force to be reckoned with and was expected to destroy foreman. obviously foreman easily won the fight. imagine that though. after 3 1/2 years, most people are still very protected. and that is also understanding his short amateur career. most people who move fast in the professionals had an extended amateur career.

lets look at wlad right now. he fought a high ranking HW in chris byrd after 4 years (safe fight but high ranking) but had an amateur record of 134-6 compared to foremans 22-4. that is 114 less fights. what foreman did would have been equivalent to wlad facing lewis at that time instead of byrd which everybody would have thought that wlad was too green to win. i would agree with that (although i would agree that wlad would never beat lewis but thats beside the point).

anyways, i just wanted to write how fast foreman went to through the rankings. no wonder he was so out of control early in his career. he never got the chance to really slow down and work on basics. it was basically throw punches and knock people out. and since he was winning, he just kept doing it and didnt develop a lot of basic boxing skill until after his first retirement.

Solid post. What George did during his first career was impressive, without a doubt. One of the most menacing champions to ever set foot in the ring. He then had one of the greatest transformations ever and came back decades later to make history becoming the oldest ever to win the the lineal championship.

A quick question though: Do you think that could ever be accomplished at any other weight class? Someone with so little amateur background winning a lineal title and destroying an ATG in the process? I can see it in the cruiserweights and maybe light heavy, but not below. To me it illustrates how much tougher the competition is at the middle to lighter weights. Don't want to take anything away from George though...

It's difficult to compare weight classes. The 70's had some solid fighters. He beat a few really good fighters and a few pretty good ones. I think the hard thing about smaller weight classes is the speed. He didn't have to worry about people boxing circles around him so you could say that it's easier as a HW to move up more quickly since its easier to rely on power.

[Bill Paxtom]

The Group of United States Amateurs that were competing against George.

* Forest Ward ~ {1967 National AAU and 1967 Pan Am Games Champion}
* Chuck Haynes
* Jimmy Lee Clark
* Clay Hodges ~ {1966 and 1967 National Golden Gloves Champion}
* Frank Bellony
* Jeff Merritt
* Albert Milne
* Frank Steele
* Bunky Akins
* Frank Schram
* Mike Boswell
* Terry Daniels
* Curtis Whitehead
* Sylvester Dulaire
* Bill Henry
* Fred Grogan
* Thomas Gamble
* Henry Crump
* Formus White
* Ken Norton
* James Howard ~ {1966 National AAU Champion}
* Albert Wilson ~ {1968 National Golden Gloves Champion}

[AdamGB]

i think that its easy to forget (or maybe you just dont know) how inexperienced he was as a fighter and how quickly he rose the ranks despite his lack of experience. he started boxing at the age of 17. that is pretty old. he won the state golden gloves and national golden gloves title a year after he started boxing. that is very impressive. then less than 3 years after he started boxing, he won the olympics. that is a very impressive feat. he used his sheer athleticism and strength to win.

he then started fighting professionally at the age of 20 (remember that he only started boxing at age 17). then he got to 37-0 with 34 KO's by the age of 24 and 3 1/2 years of professional experience before facing frazier. frazier was a force to be reckoned with and was expected to destroy foreman. obviously foreman easily won the fight. imagine that though. after 3 1/2 years, most people are still very protected. and that is also understanding his short amateur career. most people who move fast in the professionals had an extended amateur career.

lets look at wlad right now. he fought a high ranking HW in chris byrd after 4 years (safe fight but high ranking) but had an amateur record of 134-6 compared to foremans 22-4. that is 114 less fights. what foreman did would have been equivalent to wlad facing lewis at that time instead of byrd which everybody would have thought that wlad was too green to win. i would agree with that (although i would agree that wlad would never beat lewis but thats beside the point).

anyways, i just wanted to write how fast foreman went to through the rankings. no wonder he was so out of control early in his career. he never got the chance to really slow down and work on basics. it was basically throw punches and knock people out. and since he was winning, he just kept doing it and didnt develop a lot of basic boxing skill until after his first retirement.

Solid post. What George did during his first career was impressive, without a doubt. One of the most menacing champions to ever set foot in the ring. He then had one of the greatest transformations ever and came back decades later to make history becoming the oldest ever to win the the lineal championship.

A quick question though: Do you think that could ever be accomplished at any other weight class? Someone with so little amateur background winning a lineal title and destroying an ATG in the process? I can see it in the cruiserweights and maybe light heavy, but not below. To me it illustrates how much tougher the competition is at the middle to lighter weights. Don't want to take anything away from George though...

It's not so much that the competition is weaker, weight classes essentially cap the level of strength and power a boxer can possibly possess in a division, it's going to be rare that a guy shows up with only a small amount of ring experience and craft, but is able to blitz a division by being phenomenally stronger enough to nullify their lack of skills and experience against the opposition at lighter weights because the difference in physicality will always be capped by the weight limit, no such cap exists for a heavyweight so relatively green fighters whom possess freakish physical attributes are more likely to come around.