Next to Ali, foreman is the greatest most extraordinary heavyweight in history. Two whole separate careers ten years apart. That must have seemed a long haul when he decided he would come back and was bent on being champ again. What fortitude to accomplish the amazing feat of starting from scratch again and having a whole second career then winning the title again! Incredible feat.
Damn straight, in my opinion when you talk about the greatest heavyweights of all time or the greatest boxers of all time Big George Foreman has to be on that list, oldest heavyweight champion, 10 years away from the game and to comeback at 40, be willing to fight the likes of Tyson, putting on a hell of a display against a prime Holyfield, Holyfield himself said that no one hit him harder than George to the point he thought George had knocked out all of his teeth
Foreman was force of nature for sure, but i really respect Holyfield. Evander fought all the greats in his era (and a couple of the older ones too), he didn't duck anyone.. Foreman, Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, Holmes, Moorer, Mercer and others. But I agree Foreman was a rare breed of boxer.
I love both guys. Foreman More so. But Lennox would possibly kill both in the ring and I wasn’t a fan of Lennox during his time as I was anti British fighters. Especially hw
@@oldironsides4107 I disagree. Lennox is a great but Ali has a habit of beating great fighters and I think he could take- or wouldn’t have had to take- Lewis’s power. Foreman and shavers three everything at him and couldn’t beat him, and also Ali was much faster footwork and speed than Lennox. You never saw Lennox moving around making angles like Ali did. But hey, who knows eh. We all have our opinions!
I can’t think of a Lennox fight i cheered him on. I was happy when Holyfield got the draw in the first fight. I was rooting for akinwande against Lennox. It would be really tough for Ali to overcome that size prime for prime. And foreman would have a better chance. And I’m not sure if going or old foreman would fare better. When I watch boxing with my kids I tell them ali and foreman beat Lennox easily though.
Foreman also had mad respect for Holyfield. He said that fighters in the 70s were much tougher to fight than the 90s, with the exception of Evander Holyfield. That right there is mad respect and I have to agree with the man!!
Holyfield did something unprecedented after this....he continued to grow well in his late 20s lol. I wonder how he was from this guy dwarfed by foreman to being a lumbering hulk later on....only science knows.
This synergy between Holyfield and Foreman was great. Glad it was just one fight. It was win/win as people realized Foreman was for real in his comeback. I think Holyfield got more popular after this fight and got a lot of fans. A very upbeat fight all around. Foreman's a blast! :)
Holyfield is a boss for sure but you know you're an OG when you lose a fight and people are still more interested in talking about you than the winner!
Watching this is almost bittersweet. Watching 2 all-time great Heavyweights carrying themselves with class and dignity. They didn't have to create or take on a disrespectful, profane, overly prideful public persona like most of the top fighters today, just to garner attention, notoriety and money. There ability IN the ring, is what brought that to them.
to be fair this era has less prideful public personas trying to garner attention, notoriety and money, just look at the actions of mike tyson in this era,
@@SamTheManWhoCanTwice Mike did have that, but he was also a loose cannon that you felt was capable of saying or doing anything, and yes many more fighters especially in the 90's began to adopt the flashy, mouthy, look at me personality, but there was still a balance of dignified, class fighters that didn't need to go that route, with the likes of Foreman, Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, De La Hoya Etc.
Funny hey. He was a feared character as a young man, looking up to Sonny Liston, but later in life during the comeback he became a much loved figure. His all round presentation as such a nice man promoted that.
Yeah Ali destroyed George no doubt about it but have you ever watched the count at best it’s 8 or 9 and it’s called a knockout. Ali should not have beat George people even feared for Ali’s health fighting George. But no matter Ali was the King of the world .
The only man Foreman didn't bury alive in his physical prime was Muhammad Ali.. Out of 40 fights right before Ali (41), Foreman KO/TKO 36 of his opponents..
Idk man Evander had a great chin and speed I believe he would tire out George Foreman and George Foreman even said himself his power was still there and he was a smarter man than back then. Just my opinion tho💯
@@zaeedaziz2213 I don’t know man, Holyfield had more stamina and speed & defense then Foreman tbh I see them fighting into a trilogy Holyfield winning one or two at most because that man is different but Idk man I don’t see Holyfield knocking him out I see em losing the first fight and come back the second or third time and just boxing Foreman instead of making it a fight
Two really classy fighters and men as well. In his prime George was feared as much, or more than Sonny Liston, with good reason. Evander was a great champion and really good for the sport, I've seen all of the best of this sport from the sixties on.
Foreman has such a great personality in his comeback years. The persona outside and the inside the ring is both what made Ali great, and what makes Foreman great. I really wish Ali didnt get Parkinsons, or Foremans destiny to become a minister, because a rematch wouldve been golden.
Wrong. Didn't yo hear Holyfield 2W- 0, Tyson 0 - 2L? All around, Foreman was better the second time around. Once he learned the secret of pacing himself he was a lot better off. He'd beat both Jimmy Young and Muhammad Ali in his second coming.
@@godsownfool7 no the fuck he wouldn't have beaten Ali or jimmy young in his second coming, dumbest shit I've heard. Second career foreman did certain things better like better endurance and better ring iq but prime foreman is way better, had a lot more power, explosive, more speed, and more killer instinct. Old foreman couldn't even beat holyfield so how tf would be beat Ali
Foreman lost on points, but he made a big point. "Being 40 isn't a death sentence." Big George won the people's approval and respect. He got more money deals in boxing and commercials, than Holyfield.
Holyfield thanked God when Tyson wound up going to jail before their fight could happen. The Tyson that came out of prison was a different fighter than he was at the time of Holfield vs Foreman.
followed boxing for almost 60 year and beyond anything comparable Tyson has a fan base of more revisionists and, bald face liars than all of the other divisions put together.
For sure Mike wins before prison, Holyfield had not juiced up here and Mike was a totally other beast. I think Foreman had been a tougher fight for him.
@@pavarotti744 Mike Tyson fangirls most delusional fans ever bunch of excuses for his failures 1996 year 34 year old Evander Holyfield beat and knocked out 30 year old Mike Tyson and took his heavyweight title
Lol. I love it when men who spend more time & money on their hair than I do get it sooooo wrong. 😁😄😃 Thank you Evander & George for the great memories. Champs!💯💗
The size difference between Evander and George is nuts. George out weighed him by nearly 50 lbs. and Evander still took Georges best shots. Dude was the real Iron of his era. Big George is a monster himself.
Give Letterman credit, for bringing Big George and Evander together, right after the fight. Give Johnny Carson credit, for bringing Big George and Michael Landon together. That was Landon's last interview, before he died. Big George was one of the last people, to sit next to him. Wouldn't have surprised me, George as a preacher, prayed for Landon's healing; after that appearance together.
"Easy" fight for Holyfield in order to avoid Mike Tyson. We all know Don King put Holyfield on the backburner and made him wait for his shot with Tyson. And we all know Buster Douglas destroyed those plans. So instead of getting the Tyson-Douglas rematch, Buster decided to avoid Tyson because his first fight was a fluke. Now in this scenario, Tyson should've gotten the first shot at Holyfield. When he didn't, King went to the WBC to get their top 2 fighters to face each other, Tyson & Ruddock, to fight for the vacant WBC belt as the WBC came thisclose to getting Holyfield stripped. It didn't happen because Tyson wanted to fight Holyfield in the ring and win all 3 belts that way. Holyfield almost signed a rematch against Foreman when Tyson fought the Ruddock rematch. When Tyson caught word of this he almost fired King in order to face Holyfield. So King got Tyson the Holyfield fight but wanted more money. Tyson almost fired King again and told him it's not about the money but about regaining the belts. Holyfield was to make $25 mill while Tyson would only make $15 mill. Team Holyfield got what they wanted, to cash out against a fighter they weren't too sure they could beat in Tyson. The winner of Tyson-Holyfield in 1991 would've faced George Foreman next but the conviction changed all that and Tyson never got a chance to regain the throne.
George Foreman had so many boxing analyst doubters. lol "We hope you retire, George! Come on! Retire! You'll never become champ again!" George made them eat their words!
The deteriation in holyfields ability to speak nowadays compared to here is very sad.he is sharp easy to understand and makes sense here..now he talks in riddles makes no sense and is hard to understand
Great stuff by big George quoting MacArthur....shit I was kinda old when this was new 30 years ago.....people thought he was so-so after losing to Young and Ali people also thought Holyfield couldn't hit bc he couldn't ko Foreman or Holmes....some people hate Bobby Orr and love hitler too,all kinds...
He was 42 and they made such a big deal about his “age” since then other fighters like Bernard Hopkins ,James Toney even Holyfield continued to have success late into their 40s
I remember watching that fight; Holyfield was about to knock out Big George two minutes into the third and they rang the bell a minute early. I cracked my old tube tv screen when I threw the remote at it.
a person is not a hero, unless they make a personal sacrifice of serious merit. it's insanity in an insane world, and nobody wants to be the hero; we're selfish - and nobody has courage.
