Being a big fan of George Foreman. . . . . who would REALLY win? "Prime Foreman" or "Comeback Foreman"?

Question

"Prime Foreman" knocked out Frazier and Norton, two rounds apiece. But "Comeback Foreman" had more weight on his shots, used his jab like a railroad tie, and used the "Old Mongoose" (Archie Moore) defense. If by some magical "after-school special" occurance these two could fight EACH OTHER, who would win and why?

Answer 1

Rastagrappler - hit this one on the head. Especially his last point. How great would George have been if he he had the power of his youth with the wisdom of the older George?

When George came back he was wiser. But he had to be! How could he have survived in his late 30's  early 40's if he were to try to KO guys from the opening bell. He needed to be more patient.

A young Foreman only had problems with patient counterpunchers(Ali & Young) Older Foreman had so problems with guys that were mediocre at best(Briggs, Savarese, Morrison and Stewart) The younger Foreman would have destroyed these guys inside of 5 rds.

Answer 2

I think it was forman in his prime, he was maybe the strongest heavyweight puncher ever, he was indestructable, until ali.  Frazier got brutally knocked out, norton was embarrased in two rounds, if he fought anyone else that ever fought at heavyweight other than ali he wouldve KO'd them 2.  HIs comeback was good but i dont think a prime forman loses to anyone other than the greatest of all time, forman was the most dangerous puncher, in his prime he was powerful, and in  his comeback he showed heart and determination and power but not like his power in the 1970's, so prime foman beats comeback forman.

Answer 3

Old George would patiently wait till he delivered that lightning left knock-out punch. He would wear you down or frustrate you until he saw his opening. Young George was in all around better physical shape but for some reason I still think that old George would drop the bomb and win the day.

Answer 4

I was extremely impressed by Foreman in his comeback. Like almost everyone, I thought it was a joke when he first announced the comeback, and like almost everyone, I jumped on the Big George bandwaggon when it became obvious that he was truly dedicated to achieving greatness and not just out for a publicity stunt. Not to say the Comeback Foreman wasn't an expert at publicity--his whole fat old man schtick, for example, was really just marketing. Old, maybe, but when he had his best fights during his comeback, he really was not fat---he was just a great big heavyweight. I read a lot about the training he did for those fights--believe me, he wasn't just going in and pounding people with a hammer, he was a well-conditioned, elite athlete. He never would have been able to stay in the Moorer fight long enough to get off the power shot that won him the title if he had not been in superb condition. As an older fighter, he was much more intelligent, relaxed and generally comfortable in his own skin.

That said, young George would have annihilated old George. Remember, Foreman lost in his comeback to Tommy Morrison! Tommy Morrison did not have a fraction of the talent that George Foreman had in his prime. Foreman put on a heroic battle with Holyfield, and he managed to deliver the big punch against Moorer to take the belt--in his comeback, Foreman really did climb into the top five or so of the heavyweight fighters in the world. But if you look at the quality of heavyweight fighters when Foreman was at the top of the heap during the 70's, compared to the quality of heavyweight fighters when Foreman was at the height of his comeback in the early 90's, there is just no comparison in quality. The 70's were the Golden Age of Heavyweights. Moorer was a very nice fighter and Holyfield legitimately deserves to be called a legend of the sport, but neither of them would have been considered elites in the era of Ali, Foreman, Frazier, and Norton, at least not at heavyweight. Remember, both of those fighters came up in weight for heavyweight--they were small for the division, whereas Foreman was big for the division, and he was such a smart fighter by that point that he was able to use his considerable strength advantage to the fullest.  

It is scary to think what young George would have been like if he had the mental maturity that he developed later in life. His famous loss to Ali was the result of Ali mentally getting into his head and breaking him. At that point in both fighters' careers, Foreman was the physically more dominant athlete. And he never recovered from that fight (not until decades later, anyway) because it mentally broke him. But the young Foreman would have been way too much physically for the old Foreman to handle.

Answer 5

comeback by far. much bigger ,and smarter.