Did Foreman get hit more in the 90's because his style changed?

[them_apples]

By the 90's you couldn't open the glove and grab as easily as you could with 70's fight gloves. Foreman being Saddler trained, used grappling as his form of defense. You can see it in his old sparring videos too up close. He grapples and manipulates his opponents with his grip, pushing their shoulders and any shots that happen to get through are either disrupted or he rides them like all old fighters do.

He switches to the cross guard later in his career, I'm sure because he's older (and archie is in his corner), heavier and slower but also because his style is no longer compatible. Holyfield did say Foreman rides the shots very well from years of experience, meaning even though he was getting hit he was moving with the shots, and sometimes its very hard to tell. Everyone trips out because we have hd television now, and they are catching canelo doing clever rolls and slides, but don't realize this was the trick of the trade years ago - even b class fighters were good at it.

[markusmod]

By the 90's you couldn't open the glove and grab as easily as you could with 70's fight gloves. Foreman being Saddler trained, used grappling as his form of defense. You can see it in his old sparring videos too up close. He grapples and manipulates his opponents with his grip, pushing their shoulders and any shots that happen to get through are either disrupted or he rides them like all old fighters do.

He switches to the cross guard later in his career, I'm sure because he's older (and archie is in his corner), heavier and slower but also because his style is no longer compatible. Holyfield did say Foreman rides the shots very well from years of experience, meaning even though he was getting hit he was moving with the shots, and sometimes its very hard to tell. Everyone trips out because we have hd television now, and they are catching canelo doing clever rolls and slides, but don't realize this was the trick of the trade years ago - even b class fighters were good at it.

He was old, not in shape as the prime Foreman and slower. But he still had that punch and that chin.

[QueensburyRules]

- - Foreman aged into his 40s growing slower by the year started taking more punches. Has nothing to do with style that he varied from fighter to fighter.

And being groomed as an "ultimate slugger" from the gitgo means he's a more open target in spite of learning decent boxing chops from Sonny.

[Willow The Wisp]

Threadstarter makes astute observations regarding Big George's evolving style, providing prospective sources and rationale as to how those changes were sourced. In addition to **** Sadler and Archie Moore I would add the esteemed Gil Clancy as another influencer. To hit the base question, as it was articulated, George was hit more in the 1990s incarnation, prinipally because he was born January of 49'. Just my thought.

[them_apples]

Threadstarter makes astute observations regarding Big George's evolving style, providing prospective sources and rationale as to how those changes were sourced. In addition to **** Sadler and Archie Moore I would add the esteemed Gil Clancy as another influencer. To hit the base question, as it was articulated, George was hit more in the 1990s incarnation, prinipally because he was born January of 49'. Just my thought.

pretty good post whosever alt you are

[HOUDINI563]

He was much slower. Prime Foreman was deceptively quick. Ali was asked a few weeks after beating Foreman “was there anything that surprised you about George?” Ali’s response? “He was fast!”

[The Old LefHook]

He was much slower. Prime Foreman was deceptively quick. Ali was asked a few weeks after beating Foreman “was there anything that surprised you about George?” Ali’s response? “He was fast!”

There is only one problem with that--he was not deceptively quick. Other than that, the statement is true.

[GhostofDempsey]

He was older, slower, fatter. More flat footed and conservative with his punches so he wouldn't tire easily. If you aren't throwing as many punches, your opponent has more opportunities to hit you. Honestly, George was always easy to hit, he just took it better in his youth and returned fire more often.

[them_apples]

He was much slower. Prime Foreman was deceptively quick. Ali was asked a few weeks after beating Foreman “was there anything that surprised you about George?” Ali’s response? “He was fast!”

he was deceptively quick for sure. A few others said this too. He was powerful, too powerful that he got clumsey at times. His jab was a missle and he understood leverage very well. Foreman imo has probably the second best jab in hw history (I know everyone will scream Holmes but really his was just flashier throwing it from the hip). He used it to win his title from Frazier and Moorer . Without that jab Foreman wasn’t built to throw short snappy hooks. He had these naturally heavy muscled arms and bones which meant his shots had to be set up in order to land.

the velocity on his shots in the Norton fight was Brutal. He may have been the one to really ruin Nortons chin permanently. And confidence. Frazier got up 6 times and quit due to “logical reasons”. Norton got hammered to the canvas and never got his legs back.

[HOUDINI563]

Frazier never quit vs Foreman. The ref stopped the bout upon urging from Frazier’s corner. The audience was screaming for the bout to be stopped as well. Foreman was telling Frazier’s corner he was going to kill Frazier if the bout was not stopped.

Determining best jab ever depends upon the criteria. In my book it was the Ali jab as I favor the punch as a weapon to surgically cut an opponent to ribbons, set up follow up blows and act as both an offensive and defensive weapon.

Those that favor more of a static power jab favor Holmes, Liston and Foreman. All were powerful punches but not with the speed or combined with lateral movement allowing the punch to land at all angles like Ali’s.