George Foreman's claim to fame...

[Wild Blue Yonda]

Definitely his comeback. Look at it this way. No Top 10 Heavyweights list prior to the late 1990s had George on it Even in the lower levels, George was never present. Nowadays, since the 1990s and his combeack, George is on virtually every top 10 list of legendary heavyweights. He also made more fans, got more respect, made more money, and had a better image as a man not just a fighter in his comeback., And he made a record in bixing that will probably never be broken. And he fought better competition as a whole in his comeback than he did in his first 37 fights, fighting Morrison, Holyfield, Cooney, Moorer, Briggs, Qawi, Cooper. Sure Ali and Frazier were better than these men, but they came later and were the only really top level fighters George fought before his comeback. Norton and Lyle were good but not great, Young beat him, and Roman was a nobody.

George looked mroe menacing in his prime, more scary and invincible looking.

Good post, well-put --- although for me, I would class prime incarnations of both Norton & Lyle somewhere above Cooper, Cooney (the shot version Foreman fought, definitely), Morrison, Briggs & Qawi --- only Holyfield was better than those two (& he would've struggled mightily with the Norton Foreman did away with). Norton & Lyle would each have a debatable claim to being placed ahead of Moorer, too.

[Great John L]

The several great and near great fighters Foreman fought while youyng surely are the cornerstones of his greatness as a fighter, but I mean in a general sense the few he fought in his comeback that were real good such as Morrison, Holyfield, Qawi, Cooney, Briggs, are better than the first 37 fighters he fought before he met Frazier, Ali, Norton, etc imo. But the great ones young Foreman fought are defintiely much btter than 90% in his comeback. Put I think pre Frazier opponents for George pale to the fighters old George fought.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

I just would not name Cooney or Briggs, for instance, over the likes of Peralta, or Chuvalo. I think it's close, but ultimately I would probably say Foreman did fight better opposition, pre-Moorer (87-94), than he did pre-Frazier (69-73).

[yakoonbil]

we much obliged to the Great who post the main and also famous 10 person who are in the rank..

[Kid McCoy]

Was it what he did in the 70's? Or was it his comeback?

A combination of both, although it was the 90s comeback which prompted people to re-evaluate him. Winning gold at the famous 1968 Olympics and obliterating Frazier, Norton and Lyle is nice, but Foreman wasn't considered a great at the close of the 70s. KO'ing Moorer to regain the title twenty years after losing it at age 45 is what secured his legend.

[joseph5620]

Not the answer that the thread starter is looking for but I'll still have to say both as Foreman wouldn't be anywhere near as highly regarded if his two careers stood alone. Winning the heavyweight title twice, the way he did it, is his true claim to fame.

Exactly....

[young_robbed]

his comeback for sure

[RetroGamer]

nice nice nice

[Cassius Liston]

thats what George ate in the training for Moorer