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Foreman's chin was at worst good, but how many times was he hit by a straight puncher of the caliber of Louis or Dempsey? The closest was Lyle, who had him in serious trouble and could have knocked him out had his heavy hands not bailed him out. I think his chin was reliable but nothing like Chuvalo, Tua, McCall, Baer, etc. or even Samuel Peter.
As for his power, he had heavy ass hands, perhaps the heaviest of all time (until Sam Peter came along ha ha ha) at heavyweight but that does not equate to explosive one puncher power. I think a durable heavyweight puncher like Brewster, who proved his chin vs. an explosive puncher in Wlad Klitschko could possibly weather the storm while scoring with savage body blows and eventually take the fight.
I'm not saying I'd bet on Brewster as a sure lock, but I'd put money on him as he'd be a huge underdog who would be a live on to my eyes.
As for Toney, I thought for sure Peter would squash him but his upperbody movements and chin are something to behold. Yes, perhaps he does wither under a body attack but I think his counter right would startle and even hurt Foreman, who proved he could be hurt by quick straight punchers like Ali and Young.
And don't give me the exhaustion excuse, Ali caught him and hurt him with a snappy punch and would have done the same in the first or second round if the opportunity presented itself. The exhaustion played it's role in that it enabled Ali to land on Foreman without him seeing it. Foreman was tired but you don't go from tired to concussed on your own accord. Ali's punch did the damage. A fight where exhaustion truly played a role in a knockout would be Maskaev-Rahman II where Rahman was falling all over the ring from Maskaev's slow tired punches and just didn't have anything in the tank. Ali-Foreman was one clean knockdown from which Foreman couldn't get up because his brain had been scrambled.
As for his power, he had heavy ass hands, perhaps the heaviest of all time (until Sam Peter came along ha ha ha) at heavyweight but that does not equate to explosive one puncher power. I think a durable heavyweight puncher like Brewster, who proved his chin vs. an explosive puncher in Wlad Klitschko could possibly weather the storm while scoring with savage body blows and eventually take the fight.
I'm not saying I'd bet on Brewster as a sure lock, but I'd put money on him as he'd be a huge underdog who would be a live on to my eyes.
As for Toney, I thought for sure Peter would squash him but his upperbody movements and chin are something to behold. Yes, perhaps he does wither under a body attack but I think his counter right would startle and even hurt Foreman, who proved he could be hurt by quick straight punchers like Ali and Young.
And don't give me the exhaustion excuse, Ali caught him and hurt him with a snappy punch and would have done the same in the first or second round if the opportunity presented itself. The exhaustion played it's role in that it enabled Ali to land on Foreman without him seeing it. Foreman was tired but you don't go from tired to concussed on your own accord. Ali's punch did the damage. A fight where exhaustion truly played a role in a knockout would be Maskaev-Rahman II where Rahman was falling all over the ring from Maskaev's slow tired punches and just didn't have anything in the tank. Ali-Foreman was one clean knockdown from which Foreman couldn't get up because his brain had been scrambled.
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