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We've all had dream match ups that never happened. What were the biggest fights that you dreamed about that just never came together?
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1
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7/3/08
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(108 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jul 3, 2008 9:05 AM
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As for Tyson-Foreman, of course practically you can only discuss Foreman's 2nd career. They could have theoretically met in the late 80s prior to Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas in 1990, though at the time George was fighting clearly less-than impressive opponents.
I was pretty young in the 80s and never saw most of Tyson's fights at the time, though I did later see a career recap special by ESPN after he had begun his sad decline into a state that now seems to be regarded as a 2nd tier boxing great. I have to say that watching his career recap was amazing. Its hard to believe how powerful and fast this man was, and I think he is still one of the best finishers the sport has ever seen. How many heavyweights have there been who laid out one after another of the top contenders in early rounds with such decisiveness and speed---- where the contests were not anywhere close to being competitive? I agree he probably could have beaten any heavyweight of any era during this period in the later 80s. George may have been able to attempt to outthink tyson if they met and made it competitive for many rounds, but my suspicion is if you match up the two when Tyson was anywhere near his peak, the result for George would have been much the same as when he met Holyfield (in '91, mind you)--- a battered and bruised face to the big man. This being said, I do believe that George Foreman, taking his initial career into account, is one of the greatest boxers ever and possibly even the greatest of the modern heavyweights (Ali aside) and more impressive overall than Iron Mike.
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713
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5/7/07
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(107 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jul 2, 2008 5:27 PM
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foreman would have won the reason is
because tyson too faded int eh later rounds, also lost
power as the fight went on.
Tyson wasnt a dancer he just came forward, and that is perfect foil for a guy like foreman.
as for teh ali question i have a feeling that tyson would have given him hell and maybe won once out five times.
tyson was overrated anyway, he was very good. but overrated.
he beat a guy once without even touching him. explain
yeah he beat 39 year old fat holmes, and michael spinks in 1. but those guys had battles prior to him.
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Posts:
30
Registered:
6/12/08
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(106 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jul 1, 2008 4:11 PM
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Foreman vs Tyson....huhmm,,,
Let's distinguish between 1rst and 2nd career Foreman
The 1rst Foreman was a big puncher that had trouble in the later rounds, the second Foreman was slow of hand and foot but still had punching power and improved on his stamina issues.
The fight could have happened in Foreman's second career so I'll focus on that-
I have to say Tyson-
Too fast and strong for an old Foreman-stoppage in mid rounds.
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Posts:
2,029
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5/18/07
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(105 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jul 1, 2008 2:51 PM
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> > The two Ali fights that impressed people who
> > didn't want to have to respect him were
> > the fight with real heavyweights Cleaveland
> > "Big Cat" Williams and Zora Folley.
>
> I got both those fights on DVD. I got so many of his
> fights, I need to dig -up the Ali vs Bob Foster
> fight. It's somewhere in there, I think I even have
> have the Frazier vs Foster fight somewhere on a Ali
> DVD.
>
All on youtube as well. I used to have some of Bob's
Lightheavyweight fights up there but was closed down
due to copywrite violations. Someone else has some
of them back up now.
Best left hook EVER !
Note how Bob purposely misses with the right in
order to hide Mike's eyes from the left hook starting
up. then when Mike goes to counter that with his
own left hook, Bob beats him to the punch with his.
And just to stay on topic:
I would have liked to have seen Bob Foster vs John
Conteh or Victor Galindez although Bob was already
past his prime when he retired.
> Did Cleveland "BIG CAT" Williams really get shot all
> up before his fight with Ali by a racist Texas State
> Trooper?
I'm not aware of the circumstances but he was carrying
a 357 mag bullet in him somewhere. His problem was
Ali's speed.
Lots of Texas cops had race attitudes back then, at
least, but I don't know how that shooting started.
I do have a personal observation that '60s Dallas cops
were both triggerhappy with ANYbody and mean spirited,
besides, if one happed to live through the getting shot part.
--
Edited by JimEarl at 07/01/2008 7:20 PM PDT
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622
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1/17/08
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(104 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jul 1, 2008 2:51 PM
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I might be mistaken, but from what I thought, Tyson didn't fight Foreman out of respect for George because he thought he was too old and didn't want to hurt him. This is something I heard over the years. Now I could be wrong but I think Tyson as a boxing historian at one point had a ton of respect for the sport, so I can see it as being possible. Just for the record Tyson at his best with Cus D'amato I think could have beaten any boxer in history. It might be a stretch and I know people are thinking Ali and others could have beaten him but thats the way I feel about Tyson.
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Posts:
2
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5/8/06
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(103 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jul 1, 2008 2:46 PM
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I'll take Tyson over Foreman any day. He was too fast for George who always looked like he was punching under water-knee deep in sand. Thats Foreman at 19 or 119. Too much speed and skill for Foreman.
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216
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9/5/04
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(102 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jul 1, 2008 11:37 AM
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that's a prime example of what i'm talking about when i say that lots of you are too young to have really understood what was going on when tyson was at his peak in the late 80's. foreman was calling out tyson after everyone of his fights and holyfield moved up to heavyweight not making it any secret that he wanted tyson. see, when you post stuff that's just incorrect, you give up your secret- you either werent into boxing in the late 80's or was too young to remember. i think i still got the sports illustrated where big george is on the cover calling out tyson.
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Posts:
251
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12/6/07
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(101 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jun 30, 2008 6:48 PM
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> When Tyson began his tragic downfall there was no a
> support staff around quipped to deal with his type of
> mentality. I firmly believe a focused, mature,
> naturally devastating puncher, with the right team
> that would have garnisered utmost respect and
> loyalty., Mike would have laid anyone he chose out .
> C'mon when mike was laying guys out in the 1st as if
> they been ten rds already, NO_ONE even dare mentioned
> another heavyweight's name unlesshe commentated on
> the side or if he was ducking Tyson. And as I recall
> foreman never even put his name in the same sentence
> as Mike at the time. He came back to boxing when the
> man went to jail. Holyfield ducked him then. Lewis
> wanted no parts of him. Nobody wanted to fight the
> champ until he came home a shell of what he once was.
> Tyson in his prime was just as fast as any
> heavyweight out there combined with brut power. His
> defense was impecable. He was very hard to hit
> cleanly because of his upper body movement. his reach
> was so short that when an uppercut came , you only
> saw it in clips in slow motion. Ali took great body
> punches however i dont think any other elites would
> have been able to stand up to his onslaught of rib
> cage action. It is sad when someone like Iron Mike
> Tyson gets forgotten like that. Finally there would
> be no such thing as boxing in the 80's to me if Mike
> Tyson wasn't there. Are you kidding me.
FACT!
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16
Registered:
6/26/06
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(100 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jun 30, 2008 6:33 PM
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When Tyson began his tragic downfall there was no a support staff around quipped to deal with his type of mentality. I firmly believe a focused, mature, naturally devastating puncher, with the right team that would have garnisered utmost respect and loyalty., Mike would have laid anyone he chose out . C'mon when mike was laying guys out in the 1st as if they been ten rds already, NO_ONE even dare mentioned another heavyweight's name unlesshe commentated on the side or if he was ducking Tyson. And as I recall foreman never even put his name in the same sentence as Mike at the time. He came back to boxing when the man went to jail. Holyfield ducked him then. Lewis wanted no parts of him. Nobody wanted to fight the champ until he came home a shell of what he once was. Tyson in his prime was just as fast as any heavyweight out there combined with brut power. His defense was impecable. He was very hard to hit cleanly because of his upper body movement. his reach was so short that when an uppercut came , you only saw it in clips in slow motion. Ali took great body punches however i dont think any other elites would have been able to stand up to his onslaught of rib cage action. It is sad when someone like Iron Mike Tyson gets forgotten like that. Finally there would be no such thing as boxing in the 80's to me if Mike Tyson wasn't there. Are you kidding me.
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16
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6/26/06
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(99 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jun 30, 2008 6:33 PM
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When Tyson began his tragic downfall there was no a support staff around quipped to deal with his type of mentality. I firmly believe a focused, mature, naturally devastating puncher, with the right team that would have garnisered utmost respect and loyalty., Mike would have laid anyone he chose out . C'mon when mike was laying guys out in the 1st as if they been ten rds already, NO_ONE even dare mentioned another heavyweight's name unlesshe commentated on the side or if he was ducking Tyson. And as I recall foreman never even put his name in the same sentence as Mike at the time. He came back to boxing when the man went to jail. Holyfield ducked him then. Lewis wanted no parts of him. Nobody wanted to fight the champ until he came home a shell of what he once was. Tyson in his prime was just as fast as any heavyweight out there combined with brut power. His defense was impecable. He was very hard to hit cleanly because of his upper body movement. his reach was so short that when an uppercut came , you only saw it in clips in slow motion. Ali took great body punches however i dont think any other elites would have been able to stand up to his onslaught of rib cage action. It is sad when someone like Iron Mike Tyson gets forgotten like that. Finally there would be no such thing as boxing in the 80's to me if Mike Tyson wasn't there. Are you kidding me.
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Posts:
2,287
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(98 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jun 30, 2008 5:56 AM
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> The two Ali fights that impressed people who didn't
>want to have to respect him were the fight with real
>heavyweights Cleaveland "Big Cat" Williams and Zora Folley.
I got both those fights on DVD. I got so many of his fights, I need to dig -up the Ali vs Bob Foster fight. It's somewhere in there, I think I even have have the Frazier vs Foster fight somewhere on a Ali DVD.
Did Cleveland "BIG CAT" Williams really get shot all up before his fight with Ali by a racist Texas State Trooper?
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(97 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jun 29, 2008 11:42 PM
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> When Ali fought Bob Foster, Bob Foster was the
> current WBC and WBA light-heavyweight champion of
> the world. Anyhow, Bob Foster was knocked
> down four times in the 5th round, twice in the 7th
> round, and completely knocked out in the 8th.
>
He didn't beat the count but he wasn't out cold.
> Bob Foster was 6'3 and had a 79'inch reach, almost
> the exact same size as Ali, except Bob Foster was
> about 40lbs too-light in the pants at a buck80
> (meaning 180lbs).
>
> Ali traveled across the globe lookin for fights.
>
I'm as huge a Bob Foster fan as you'll ever find but
vicious punching Bob was never adaptable to the
heavyweights like Eddie (Gregory) Mustafa Muhammad,
for instance, was. He was really KTFO'd by Smokin' Joe.
Bob was only the greatest Lightheavyweight in my
lifetime, imo.
The two Ali fights that impressed people who didn't
want to have to respect him were the fight with real
heavyweights Cleaveland "Big Cat" Williams and Zora Folley.
--
Edited by JimEarl at 06/29/2008 8:43 PM PDT
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Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jun 29, 2008 10:16 PM
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>i was illustrating that the peek a boo style wasn't unfamiliar to Ali.
Yeah, I know.
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1,427
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(95 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened?
Jun 29, 2008 12:24 PM
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i was illustrating that the peek a boo style wasn't unfamiliar to Ali.
floyd was personally trained by cus.
--
I came
I saw
and I conquered
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(94 of 108)
Re: What Were The Greatest Fights that Could Have Been...But Never Happened
Jun 29, 2008 10:46 AM
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When Ali fought Bob Foster, Bob Foster was the current WBC and WBA light-heavyweight champion of the world. Anyhow, Bob Foster was knocked down four times in the 5th round, twice in the 7th round, and completely knocked out in the 8th.
Bob Foster was 6'3 and had a 79'inch reach, almost the exact same size as Ali, except Bob Foster was about 40lbs too-light in the pants at a buck80 (meaning 180lbs).
Ali traveled across the globe lookin for fights.
Ali would give Mike Tyson the beating of his natural life and make Tyson like it. After he got tired of doin that, Ali would knock'em out.
Tyson would be so happy that he woke up, you couldn't keep his mouth shut. Tyson would be runnin around braggin about how easy Ali slapped him around, before he got knocked out.
--
Edited by ziptop at 06/29/2008 8:27 AM PDT
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