Heavyweight icon George Foreman once shared his thoughts on the credentials of Floyd Mayweather.
‘Big’ George, who sadly passed away just a week ago, often receives credit for being one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, enjoying an accomplished career which culminated in him capturing the world heavyweight championship on two separate occasions.
His second round stoppage victory over Joe Frazier in 1973 remains one of the greatest performances ever from a heavyweight, as he made quick work of one of the most formidable fighters ever to capture heavyweight honours for the first time.
However, perhaps his most impressive victory came 21 years later, when he sensationally knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their battle to claim the WBA and IBF heavyweight champion and become the oldest heavyweight champion in history, a record that still stands to this day.
Another legendary fighter who had a career to remember is five-division world champion Mayweather, although ‘Big’ George does not share the same opinion of ‘Money’ as many others do.
Speaking to Boxing Scene, Foreman criticised Mayweather for his fighting style, claiming he ‘ran like a chicken’ when he faced Oscar De La Hoya back in 2007 and didn’t deserve to get the victory on the scorecards.
“Now he is always cursing and bad-mouthing other fighters. The guy deserves an Oscar for some of the stuff he says. There is no way I would consider him to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
He is good but he made a fool of himself against Oscar De La Hoya. He was in the greatest fight of his career and he just ran and ran like a chicken. De La Hoya brought that fight to him all night but I didn’t like his style and the way he approached the fight. I thought he was very lucky to win it on points.”
‘Money’ Mayweather drew the curtain on his incredible career shortly after he defeated MMA fighter Conor McGregor in 2017.
He remained unbeaten throughout the duration of his tenure, winning all 50 of his professional fights with victories over the likes of De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez and Shane Mosley.
