George Foreman knows a thing or two about eras.
The thumping heavyweight was world champion before retiring in 1977. He would return a decade later to resume his campaign and, in 1994, regain a belt to become the division’s oldest champion in heavyweight history at 45.
Having competed over three decades and against some of the very best big men the sport has ever seen, Foreman has a unique insight into how things changed.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine about his tenure, the man from Marshall, Texas identified Ron Lyle and his fellow fighters from the seventies as stronger and more fearsome than who he would return against ten years later. Except, that is, Evander Holyfield.
“Ron Lyle. He was the strongest man I ever faced in any fight. The likes of Shannon Briggs, and men like that, didn’t affect me because they were just ordinary fighters. They didn’t make an impression and I just chased them around. The men I faced in the seventies were more fearsome than the ones I faced in the eighties and the nineties, with the exception of Evander Holyfield. Evander could have competed in any era.”
Foreman faced Holyfield in 1991, his first comeback attempt to become heavyweight champion that was thwarted by the younger Holyfield via unanimous decision.
‘The Real Deal’ would retain his belts for two more fights before coming up short against rival Riddick Bowe. Until this year, he was the only man to have been undisputed at both cruiser and heavyweight, recently welcoming Oleksandr Usyk to that exclusive club.
