How Did This Guy Go The Distance With Prime Foreman

[man]

IMO foreman lacked defensive skills and proper footwork
and got away with being a big puncher for too long. an
early loss would have humbled him, but once the loss
came his ego was already too swollen up to allow for big
changes. while foreman-lyle is one of my favorite fights
it showed all of foreman's weaknesses. though one must
be careful, lyle was not an easy to fight opponent, he had
strength and in my eyes some solid style.

i mentioned footwork in the beginning i do not recall a
heavyweight who seemed so misplaced in his stance. i
always had the feeling his legs were too close together and
a little weird in the position of the feet and knees. foreman I
always seemed to have an upper body disconnected from
the legs. in my eyes (and i admit, i am not a boxer) this
was his primary weakness, which put limits on everything
else. if your stance is so fragile it is more difficult to be
flexible around the hip area to allow for upper body movement
...

[ThatOne]

IMO foreman lacked defensive skills and proper footwork
and got away with being a big puncher for too long. an
early loss would have humbled him, but once the loss
came his ego was already too swollen up to allow for big
changes. while foreman-lyle is one of my favorite fights
it showed all of foreman's weaknesses. though one must
be careful, lyle was not an easy to fight opponent, he had
strength and in my eyes some solid style.

i mentioned footwork in the beginning i do not recall a
heavyweight who seemed so misplaced in his stance. i
always had the feeling his legs were too close together and
a little weird in the position of the feet and knees. foreman I
always seemed to have an upper body disconnected from
the legs. in my eyes (and i admit, i am not a boxer) this
was his primary weakness, which put limits on everything
else. if your stance is so fragile it is more difficult to be
flexible around the hip area to allow for upper body movement
...

Footwork equals balance and if his footwork was so bad I would think he would have been knocked down and knocked out a lot more.

I'd be interested to hear more opinions.

[man]

I'd be interested to hear more opinions.

same here. i don't claim to be an expert ...

[Brutu]

Forte probably didnt even see the punch that Patterson landed.
But had the reflexes to see Foreman's a mile away.
Anyway there are too many varables to any certain fight,
maybe Foreman woke up that day feeling kind of mellow that day,maybe Patterson woke up feeling kind of mean. Maybe Forte paid more attention to Foreman's reputation coming into the fight and was more cautious ,perhaps he came into Patterson fight
thinking he was over the hill.

[raylawpc]

Brutu, here is what Levi told me himself about four or five years ago (as reported on page 1 of this thread):

". . . Levi and I talked about both the Foreman and Patterson fights. Levi said that Foreman hit incredibly hard. In fact, Foreman hit him on the forehead so hard that it actually raised hard knot. But he lasted the distance because (a) Foreman was relatively inexperienced at that point, (b) Foreman telegraphed his punches, (c) Foreman tired in the late rounds, and (d) Levi had the right style to stay with Foreman.

"Regarding Patterson, Levi said that Patterson hit alot harder than people gave Patterson credit for, and that Patterson had very fast hands. He said the simple fact was that he couldn't follow Floyd's punches that night, and never saw the punch coming that stopped him."

[Goodnight, Irene]

Tua is & always was quite embarrassingly over-rated & over-estimated. He virtually never defeated anyone who wasn't standing right in front of him.

What can you say about a guy who had that much trouble (twice!) with Hasim Rahman? Not much, IMO

[slakka]

The last time I saw him, Levi was still a bellman at the Fountainbleu Hotel. I saw him every year at a conference I attended there, and always spent some time talking to him. If you ever get down to Miami Beach, drop by the Fountainbleu and talk to Levi. He loves to talk to fans. He is still very sharp mentally. Sadly, our conference moved from Miami Beach to Orlando about four years ago, so I do not see Levi anymore.

Levi and I talked about both the Foreman and Patterson fights. Levi said that Foreman hit incredibly hard. In fact, Foreman hit him on the forehead so hard that it actually raised hard knot. But he lasted the distance because (a) Foreman was relatively inexperienced at that point, (b) Foreman telegraphed his punches, (c) Foreman tired in the late rounds, and (d) Levi had the right style to stay with Foreman.

Regarding Patterson, Levi said that Patterson hit alot harder than people gave Patterson credit for, and that Patterson had very fast hands. He said the simple fact was that he couldn't follow Floyd's punches that night, and never saw the punch coming that stopped him.

This post is a good as its gets, heart of the matter! Reminds me of Billy Conn saying thank god to the day i no longer had to fight middleweights and deal with all that speed.