I believe Cosell was opining that Foreman, a relative amateur novice when he faced Chapulis, dominated and outclassed the favored, veteran Russian.raylawpc wrote:That was bullsh*t. Frazier is my favorite heavyweight champion, but Foreman gave Joe a worse beating than he gave to Chapulis . . .SenorPipino wrote:"George Foreman is doing to Joe Frazier what he did as a 19-year-old to a veteran Russian...a fellow named Ionis Chapulis in October 1968 at the Mexico City Olympic Games!"
Howard Cosell, broadcasting from ringside
Although he had 37 pro fights when he met Frazier, Foreman was again considered untested and unproven, simply because he fought few talented opponents on the way to his title bout with the favored Frazier.
In both cases, there were plenty of question marks surrounding George, but he dismantled both Frazier and Chapulis despite those doubts.
No, he didn't knock the Russian down 6 times, but he stunningly dominated him in a precursor to Foreman's dramatic destruction of Frazier just 4 1/2 years later.