BoxRec

10 rounds.

Foster wins by brutal knockout. Would not be pretty to watch. Butterbean would walk face first into Bob's devastating left-hook.

This is one heavyweight fight that Bob Foster would not lose.

That's my take.

The heavy heavyweight, which Bobby would destroy like he was destroyed himself against some other heavies.

Butterbean never fought someone anywhere near this good. It's quite possible he wouldn't even land a punch on Foster. I highly doubt he'd land a clean one at any point.

Foster would stick his long left jabs into Butterbean's face at long range without engaging him on the inside and then setting him up with good long range punches in the middle rounds to set him up with a big left hook to stop the Bean in the late round.

Call me crazy but I think this might be more competitive than people would think. Forget about Foster's matches with Ali and Frazier. It took him 6 rounds to put away 8-13-2 Roy Wallace, 5 rounds to put away 21-18-5 Chuck Leslie, etc. The same kind of guys that Butterbean bowled over.

True, arguably the best guy Butterbean defeated was Peter McNeeley but the question should be asked who was the best heavyweight that Bob Foster beat? I don't really think there was any one of consequence that he really defeated as a heavyweight. His rankings as a heavyweight was largely based on his light heavyweight resume.

Maybe 45-28-8 Willi Besmanoff was the best heavyweight that Foster beat. So who knows. I think perhaps the fight would be even going the first 4 or 5 rounds, with Esch fading down stretch. Then again, with Foster being 180 pounds Esch might just run at him like a football player and smother him against the ropes kinda like Fury did Wilder in the rematch.

Why don't you just ask me vs Ali at his best. If you're scratching your head over this one, you're not a boxing fan and never have been.