Heavyweight great George Foreman was involved in a number of great rumbles during his two careers, a number of them deserving of Fight of The Year honours, and “Big” George, who perhaps enjoyed the recent Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight more than most, says all those people who criticised the bout should “apologise for all the negative things they were saying about the fight.” Foreman says the fight delivered plenty of action and was far more competitive than anyone had predicted.
Foreman goes further, and suggests the August 26 fight could well go down as The Fight of The Year for 2017. Speaking with Noel O’Keefe and Robert Pallin on the Obviously Fight Talk podcast, the living legend also says that in his opinion Mayweather was badly hurt from a late-rounds body shot and was “saved” by the referee who stepped in “for no reason at all.”
“Well, for the first time, I think all of the media should apologise for all the negative things they were saying about the fight,” George said. “It’s probably…….it’s going to be hard to top it. It could have been the fight of the year. Not only did he [McGregor] surprise Mayweather, he surprised me and a whole host of experts. Because McGregor hit Mayweather often, his defence didn’t even work against Conor. He had to come out and fight like an old boxing slugger, like George Foreman or something.”
It’s true Mayweather took far more shots than anyone had predicted would be the case, and the fight was surprisingly exciting and entertaining. But what of Foreman’s claim that the ref, Robert Byrd, “saved”Mayweather and his money?
“The referee protected Mayweather in one of the last rounds,” Foreman stated. “[Conor] hurt him. He had him hurt and was going for the finish, and the referee stepped in for no reason at all and stopped it. It was a vicious body punch. Conor had him with a good body punch and the referee saved him, but that’s typical of a boxing match.”
Is Foreman right, and will many fans, upon hearing what he has to say, go back and review the fight? Did we all miss something George, with his commentator’s eye, picked up on? Interesting stuff from the two-time champ.
