The Characters of Boxing: George Foremen vs. Ron Lyle

Most heavyweight fights today feature two overweight guys leaning on each other lazily. They maul, mash, rub, and roll on each other never really doing much real damage.

The matches are for the most part boring. The heavyweights, the division which carries the flag of popularity for the fighting game, are in a sorry state today. And no savior looms in the future.

The savior is probably playing power forward in the NBA or defensive end in the NFL. It pays better and you do not have to get hit in the head all night long.

But the heavyweights in the '70s were a different breed of cat. Even the fringe contenders guys like Earnie Shavers, George Chuvlao, Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, and Ron Lyle were dangerous men to face.

Ron Lyle was a vicious, tough man from a bad background. He was no phony tough guy, he was the real deal. Lyle learned to box in prison in Colorado where he was serving hard time killing a man in a gang fight.

While in prision, he was knife so badly he lost massive amounts of blood and was twice prononced dead. But he survived and learned to box.

After his release from prison he fought in the amateurs a bit and turned pro at the late age of 29.

Lyle went 43-7 in the pros and fought a very tough fight against the great Muhammad Ali. But his most memorable match was against Big George Foremen. A punchers duel without much defense but filled with exciting knockdowns by two men who would not quit.

Foremen was still rattled from losing the Rumble in the Jungle to Muhammed Ali. The big man had a long layoff and then in a fit of semi-madness fought five men, three rounds each, in Toronto.

Foremen Lyle featured little defense and no dancing but lost of excitement. Howard Cosell and ex-Heavyweight champ Ken Norton are the announcers.

Notice how Cosell needles Norton about his second round brutal knockout by Foremen. If one catches the full fight on ESPN Classics  Cosell mentions that shortly before the fight Lyle was shot by his wife in a domestic dispute. The wound must of been slight as he came to fight.

Below is Foremen-Lyle, one of boxing's classics.