what if Foreman did not retire in 1977?

He beat the undefeated champion.

 

Styles make fights.

Holmes at his best had the perfect style to beat Foreman. The two best boxers Foreman fought beat him going away.

If old Ali could ko prime Foreman and light hitting Young could knockdown and beat Foreman unanimously then the best Holmes would do so easier and potentially quicker. Holmes was three times the fighter Young ever was.

 

Yes he did, but after being schooled for nine rounds.....

 

Before knocking him out.

 

More losses would follow simply because he wasn't the same fighter mentally.

 

Holmes did not lose to any of these fighters. He was undefeated by the time he lost to Spinks. Foreman was rocked badly by Peralta who did not rate vs Weaver or Shavers. Using YOUR own idiotic logic if Peralta could stagger Foreman Holmes would knock him out.

Remember the two best boxers Foreman fought beat him going away. Peralta staggered Foreman. Prime Foreman was superior to 32 year old Ali or any Jimmy Young or certainly any version of Peralta.

 

Irrelevant.

 

The Foreman/Holmes debate is not the defining answer for the original question.
Foreman packed in after his defeat to Young because he was mentally shot. Had he continued, he would probably blast out moderate oponents, but would've been increasingly vulnerable versus anyone who could take him deep into a fight.
His reincarnation in much later years was thoroughlly admirable, but has to be set in context. He lost to Holyfield and Morrison before being very fortunate to be given another title shot v Moorer. His only chance of victory that night was to land one big shot and a lacksadasical Moorer gave him the chance when well ahead on points. Following this Foreman avoided anyone big , black or dangerous.
He mastered the art of making money and fair play to the guy.It's heartening to see a boxer do so well for himself.
To return to the original question, the fact is that Foreman's mental state led him to walk away in 1977,he'd lost his previous aura of fear that he struck into others and that wasn't going to return anytime soon.
Losing to Ali was one thing, but defeat to Jimmy Young was harder to live with.Had he carried on, my guess is he would've developed a patchy record as his career faded away.
It took the intervening years for George to develop the mature mentality that he later displayed.

 

As with some here I strongly believe George needed a fairly long break, his style and footwork had been changed badly, mentally he was struggling to figure out what would work for him and he wasn't sure he should be fighting at all. He could have clubbed a number of the smaller and lesser lights, the Ocassio's, Spinks, and of course tomato can's like Evangelista, but even Snipes may have taken a win over him at that stage, he just wasn't in a place to fight at that time.