what if Foreman did not retire in 1977?

Holmes shuts him out over 15 in '78. A nice bout with John Tate would eventually come around, and then Mike Weaver does what Ron Lyle came so close to doing. Gerrie Coetzee would be his last big bout. And then a young Greg Page puts the finishing touches on a once formidable career.

 

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Yes.Lennox Lewis at the time was being knocked out by McCall and being given a boxing lesson by Bruno a man slower and with a worse jab and overall tools than old foreman.

Bowe would have been ideal but moorer at the time was the linear champ and 2nd or 3rd best hw in the world......his slump after is irrelevant ...at the time moorer was the top man overall

 

Everyone knows Foreman ducked Weaver...and Holmes, Bowe, Lewis, Ruddock, Mercer, Bruno, the 80's and Mike Tyson.

 

Come onnnnnnnn! That's just MIERDA!!! Now you're going too far. Don't disrespect Big George like that. You know better!

 

How did the boxing lesson by Bruno finish?

 

George Foreman of the early 70's was like a hitman and he would obliverate anybody standing in his way !!!! He was the
character in Rocky 3 Clubber Lang was based on. Other fighters have had the same modius operandi and lost to fighters
who survived their early onslaught. Nigel Benn was 22 wins and 22 ko when he fought Micheal Watson ( True Warrior ) when
Watson survived Benn non stop hooks with tight defense to stop a exhausted Benn in 6 rounds. Similarly Benn survived a
onslaught from a another ko machine Gerald McCellan to stop McCellan in controvesy fight in 12 rounds.
Foreman going into the Ali fight had fought 12 times going only 23 rounds so it was obvious Foreman was a fast starter
and every punch he threw was with the intention to ko. The really intriguing question what if Ali wasn't around how long
would have Foreman streak gone on ?

 

I'm gonna break with some of the consensus here.....

Foreman did not retire in 1977 as he couldn't.... "take losing to Jimmy young".....he retired because he had a near death religious experience in the locker room post fight. He was dying and saw a desolate merciless place he never wanted to return to....so he gave up boxing to become a minister.....now none of us should be questioning that being the sole reason he left the sport....he wasn't "burnt out"...the "template to beat him " hadn't been set....what template? To sit on the ropes and take an inhumane amount of kidney damage,have your ribs broken ,in the hope George punches himself out? Only one man in boxing history did that or could do that....Ali.....and Ali wasn't so keen to try a second time in the states.....Larry Holmes was no Ali...not even a poor imitation...rather Larry Holmes is an atg in his own right....but whether your talking 60s Ali he wasn't as fast of hand or foot or as good a boxer or puncher...or 70s Ali who had more power,was still a better boxer than holmes even tho he often wasn't in shape in this,decade and had a better chin...

.when apart from a peak tyson who annihilated him,a past his best Norton who he barely got past ,a Parkinson's ravaged zombie of Ali, did Holmes even fight the level of foe Ali or a foreman did.....? Both those guys did far far more...

It speaks for the quality of holmes people, that Norton apart...his biggest wins otherwise are over limited foes (shavers/cooney) or tainted wins (Ali,spoon,Williams)....some say Williams and spoon beat him....he got both at the right time too...spinks beat him twice....that Larry was past his best ...but nowhere near shot....people who are quick to drag out Jimmy young for foreman mk1...should do the same for Holmes with spinks...didn't spinks,williams and spoon also set a template for beating Holmes?.....same for Tyson.....OH YES TYSON....this is the loss ,people here very respectfully are ignoring...but it is very relavent...hell no one ever came close to doing that to Holmes ever again...even though he fought on for 13 years and faced a peak holyfield, a unbeaten puncher Ray Mercer,the volatile mccall ...in tyson ,Larry holmes faced his first murderous puncher with skill and speed who could finish....shavers only had power...Cooney was a cut above...but he was no foreman or tyson..hell not a Frazier either....the cooney ,foreman annihilated was a rejuvenated man with focus and more polished skills under Clancy...he fought far better in the first round than he had for 8 years ...he just got taken out by a cold killer in foreman....see even mk2 foreman was a stone killer capable of ending a fight very suddenly...moorer learnt that...so would larry

It is my opinion that either foreman mk 1 or foreman 89-92 takes out Larry Holmes by knockout or stoppage...foreman had power and skills...and was a clinical finisher...the young fight was an aberration and pretty close...but that version of young was hot ...he was a formidable foe in that little hot streak he went on beating foreman,Lyle,norton and Ali the last two to hell with the judges I say he won....so let's not make out the young loss was some kind of kryptonite template....

I respect all your opinions and this is just my devils advocacy here...what happens if gf carried on....

He would have had a long lay off after young and that religious experience...during this time off which would have been two years he would have made the same adjustments in mentality and fighting style as he did in his 1986/87 comeback....it this time he returns in late 1979...he fights every month for 8 months along the way beating renaldo snipes and Trevor berbick to get a wba title shot...he dethrones Tate...as Holmes beats Ali...meaning foreman and Holmes are now on a collision course...they meet in late 1981 and foreman stops him in 8....foreman than reigns until early 1985....fighting on average 3 times a year....he retires undefeated in his second career....he does so by beating tillis,coetzee, weaver, than cooney in his other superfight in 82,Holmes in a 1983 return, and in between "filler" opponents are the likes of ,shavers in 82,dokes in 83 and in his last year he stops marvis frazier,before going life and death with tim Witherspoon in a fight many believe he lost on points in late 1984..he bows out in March 1985 against European champion Frank Bruno......

 

It finished the same way brunos previous boxing lesson to bonecrusher did.....

But the point is Lewis Mark 1 (pre Manny) was flawed...he had better athleticism than Mark 2 who is the one with the ATG resume..he was in better shape...took more risks scored great kayoes (Ruddock Bruno Mason and Biggs etc) ...but my point was that if a Bruno,not even the best version of bruno could outjab him...if a mccall could knock him out...than old man foreman does both to him...he wouldn't have had to go looking for Lewis mk 1....that Lewis could move...but his defence was flawed...foreman s defence and chin and diversity of tools was far superior to Bruno....so its irrelevant how Bruno ended up....that isn't going to happen to foreman who unlike Bruno had one of the greatest heavyweight chins of all time in his second career and was never knocked down or badly hurt in his 11 year career despite the high level of foe....so what's your point with "and how did that end up"?

 

Yes he had too much alcohol I agree, but how did that lesson finish?