If Foreman beat Ali and both men's career went the same way, who would be greater?

Just saw a nice little quote about Foreman and it got me thinking about the Rumble in the Jungle. Now I must say, although I am a fan of Ali I feel he is treated far to kindly on ESB. So let's reverse the decision of the fight that is arguably the most telling in both of their careers, whilst afterwards both men's careers pan out in the same way. Does this elevate Foreman over Ali and into the no.1/2 (depending where you have Louis) spot or does Ali still have a deep enough resume to keep him above Foreman?

 

Move to the classic please, my bad.

 

Good question. Would have to say Foreman.

 

share the quote?

state how he is treated far too nicely on here? As a boxer and his achievements he should be treated as a great Boxer. He showed and proved during his era..

I would understand your question more if Ali beat foreman on some split decision close fight but Ali won via knock out. What are you getting at friend?

 

Re: My top 10 Heavyweights of all time.
Anyone who doesn't have Foreman in the top 10 is just silly.
He wasn't a pretty and slick boxer but he was a natural brawler and he was maybe the strongest man to fight in the ring.

"He won an Olympic Gold Medal after boxing only 1.5 years and with only 20 amateur fights going into the Olympics. That is just unbelievable, in some ways his most notable achievement.

He destroyed an undefeated heavyweight champion who was considered the best heavyweight in the world at the time, crushed him in only 2 rounds.

George came back and won the lineal heavyweight title 20 years after losing it. That is just mind boggling. No one and I mean no one else could do that, not Jack Johnson, not Jack Dempsey, not Joe Louis, not Rocky Marciano, and not Muhammad Ali. Nobody."

Courtesy of PeteThePrince, originally wrote by Monte Conx

 

Damn. That's tough. No idea really.

 

Well obviously his achievements are exceptional, no ones denying that, however he's not perfect, which some seem to think he is.

Whenever someone criticises something Ali has done in the past, they seems to let it slide, when if it was a regular every day fighter they'd be disgusted by it. (Smelling Salts vs Cooper being a prime example) as well as dubious decisions against Norton and Young.

I personally feel Foreman could easily be put as the 3rd best heavyweight of all time. His win over Frazier is underrated and in my eyes is one of the greatest of all time, as well as winning the heavyweight title at 45 against an undefeated lineal champion. People seem to belittle it because of what Moorer did after Foreman.

On the point of you not understanding this, I'm not saying Ali didn't deserve to win or that George was cheated, it was simply just a thought that popped into my head really. But I just get the feeling that had it been Ali winning the title at 45, he'd get so much more love on ESB than Foreman does for it.

 

By the time Ali fought Foreman, Ali was 8 years past his prime... Do your homework!

 

Probably George.

 

I understand what you mean in that scenario. Leave it as that.

Big George is top 6 HW of all time.

 

You need access to a fight library. Your perception of the HW division is terrible!

 

Obviously George would be higher, but I don't think he would have recieved too much credit as Ali was way past his best and was a huge underdog to big George. If George would have won that fight I think his whole first career would have turned out differently as his confidence and ego took a huge blow getting KO'd by Ali. By beating Ali he would have retained his aura of invincability and I'm guessing he would have performed at a higher level than be did before his first retirement.

 

Interesting proposal. I guess it all depends on who he loses the title to, and I'm assuming it's Young?

His destruction of Frazier twice and Norton were tremendous but Foreman only enters my top 10 list because of his win over Moorer. He currently sits around #8-9.

 

Foreman doesn't get the credit he deserves on ESB, he'd would get it if more people recognized that he would kill Marciano.

 

If George beat Ali,he would never have been fighting at age 45.
The Ali loss screwed George up in many ways. Gil Clancy tried to turn him into more of a boxer. George was depressed,feeling like a joke and then retired after Young beat him.

Either way,George is top 5 ATG.