Would a George Foreman that didn't retire and fought into the 80s have a better or worse legacy?

He'd have a worse legacy for me.
He'd end up losing to some of early 80 s champs and contender s.
By the time he hits his early 30 s, he'd be like Tyson later on. No focus, no passion anymore and guys beating him that he would have killed a few years previously.

 

Good post.

Physically, there wasn´t much of a problem for him. Mentally and style-wise (without that turning point in his life) I don´t think he´d adept very well. He wouldn´t go past Larry Holmes, thats for sure.

 

Probably retire after losing to much lesser men he would've destroyed years prior in the right mental state.

 

Definitely not. Foreman s mind was attacking him as much as his oppenent s would.

 

Holmes would have stopped him. That said, George would have murdered Weaver, Tate, Coetzee, Tillis, Dokes, Cooney, Berbick imo. Chances are he'd have more trouble with Page, Tubbs, Tucker...possibly prime Thomas.

 

Hard to say. Foreman was an immense physical specimen for one. To come back at the age of 38 after 10 years off, get beat down by meatgrinders Like Morrison and Holyfield and still continue fighting to outhustle formidable opponents Like Briggs at the age of almost 50. And still healthy to this day...if he could get his head straight he could achieve incredible things.

 

A bad Legacy for George. Foreman would have remained as mean as ever, we would have not saw him selling Grills with his bald head, smiling into the cameras, nor would we would have seen him on those Medicare Commercials talking nice about that Customer Service Agent. George would have eventually met another boxer with loads of stamina and lateral movement like a Greg Page or a Pinklon Thomas, especially if Pinky stays away from the Narcotics, a motivated Thomas. George tried too hard to be like his boyhood hero Charles Sonny Liston. Foreman may have gone thru countless trainers as he did not like to listen to advice from no one. Many do not remember Foreman as a scowling mean man in public, that persona left after George was embarrassed by light hitting Jimmy Young on March 17 1977, a fight that made me $20..00 richer during my Senior year of High School. Foreman later would have become a stepping stone for an up and coming contender. As his career was winding down, he would have also encountered trouble with his speech as he would start to become more vulnerable due to his style.

 

Foreman was in need of reinvention. Merely continuing on the path of contender drudgery, seeing time and wear gradually peck away at his already mentally-induced slippage from the events of Zaire and especially Puerto Rico would only quicken the erosion and leave far less a chance for him to come back as he did later, completely different in mind and body. It wouldn't have worked.

 

In that case, there is a chance that Muhammad Ali-George Foreman 2 would fight, and in that case, there is a chance that boxing history would be different.

 

There where a few 80s guys on the right night would’ve beaten him in his prime let alone what he was doomed to become. I think Weaver nukes him clean, Witherspoon, BoneCrusher, Thomas, Page, Snipes, Tubbs and others could all drag him deep or even beat him clean, it gets worse when you consider wear. Larry beats him bad.

 

You really believe Smith has any chance against prime Foreman? This is next level hating...

 

Everyone has a chance. But seriously George wasn’t as good as you want to believe. He beat a possibly shot Frazier and a very, very limited Ron Lyle not mentioning the fact he would’ve been stopped in other eras. Ken Norton really isn’t impressive win either. A strong very durable guy with a punch just as good always has a chance with someone like “Young Foreman”

 

You are correct that all have a chance-& unless there is evidence of hatefulness, there is no reason to accuse you of being a hater because you believe a once elite slugger had a chance in this theoreticaly match up.

But I think you are selling Foreman short.
You can take absolutely anyone's resume & find holes. But beating those guys & how he did was very impressive.

 

He would have been a mental wreck by the 80's possibly losing to Cooney. Then calling it a career when an unknown beats him.