If Foreman didn't retire after Young how do you see his career panning out '77 through '85

He still might have been a formidable foe for anyone during that proposed time frame. But honestly, George Foreman needed the kind of reinvention that he went through during his time in retirement. Without that I think his success would have been limited. His mind was no longer in the game. And his style needed tweaking for old age. My guess is that he would have ended up with a mixed bag of wins and losses before ultimately burning out permanently sometime between 1983-1985

 

I think in that scenario Foreman could beat anyone but Larry Holmes. And of course, Foreman would become the champion next to the champions of the "lost generation of the 80s". I wouldn't stay just a contender
Foreman would be a clear "number 2" until the appearance of Mike Tyson, and from that moment I must not predict - maybe boxing history would change

 

Foreman was in a bad place mentally at that time, although he could still probably thrive against most Heavyweights. But he would struggle vs durable boxers like Thomas, Witherspoon, Holmes, etc.

A younger version of Cooney vs Foreman might of been more interesting.

 

Well said! I agree 100%

 

I suspect Foreman would have picked up a belt and reigned and had a unification bout with Holmes IF the promoters could come to terms....

I don't see the 80s as the lost era I see it as the era in which the promoters and the belts being divided further and let's not forget Don King was a front man for the mob.... I see the champions being Holmes in the first half and Tyson in the 2nd half the rest were belt holders....there were some very formidable heavyweights who could have been a handful for anyone like Page, Witherspoon, Thomas, Dokes, Weaver, Coetzee, Tubbs etc...there just wasn't a big money crossover Marquee heavyweight like Ali until Tyson

 

Takes Norton in 78 for WBC, loses it in six months to Holmes, who psychs George out and stops him in 9.

George takes Weaver's title in 1980, then stops a load o tomatoes until he beats Gerry Cooney in 1982. Fights Holmes for unified belt in 1983, Holmes is floored badly in the 5th but miraculously recoups and is battering George all over the ring by the 11th, ref steps as George is bow legged and doesn't respond to 4 straight rights.

From there it's really tricky for me. I can't see a Foreman of that mileage (no decade rest) doing impressively against up and comers Pinklon Thomas...probably Witherspoon, too. I can see him slaughtering Dokes for the WBA, but then there would be Page and I'm not confident he'd take that, either. But who knows, maybe George would have been younger and much better than against Morrison, Stewart.

 

Foreman was slow and overweight by 87 don`t see him being much fitter in 85 depending on his diet, Holmes was pretty out of shape by 85 though so maybe Foreman could have beaten him in the mid 80`s, he might have been out-boxed by Witherspoon and Spinks, in 82 Holmes was insane in the ring maybe the rot set in by 83-84, Foreman would have lost to Holmes in the early 80`s, but a lot would depend on hiow much he weighed by then.

 

On paper everything should have come together for him, but in practice his heart probably wasn't in it anymore.

 

Not sure .. while Foreman was a physical icon he remained vulnerable mentally ... been watching quite a bit of Young again recently and despite his skills and accomplishments in the mid seventies against serious opposition , man did he b-tch every fight .. like a little baby, against Ali, against Lyle, endlessly against Foreman .. hard to watch him ...

 

The best of Foreman was left in Zaire and before. He still would have been formidable due to his immense assets but he would never have been what he was.

Coming back to boxing after such a big break but via his own terms and determination probably worked out well for him in the end. Perhaps if he didn't suffer that heat delusion he could have carried on ok.

 

In this hypothetical timeline Holmes would be Foreman's litmus test for good or bad.

-Foreman beats Holmes and becomes a lock for top 5, even top 3 ATG, just behind Ali and Louis.

-Foreman is beaten by Holmes and becomes another “also ran”, a footnote in the HW roll call.

 

I think a lot of 'what if' is down to the reason Foreman retired. He had a very strange incident in the showers after the Young fight and said he had had a profound religious experience. Losing to Young was part of that experience, so if we take Foreman's word he could not have continued to box because of the changes that religion inspired in him. Perhaps a better question might be something a long the lines of 'how do you see Foreman's career panning out if he didn't have that religious incident during the Jimmy Young fight'?

 

Uhh... that could be misinterpreted in so many ways.

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True enough. I doubt if any of those misinterpretations would be as strange as what George claimed really happened.