Could George Foreman make it undefeated through Larry Holmes title opponents?

No Foreman couldn’t string together a long reign against ranked opponents in his actual career so I don't see him doing it in a fantasy scenario. Whilst an absolute peak Foreman would probably be the favourite over every opponent Holmes fought in his title reign. That's not a realistic scenario because Foreman wouldn't be 100 percent peak in 20 fights.

Foreman would be having to fight 2 or 3 times a year fighting multiple ranked opponents over a 7 year period so there would be a bump in the road somewhere for Foreman. I'm thinking Witherspoon could upset Foreman he's a similar size to Foreman and would be one of the best opponents Foreman has ever fought, you have to remember aswell Foreman would be caught off guard by how good Witherspoon is and Foreman would be into a 4 year reign with over 10 title defenses which is longer any reign Foreman had in his whole career.

To my knowledge Foreman beat 7 opponents ranked in the top 10 and I believe Holmes beat 13 or 14 ranked opponents during his reign ? So that's pretty much double the amount of wins over ranked opponents in just a 7 year period than what Foreman had in his whole career.

Overall yes Foreman has better single wins than Holmes but he never showed enough consistency beating ranked opponents. Foreman was 7-4 against top 10 ranked opposition so i find it hard to fathom that Foreman could replicate 20-0 world title record over 13 or 14 ranked opponents.

To answer the question no I don't think Foreman could replicate Holmes's reign he would lose sooner than Holmes did I think Holmes is a better boxer and better at adapting in fights.

 

You mean in a scenario where the ranked opponents are a series of coked-out neverwases & mediocre also-rans?

Absolutely, he could. Don’t kid yourself.

 

Of course Foreman could match Larry's record... depending on what version of Foreman is getting into the ring.

If we assume it is Prime Foreman or close, then it is easy peachy. The focused, aggressive and commanding Kingston Foreman beats handily everybody Larry beat.

However the big issue with Foreman is his inconsistency post RITJ.

If we are talking about the struggling Foreman who went life and death with Lyle and got beaten by Young, then he probably loses some fights here and there.

 

He’d run into strength, size and power combinations like Ron Lyle regularly and eventually have to either adapt or have the fuse snuffed quickly.

 

Only if he fought once per year. He's not going to be some three/four defences per year guy, like Peanut Head, because he never was. If he did, he'd be blowing out if his arse in the 2nd half of a title defence, after his own hit & miss exertions, against someone he should be beating.

 

Real question is could a prime Holmes defeat 1973 Frazier for the title, then beat prime Norton, Roman & Ali back-to-back? Despite the short run of fights, just as questionable.

 

Is it the real question or are you just derailing yet another thread to kiss Foreman's arse?

Who, the Frazier who George himself said "whoever gets him next will be lucky", then 'yes'; not the same beast as FOTC. Roman- ha ha, oh dear. Norton, yes again, we saw how that played out, not greatly different in 1974, as Holmes would have the confidence of a new champion going into that fight. Ali probably not at that stage. However, he would have won more rounds than George "a wild left hand" Foreman did (to quote Bob Sheridan most of the fight).

The main difference, is Ali would have been Larry's 5th or 6th title defence, not 3rd. No slouch was our Larry when is came to earning $$$. Whereas, George did so little in 73 that readers of Boxing Illustrated were in the majority saying he should even be stripped of the title, such was his p*ss take of being an actual world champion.

 

Absolutely -Foreman would walk through all of Holmes opposition at the time Holmes fought them

 

I've missed you, sensible take. GF is hysterically overrated here long live "The Homer"

 

Beats all of them but the great Jose Roman! G r i e f

 

Thanks mate. Disappearing for months on end has always been my style, really (although my almost 10-year hiatus was a bit much ). And I decided I had to take a 6-month break from classic this year, after spending the past three months of 2023 arguing the case for Jerry Quarry.

I agree about George and I always fought his corner back in the day, so much he was called "My man" a fair few times (but that was typically in a head-to-head brawl scenario chats).

 

You haven't lost a step even with your 10 year self imposed exile lol. Actually I told @salsanchezfan I used to read his posts as a teen just today, yours to, I think I told you this once? but it was like running into an internet celebrity when you turned up last time lol. Good to see you pal, In Peanut Head we trust.

 

George Foreman could make it undefeated through Larry Holmes title opponents.

As to whether he would...

...there's no one on route who individually presents a significant problem to him. But, collectively, it's a heck of a run, either way.