Foreman retired in 77after losing a decision to Jimmy young and didn't return till 1987. But what if George made a comeback in say.. 1983? Making his way slowly through the ranks as he did in 87 . perhaps knocking out cooney in the process. With about 15 comeback fights under his belt in 1985 he gets to challenge ibf champ Larry holmes. Foreman despite his success comeback is looked at as a burger eating joke. Holmes takes the fight very confident he will get to 49.0. So question is Larry holmes instead of fighting spinks meets George foreman. We no what happens in spinks fight but can George capitalise on holmes confidence.?
A fight we all would have like to seen! Foreman would have to disrupt Holmes jab somehow......then Larry is dead meat.
I agree would love to have seen those two together. If Larry had came into the fight believing George was going to be easy he would have had a rude awakening! Remember at this point George would have been just a year older than holmes but with out the wear and tear with the layoff. Early round s going to Larry I think but George will roll forward with cross armed defence. Foreman jab will play its part and Larry will struggle the more the fight goes on. Not sure if foreman would stop holmes but can see him hitting the canvas a couple of times. Can see it going all the way but can't decide who comes out with the belt.
I see no version of Foreman beating Holmes. Whether they were both young or old. George avoided that fight for a reason..
Assuming foreman comes back in 1985 and is active at shaking off the rust and getting down to a reasonable weight then yes. He could prove to be a formidable test for a slowing down Holmes. Especially given that George would be two years younger than when in his actual comeback in 1987. As for who id ? I'd probably still give the reigning champion Holmes the better odds by a decision but it's no given.
Holmes by decision.Considering 1985 version Larry wasn't too far from his prime and the prime version Foreman lost to a shot Ali. Plus Holmes' chin was better than Foremans' best victims (Norton,Frazier, Lyle,Moorer). And what about Holmes' incredible stamina,heart ? Ah, i can't imagine a Foreman's win.
Foreman returned to the ring in 87 and looked like this... This content is protected So I think he loses to Holmes. It took Foreman some time to figure out how to fight old, if that makes sense. Here he is trying to fight like 73 Foreman but is slow as a slug with even less stamina.
I wasn't taking the thread as this was his FIRST fight upon returning. I was taking the OP to mean, he gradually starts to get back in shape, a few tune up fights, and then fights Holmes. Sure, if Holmes is his first fight, that wouldn't go well. Give him time to adapt, and Holmes goes down imo
That's correct, it would be similar to his actual comeback, working his way through the sort of guys he did fight. He would have probably had around 15 fight s before challenging Larry. Plenty of time to shake off some of the ring rust.
