Foreman's Second Reign: what happened and what should have happened

Foreman's comeback was all about money...(for his church....Ha !!)...
He beat a string of nobodies before slowly stepping up.For his age you'd have to give him credit.
At the top level he then came up short until that one punch landed on the jaw of dopey Moorer who was way ahead on points but thought it would be a good idea to stand in front of George.
After that Foreman generally avoided anybody big/talented/black !
He avoided several fighters including Holmes who insisted Foreman was a "fraud and the opposite of the nice guy he pretends to be".

 

He should have fought Bowe imo.

He was lineal yeah but not a single person considered him the top hw. And no one considered Briggs the new hw champ neither.

 

I and my friends considered Briggs champ. As did quite a few in the sport. Recognition of Linear means you have no choice in picking the champ and indeed who they fight.

As for Bowe/Foreman; George was not stupid, he knew what would happen if the bout had happened. I suspect the only big name opponent he would have fought if the money was right is Tyson. It would have also been his best (all be it still unlikely) chance of beating someone at the then Lewis, Bowe, Tyson and (with hindsight) Holyfield level.

 

I too regard the championship to have been passed from George to Briggs to Lennox. George was a terrible champion and nowhere near the best in the division. But he was the champ until he either retired, lost, or (ugh) died, regardless of what crooked sanctioning bodies say.

After Moorer, I would have liked to have seen George fight a top-10 contender - ideally someone near the top like Ridd1ck Bowe. But Foreman was never going to do that in a million years. So he should have taken his easy defense vs. Shultz, seen how tough it was, and retired on top. And he should have announced that retirement so we wouldn't have this lineal vs. organizational champion argument.

George's second reign was disgraceful. He never should have gotten the shot against Moorer at all given his loss to Morrison and subsequent 17 months of inactivity.

 

I love George, but his second reign was dismal. I enjoyed all the attention he got, but it was not a true title reign.

What I think should have happened is that Moorer deserved a rematch. Michael would have fought cautiously and probably won by UD. George could have then retired gracefully. Moorer would probably have beaten the undeserving Tucker if forced to fight him, then would have been decimated by Bowe, Lewis, or a vengeful Holyfield.

 

Oh yeah, and a fight with Holmes would have been a natural. In hindsight everyone thinks Larry would have won, but at the time most were feeling otherwise.

 

He should have accepted the lineal title, milked it for publicity purposes briefly, then retired as the legend he was.

 

Foreman ducked Holmes and likley had 1 or 2 gift decisions in his Second Reign. Sometimes second acts in sports much later in life are best if they are short

 

The ironic thing is Foreman kept shouting at the top of his lungs on how he wanted to fight Tyson.

Then he drops the WBA belt to avoid Tucker who was Kod by Seldon who then handed the belt to Tyson literally on a plate.

 

I think George knew he got kinda lucky beating Moorer and probably couldn't beat any legitimate top 10 contenders so he sought low risk high pay. He did the right thing.

 

I don't think Larry had a legitimate argument that he deserved a title shot at that point. He tried to play up the two old geezers thing but George didn't need to give him a shot.