How boxing fans would view Foreman if he retired in 1977?

No comeback he's just another very good boxer. Winning the title back at 100 made him a cultural icon. No comeback. No grill.

 

I rank Foreman lower than most, partially because his comeback has relatively little impact on how I rank him.

The ordering of my #8-11 is interchangeable and is pretty much up a toss-up. My guess is that if Foreman never came back, he'd be nailed on for the #11 spot.

 

By whom? It was half a decade later when he was knocked out by Shavers. He was almost 36. At 225 he was the heaviest of his career. Shavers was his 4th last fight, LeDoux his third last and Cooney (7 years post Foreman) his last. LeDoux knocking him down shows he was cactus. I'd be worried about any expert backtracking 5-7 years back when a past it Norton was stopped by two bombers. It was well accused that Cooney was getting his opponents from old age homes.

It was believed at that time? Who was among the number believing it? It's hardly outrageous but Norton hardly took a massive hit getting poleaxed early vs Foreman considered he'd bounced Joe up and down like a yoyo.

Again who were all the people believing this? Berbick was barely (if at all) even known when he was one punched, he was in his 12th fight and hadn't fought anyone remotely of note. He drew with Caldwell 21-19-3 two fights later. I find it hard to fathom people stopped what they were doing half a decade later and suddenly felt Mercado would KO Norton because he knocked out some guy called Trevor Berbick.

 

Foreman was still highly regarded, following his retirement in '77. His legacy more or less formed the platform for his return ten years later.

 

Eh I mean blud KOing both the dudes Ali struggled the most makes me rating him pretty highly with/without his comeback and stamina fails.

 

I don’t think his career resume would have aged as impressively despite some close losses during his comeback. Winning the title at 45, KO’ing Cooney, and the robbery against Briggs who he jabbed and countered all night long, brave performances against Holyfield, Morrison, Stewart, sealed his legacy as an ATG.

 

In the titles era, a guy like Seldon could win one of these titles without beating the likes of Lewis or Tyson or Holyfield. I think if the 70's had 3 or 4 title holders running around, a Seldon like guy could of sneak in a small rein here or there as did happen here.

 

Maybe, but Seldon would still be at the bottom of the pecking order.
If we move the alphabet soup to the 70s, what we could expect is guys like Lyle, Shavers, Young, Quarry, etc., having a very good chance of grabbing titles at least for some time while Ali unifies. Each one of those guys is way better than Seldon and would slap him silly.

Furthermore, Norton probably manages to be more than an administrative champion, while Frazier and Foreman are able to hold to some belts even after their defeats.

Seldon was such a subpar champion than in any plausible scenario he is going to be just a fringe contender who maybe gets lucky.

 

Still Seldon was able to nab a title with Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Morrison, Lewis, Foreman, Moorer, Bruno, Golota, ete. I really think Seldon was under these guys. In the 70's depended on match up and who low the alpha soup would go for a low level champ, Seldon could walk off with a title in any era.

 

Yep. Tyson, Holy, old man Foreman, etc. were way better than Seldon.
His lucky stars were aligned.

 

I still think his best wins were against Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, but I do think most would rank him lower on an all time Heavyweight list if George had no second career to look at. I believe George improved people's views of his chin, patience, savy, and stamina in his second career. And his win over Michael Moorer was not too shabby, either.

 

Almost killed Frazier twice. Belted the living daylights out of Norton. Highly credible wins over Peralta (x2), Chuvalo, Kirkman, Roman and Lyle. Lost to Young and Ali which is nothing to be ashamed of.

That alone makes it a better CV than any heavyweight fighting today. So, in my view Foreman was an ATG at the end of his first career. His second career elevated him from great status to legendary status.

 

He would have been Max Baer 2.0 if that happened. We r all glad he did come back