How different is George Foreman's legacy..?

If he beats Ali in Zaire?

How highly is he ranked now?
Would there ever be a comeback?

 

Hi there Fergy.

There would more than likely have been a debate about who was the number one heavyweight of all time out of George and Joe Louis. Hard to tell as to whether George comes back or not. I'll think about that.

 

Hi Stevie.
Yes If he beat Ali, he's got to be up there with the best.
Wins over Frazier, Norton and Ali!!
That's an achievement.
Not many would ever do that.

 

I have Foreman number 1. The problem here is twofold. One the Ali win aren't going to have the same value because Ali will not clean out the 70s in his mid 30s because he won't be champ. He'd be going back to the NABF so maybe he'd fight Young, Lyle and Shavers anyway but he also might just retire. If Foreman beat Ali hes not getting credit for beating the Ali that beat him.

Foremans comeback was instrumental in the 70s being viewed as the best era. Otherwise the boxing evolutionists would be saying that guys from that era weren't as good. Holmes and Bugner also went on runs in the 90s but they did not win the belt and were more of an explanation point to what Foreman proved. If Foreman keeps fighting hes probably done before the time his comeback began in our timeline.

 

A Foreman victory as Stevie G stated would have changed the debate who is the GOAT to
Foreman or Joe Louis rather than Ali or Louis.

 

Agreed.

 

Foreman was a better fighter in the 90's in some very important ways. He was much more relaxed, better paced, mentally stronger. But he also faced handpicked opponents, mostly B-level... and letting Morrison off the hook and getting pounded by Stewart were something of embarrassments. Suffice it to say he had a very curated comeback.

 

I always say this:
The Rumble In The Jungle decided who the greatest of all time was. That is how significant it was.

If George had beaten Ali, His resume is the best of all time. Ali was past his prime, but at the same time,he proved to be good enough to beat everyone else.

 

But one thing doesn't change

The answer would always be Larry Holmes.

 

If he beat Ali then, he wouldn't have gotten the same credit Ali got for beating him. People would have said comeback Ali was a fully diminished fighter and a young prime George beat an already declined man years past his prime.

Ali winning is what changed both their legacies, it would not have worked the other way around.

 

I guess it also depends on how long George holds onto the title. Does he beat Ali and then slip on another banana peel shortly after?

 

I don't agree with some of the comments here.

Foreman would not be considered the GOAT for beating Ali.

Ali was a huge underdog vs Foreman and if Foreman did win they would just say Foreman beat a past it Ali anyway.

And let's just say Foreman in a perfect world does beat Ali is he going to beat a prime Holmes in the late 70s ? I don't think so.

There's also Young who I always feel is going to be a tough stylistic challenge for any version of Foreman and its highly debatable that Foreman would beat Young.

Foreman ended his career in real time with 5 world title wins and like 7 wins over top 10 ranked opposition ?

If he beats Ali that number would go up to 6 world title wins and 8 wins over top 10 ranked opposition. And that would still not be enough to be considered the GOAT Heavyweight IMO.

And people are assuming Foreman doesn't lose for the remainder of the 70s but as I said I don't think he would beat a prime Holmes. And then there's Young who actually did beat him and its debatable if Foreman could actually beat Young.

Infact if Holmes got a win over Foreman combined with all his title defences he would be probably be considered the number 2 Heavyweight.

 

On this sub I don't think he would pass Joe Louis consensus wise. Maybe this + a win over Holyfield or Tyson for this sub.

 

How can George be #1 when he lost to a fighter when he was in his prime and his opponent wasn't and lost another fight in his prime to a fighter who was good enough but virtually no one would consider great?

 

Depends if he loses to Young as he did in the OTL. Beating post-prime underdog Ali alone wouldn't be seen as such an accomplishment. You can argue his victory over Moorer is now valued more than his win over Ali would be. And Moorer is the only top guy Foreman defeated in the 90's which inflates his status a bit.

So, the question is: who he fights after Ali? How many times he defends his title? Who he loses to around the way?