If Ali didn't come back to boxing.

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by VG_Addict, Dec 11, 2012.


  1. VG_Addict

    VG_Addict Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    23,725
    3,932
    Jun 13, 2012
    What if Ali didn't return to the ring? Would Foreman have been HW champ longer?
     
  2. Stevie G

    Stevie G Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    25,081
    8,468
    Jul 17, 2009


    Very probably. It's quite feasible that he'd have held the title until Jimmy Young or Larry Holmes was ready to challenge him.
     
  3. slip&counter

    slip&counter Gimme some X's and O's Full Member

    24,813
    20
    Jul 23, 2008
    Absolutely. There was no one really to challenge him. Probabily would've been champ for another decade. Ali ruined him.
     
  4. Stevie G

    Stevie G Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    25,081
    8,468
    Jul 17, 2009

    Only Ali could have comprehensively beat him at that point in time. George was a beast. H2H,he'd have done pretty well against the champs prior to and after him.
     
  5. Low blow

    Low blow Member Full Member

    377
    3
    Dec 13, 2008
    I'm just wondering why Ali might not have returned to the ring? Was he debating retiring after 67?
     
  6. Stevie G

    Stevie G Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    25,081
    8,468
    Jul 17, 2009

    I think the poster was referring to the scenario of the boxing authorities banning him for good.
     
  7. Low blow

    Low blow Member Full Member

    377
    3
    Dec 13, 2008
    Ok thanks for the clarification. I could have seen Foreman retaining the title for years but he did lose a fight a few years after to someone who's name I can't think of at the moment.

    I'll never get sick of talking about Ali. What a king.
     
  8. BillB

    BillB Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,757
    40
    Jul 23, 2011

    Prison. He came within a whisker of going.
     
  9. JWSoats

    JWSoats Active Member Full Member

    1,457
    979
    Apr 26, 2011
    His case kept dragging out in the courts. For years it was not known when or if the Supreme Court would hear the appeal. By early 1970 it was looking more and more like he would never return to the ring. He started saying publicly that he was done with boxing. Prior to the showing of the Marciano-Ali computer fight movie, Ali promoted the film by saying "Come and see me in the ring for the last time..." It was on the basis of these announcements that Ring Magazine finally declared the heavyweight title vacant in January, 1970, having stood by Ali's due process in the intervening years.
     
  10. JWSoats

    JWSoats Active Member Full Member

    1,457
    979
    Apr 26, 2011
    Very likely Foreman would have dominated the rest of the decade. Much would depend on how he handled his title reign. Had he remained active and concentrated on perfecting his craft, he might have pulled the skills of young George and old George together, in which case he could have been dominant for a very long time. Title defenses against Quarry, Lyle, and Shavers could have been great fights. As a fully developed, mature, and confident champion, Foreman probably would have successfully defended against Jimmy Young, and maybe even Holmes, who would have been the stiffest test for him. When you consider that George regained the heavyweight title over twenty years after he lost it, and with a ten year layoff, you really have to wonder what might have been.