Is it a blessing in disguise that Briggs got the decision over Foreman?

Foreman would've never of fought a prime Lewis at that stage in his career let's be real. When Foreman beat Moorer for the title he fought the likes of Schulz, Grimsley, Savarese, so I very much doubt he fights Lewis.

But I do agree it was a blessing in disguise despite Foreman being the Lineal champion he was clearly not the best Heavyweight at that time, and he wasn't interested in fighting the very best Heavyweights at that time which is understandable considering how old he was.

So Foreman losing a controversial decision to Briggs is a good way for Foreman to leave the sport without getting hurt and his legacy remains intact not going out with a bad loss. Plus the Heavyweight division can move on and progress which was the best thing for the sport.

Everyone's a winner.

 

I never like seeing the wrong guy get the decision and I doubt Foreman would have fought on anyway.

That said, George got away with one against Schulz so it evened itself out for him in the end.

 

The above two members highlighted accurate points. Foreman holds Lewis in quite high regard, & has since Lewis’ Olympic days. He feared no one, so a fight was possible, but honestly I do not think Foreman would have signed. Not fear, just realistic on his part.

That, & while Foreman absolutely bested Briggs, he was definitely beaten earlier by Schulz. If anything, this favours Foreman, as although his loss count is the same, getting a gift earlier & being robbed later at least extended his title reign.

 

Although I do not agree with the mention of spiritual concepts in the title of the topic, let me express my opinion.
It would be very nice for Foreman as a legendary (unrepeatable) ATG boxer, if he beat Briggs by points, and then retired as a lineal champion.
Legendary ???
What other boxer has lost his title in a fight, then won it in a fight 20 years later?
IF there are such examples - there are not many of them.

 

There is no such example - Foreman is alone in this regard.

The Grey is one of my Top 100 favourite films of all-time, BTW.

 

It is a shame that Briggs got the decision over Foreman as Briggs was not a good fighter and gets vastly overrated in retrospect on these boards. Schulz was much better and got gypped of his moment of glory fighting a technically beautiful fight after being handpicked to lose.
Having said that yes, Foreman was fortunate to have lost to Briggs - Lewis would have stopped him in 1998.

 

Maybe, Foreman wouldn't have fought the dangerous guys in the division like Lewis, etc. He would have cherry picked his opposition, he probably would have fought Joe Hipp, Bruce Seldon, ..... good name fighters but with the least amount of risk. I only wish him and Holmes fought I remember back in 98-99 it almost happened.

 

Guys, Foreman would have been 49 by the time he fought Lewis.

Do we really think that fight was ever going to happen? George had made his money by then, carefully picked his opposition and didn’t need Lewis.

As @Ney said, Foreman didn’t fear Lewis. Foreman feared nobody. But he is also highly intelligent and would have known, even with his famed power that at his age Lewis would have been a bridge too far.

 

I honestly don't know why Foreman kept fighting after Moorer. He had nothing left to prove.

 

If Foreman got that decision, Lewis would've ended up winning his lineage from Francois Botha.

 

I saw it more about keeping the lineage going because Foreman was likely going to retire regardless.

But hey imagine 48 year old Foreman KO'ing Lewis and riding off into the sunset as undisputed HW GOAT. Would really be something.

 

Good answer .

 

Foreman ran his 2nd career as a business and who could blame him. He went for the least risk for the highest money.
Once he'd lost to Hollyfield and Morrison he knew the game was up fighting the higher end guys and it's easy to forget that he was losing badly against Moorer until catching him late.
Had he lost that fight , he may well have retired even ?
Once he won he avoided anyone of real note.
The one fight I thought at the time that would be made was him v Holmes. It would've been huge.
Holmes always said of Foreman and this was a quote " He's a hell of a negotiator , he's all business, but as regard to the nice guy stuff he's a complete fraud and isn't the jolly guy he pretends to be ' .
I don't know the full story but I do recall at the time often reading that Holmes wanted the fight but saying George didn’t.
Keep in mind back then , all we had was newspapers , boxing magazines, for info, not the instant internet and social media updates of today.