Suppose George Foreman only had a 5 year,instead of a 10 year lay off after he retired in 1977. He would only have needed about two years of tune up fights until he went for titles. So this would bring us into 1984. I see a 235-240 lb Foreman beating the likes of Page,Berbick,Coetzee,Tubbs et al. I would make Larry Holmes favourite to beat him,at this stage,but only a 55-45 fave bet. All in all,this would be an even more succesful comeback for Foreman than he enjoyed in reality.
Even if it played out as you described, it would not be viewed as positively as George's actual comeback. Why? Because in his actual comeback he was fat and very old. Everyone treated him as a joke. So when he proved everyone wrong, people were ready to appreciate his accomplishments. If he came back in 1982, he'd presumably not be fat and bald, and he wouldn't be as old, so people would look at him as the same Foreman that they'd seen earlier. There wouldn't be the clean break between his two personas. Even if he beat many of the solid contenders of the mid 80s, he would not have been perceived as total joke, so those wins would not have garnered him much appreciation as his activity in the 90s. People would still say "He still lost to Ali in Zaire. I don't care if he beat some no-name contender."
with the right angles and proper campaigning, I think he could have been steered into a title shot position. Most likely it would be for an alpha title, but I have my doubts about he and Holmes ever meeting. Somehow that fight seemed like it just was never destined to happen.
Holmes would have pushed for it and Foreman would have opted to keep busy busting cats like Gord Racette and quite possibly Leon Spinks. I agree with the poster who pointed out that there wouldn't have been enough time between personas, and that folks wouldn't have embraced George quite so readily. Maybe we would have seen Cooney face George in a high-stakes return after losing to Holmes circa 1984.
I was never that impressed with Foreman's comeback. His power was always impressive, but to fight in the heavyweight division when he started was not that out of the ordinary for today's standards. He was 38 when his comeback started and the heavyweights are a slow division where most of the guys are out of shape due to no weight limits. A guy can fight until he is 45 at heavyweight since the pace is so slow that speed is not as much of a factor, and with the power of George and the fact he was so much bigger than everyone, I am surprised that he lost his fights to Holyfield and Morrison. The fact he beat Moorer was because Moorer stood straight up and had a weak chin. If you give a guy 3 title shots he will win one of them with that tremendous power. Had he come back in 1982 he would have lost to Larry Holmes but beaten a guy like Mike Weaver. George would have had trouble with guys like Witherspoon and Bonecrusher, but beaten the other guys like Tubbs and Thomas. Similar to what happened 5 years later. Sort of beat some and lose to some. Well maybe he would have beaten Bonecrusher. But Bonecrusher was a hard puncher and had a good chin.. But not great on skills.
To fight in the heavyweight division in your late 30s or early 40s may not be out of the ordinary for TODAY's heavyweight division, but it was very out of the ordinary 20-25 years ago. In fact, the biggest reason so many old fighters are able to hang around these days is that Foreman showed an older fighter could be respectable, marketable, and even a champion.
I think in 1982 he had gotten very fat....wan't he preaching on a Houston street corner? [SIZE=+1]In 1978, George Foreman, once the most feared man in all of boxing, became an ordained minister of the First Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Samson in reverse the once surley Foreman shorned his sideburns and thick head of hair and found a strength beyond himself. From 1978-1986 George Foreman did not enter the prize ring. In the most remarkable comeback in the history of the sport, Foreman began fighting in 1987 and on November 5, 1994, found the redeemtion in the ring that he had already achieved outside, he knocked out Michael Moorer to become heavyweight champion of the world for the second time at age forty-five.[/SIZE]
Well if Foreman came back in 1982 instead of 1987 and kept the same timetable and fought the same type of comeback opponents, and then challenged for the title in 1986 as opposed to 1991, it would still be interesting. The title was still fragmented and but Mike Tyson was emerging as he would win the WBC belt in late 1986. But if Foreman challenged in April 1986 like he did in April 1991 he would have had Tim Witherspoon to challenge for the WBA title and Michael Spinks had the IBF title and Trevor Berbick had the WBC title. I believe his best chance might be against Berbick followed by Witherspoon.
He still would have been fat. George intentionally gained a lot of weight after retiring so he wouldn't be tempted to fight again.
I've thought about this many times... Holmes and eventually Tyson are his biggest fights. I think Holmes wins a close decision but I think Foreman stops Tyson inside of 6 rounds. I think Foreman vs. Bonecrsuher Smith or Frank Bruno would be exciting for as long as it lasted. Witherspoon, Dokes, Thomas, Tubbs, Page, Carl Williams, and some others would try to outbox George but they would lose IMO.
Guys like Jack Johnson and Archie Moore, amongst a few others, were able to hang around the fight game well into their 40s, but its a given fact that George Foreman inspired a moderate sized group of aging fighters to either keep going are make a comeback themselves. Here in 2010 it is no longer strange or outta place to see 40 year olds still lacing up the gloves...... As for Foreman's comeback, I just wished he was able to have maintained that 244 pounds that he basically was for his 1987 and 1988 bouts with Rocky Sekorski and Guido Trane........ I thought Foreman was looking pretty lean and fit there.......... Foreman looked too ample in the girth area upward of 260 pounds........ MR.BILLhat