Something to ponder on .If Holmes had never taken up the sport .Just how much of a mess, from 78 to at least 86 there would have being no consistent champ . Some thoughts ..how long does Norton reign for? Who does Ali challenge in his comeback ? Would shaver's or cooney pick up a belt ? Who would spinks challenge? Is there a heavyweight that could have made more than 3 title defences ?
If he'd come back earlier he'd have done well ,picked up a belt or two for sure. But strangely enough I don't see him carrying on as long as he did ,to 1997.By the time he'd get to the late 80 s some body would have beaten him .IMO
Well.you said between 78 and 1986. Taking in count his style i see him doing pretty well and the age would not be a huge factor for him like would be for other fighters with another style. If he is capable to keep his weight in the 235 limit then he would be dinamic enough ot get the job done.in 1985 foreman would be 36.after 1986 younger movers like tucker would be harder to beat because this version of george would be too ponderous.but between 1980 and 1984 i see him knocking the **** out berbick,spoon,weaver,tate,coetze,cooney, norton,shavers,dokes,leon spinks,pinklon thomas, and finally he catches tubbs and stops him.i don't know if he would be hungry enough at that time to defend against a young tyson.
Your right regarding him not being up for it by the time Tyson comes along. He'd have being around a fair few years by then. A Tyson v Foreman match up in 86 Instead of Berbick ? A Younger George but with more miles on his clock
Spinks is stripped of the WBC title he won from Ali for not facing # 1 contender Ken Norton. Norton fights Ernie Shavers for the vacant title. There was no Larry Holmes around to beat Shavers earlier in '78. Shavers attained the #2 ranking by stopping an overweight and disinterested Jimmy Young in April, '78. Young seemed to lose focus after losing to Norton in '77. Shavers kos Norton for the vacant WBC title. Ali decisions Spinks in their rematch and regains the WBA title. Shavers tries desperately to get a unification fight with Ali, but Ali, probably remembering how hard his first fight with Shavers was, retires. There is a tournament to deterimine a succesor to Ali, and John Tate wins the tournament. Meanwhile, Shavers defends his WBC title with a 2nd round KO of Lorenzo Zanon. Don King, sensing an opportunity for his talented but still somewhat green HW Michael Dokes, gets Dokes a shot at Shavers. King, as will become his custom, controls both fighters. Dokes uses his hand and foot speed to outpoint Shavers, despite having a few very rocky moments. Dokes defends the WBC title with a decision over Ossie Ocasio. Meanwhile, Tate defends the WBA title with a decison over Gerrie Coetzee in South Africa. Bob Arum controls the WBA champion, so a unification fight is out of the question. Mike Weaver KOs Tate in the 15th round in Knoxville in a huge upset. King now sets about having Dokes fight guys that King controls. Dokes defends his WBC title for the second time with another decision over Shavers. Meanwhile, Ali contemplates making a comeback to win the HW title for an unprecedented fourth time. With Dokes not really being established, and Weaver being almost totally unknown, the fan interest is not high and Ali cannot find an opponent for which he can command a high enough purse to make the reward worth the risk. Ali decides to remain retired and he realizes it is time for a new generation to take over. Disapointed at not getting a fight with Ali, personal problems derail Dokes and he remains inactive for over a year. Meanwhile, King has gained control of hot prospect Greg Page. King sees an opportunity to get the talented but erratic Dokes out of the picture. He arranges a title shot for Page in mid 1981, even though Page has beaten no legitimate top 10 contenders. Page's best win is a KO of Alfredo Evangelista. Page trains diligently and shows up for the Dokes fight at a trim and ready 226 lbs. Page matches Dokes in hand and foot speed, and shows much superior stamina from the 5th round onward. Ahead on points, Page explodes with a rapid fussilade of punches in the 11th round that leave Dokes reeling on the ropes. Page follows up without pause and referee Mills lane stops the fight. Page leaps high into the air with his right fist raised. He is the new WBC Heavyweight Champion. Page makes his first defense against Scott LeDoux, in a dreadful mismatch. Gerry Cooney shows up at the pre-fight press conference with his eloquent management team - the Whako duo of Dennis Rappaport and Mike Jones. Rappaport talks smack, telling Page there is a White man ready and eager to dethrone him, after he takes care of the inferior LeDoux. Page responds that Cooney is a "White Hype" and he will gladly take care of him after finishing with LeDoux. LeDoux lowers his head and chuckles, knowing he is but a bit player in these shenanigans. Page stops LeDoux with a series of sharp right hands in the 4th round. At the post-fight press conference, Don King announces that an agreement has already been reached for a Page-Cooney showdown, scheduled for Ceasar's Palace in March 1982. Fans eagerly anticipate what promises to be a great fight between fighters of sharply contrasting styles and personalities. Muhammad Ali shows up at the press conference endorsing Page as his "heir apparent." Having had his last fight in '78 (the decision over Spinks in their rematch), Ali remains a healthy and articulate ambassador for the sport for many years to come........................... Somebody else can take it from '82'-'86 if they want.....that's all I've got. LOL.
Jesús you are a terrible terrible idiot. Read and learn ignorant piece of crap. [url]http://www.thesweetscience.com/articles-of-2005/1638-why-we-didnt-see-foreman-holmes-circa-1975-77[/url]
Ken Norton successfully defends his wbc belt 3 time's then runs in to the fist s of Shaver's .Foreman who holds the WBA belt challenges him to unify... What a succulent thought.
Norton would have taken over for him until he started to deteriate which i believe was shortly after the holmes fight, we would have seen a different norton though, i think norton got a little disalusioned and lacked confidence after the ali and especially holmes fights, but pressure fighters tend to burn out quickly. We may have even seen Cooney or shavers as champ for a while and berbick could've come up in the world sooner, there would have been no consistant champ for a while unless foreman decided to step back in the game. Ali would likely make a comeack Fight against Tex cobb since that' who he wanted for the fight afterwards, but according to legend Cobb broke his hand in a bar brawl so he fought berbick instead.
Makes u wonder who Ali could have challenged for the title against. Weaver had one belt ,that would have being painful to see .
I think it is far from a certainty that Foreman would have cleaned house if he came back after a short retirement even without a Larry Holmes in the picture. And since his leaving the sport had nothing to do with Holmes, I didn't even include Foreman in my ponderings of a HW division w/out Larry Holmes.
It was more to do with his loss to Jimmy young and his religious melt down after that caused him to retire, common knowledge I'd have thought?. No idea where he's got Larry Holmes from there ..
