George Foreman

 George Foreman

 George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949, Texas) is an American heavyweight boxing champion, two-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist, and current businessman.

He is considered the oldest boxer in the world to win the title of heavyweight champion, and he did so at the age of forty-five, after defeating Michael Moorer (26 years) in the tenth round. Ranked by "The Ring" magazine as the ninth best boxer in history. Nicknamed "Big George", he is now a businessman, in addition to being a Christian priest who owns a private church. He has 10 children, five of them boys, all of whom he called "George". He won the gold medal in heavyweight boxing in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Of his 81 boxing fights, he has only lost five times.

After what he referred to as a religious epiphany, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister. Ten years later, he announced his comeback, and in 1994, at the age of 45, he won the WBA, IBF and heavyweight titles by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer. He dropped the WBA belt rather than face his mandatory title defense soon after, and after one defense of the IBF title on June 28, 1995, Foreman vacated his title—the last major belt he ever held. He was 46 years and 169 days old, becoming the oldest world heavyweight champion in history. Foreman is the oldest to win the world heavyweight championship with a major title, and the second oldest in any weight class after Bernard Hopkins (at light heavyweight). He retired in 1997 at the age of 48, with a final record of 76 wins (68 knockouts) and five losses.

Foreman has been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization ranks Foreman as the eighth greatest heavyweight of all time. In 2002, he was named one of the 25 greatest fighters of the past 80 years by The Ring. The Ring ranked him as the ninth greatest boxer of all time. He was a ringside analyst for HBO's boxing coverage for 12 years until 2004. Outside of boxing, he is a successful entrepreneur and is known for promoting the George Foreman Grill, which has sold over 100 million units worldwide. In 1999, he sold the commercial rights to the grill for $138 million.

The success story of George Foreman

Initially starting out as an amateur, Foreman compiled a record of 22-4. Two of his losses were to the same fighter, Clay Hodges. He also won the gold medal in boxing at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.

In 1969, Foreman turned pro and scored a three-round knockout in his debut match over a fighter named Donald Walheim.

After that, George Foreman knocked out 11 of them out of 12. The victories were very impressive and Foreman was ready to win the heavyweight title. Once his record reached 32-0, Foreman was clearly the number one contender for the world heavyweight title.

How did George become a hero?

On January 22, 1973, at the Sunshine Showdown event in Jamaica, George Foreman defeated Joe Frazier by technical knockout to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Fraser had never been defeated before and this win, while not surprising, was still shocking since George knocked Frasier out six times in two rounds. Foreman went on to defeat Ken Norton in a highly publicized title defense.

 

Loss of George Foreman to Muhammad Ali

 

In 1974, Foreman lost his title to Muhammad Ali at the classic Rumble in the Jungle match in Zaire (now Congo) as Foreman suffered a training hiatus that hindered his ability to prepare for the event. Muhammad Ali won the title and the match is among the most famous in boxing history.

George Foreman did not fight in 1975, but returned a year later to begin his comeback. After a number of high-profile fights, he retired in 1977. Foreman nearly died from heatstroke. He appeared on TV shows such as Club 700 and expressed his love for his new life.

George Foreman also ran a youth collegiate boxing club and, as the story goes, needed funds so he chose to fight again. This paved the way for what many call the greatest comeback in the history of the sport.

The most important historical events in the life of George

Future Heavyweight Boxing World Champion George Foreman was awarded the Olympic heavyweight gold medal when his final match against Jonas Schipulis (USSR) in the second round at the Mexico City Games on 1968-10-26.

1973-01-22 George Foreman TKOs Joe Frazier in two rounds to win the WBC & WBA Heavyweight Boxing Title in Kingston Jamaica. Fraser was knocked down 3 times in the first and second rounds.

In his first title defense, George Foreman retained his WBC and WBA heavyweight titles when he KOs Jose “King” Roman of Puerto Rico in Round 1 in Tokyo, Japan on 1973-09-01.

1974-03-26 George Foreman TKOs Ken Norton takes second place in the heavyweight boxing title in Caracas, Venezuela.

Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George Foreman KOs Ron Lyle in Round 5 at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; Foreman fell twice in the fourth; The Battle of the Year “The Ring” on 01-24-1976.

1990-01-15 42-year-old former world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman stops Gerry Cooney in two rounds in Atlantic City in a non-title bout; Kony's last fight.

1994-11-05 George Foreman (45) KOs Michael Moorer wins the heavyweight boxing championship.

1995-03-04 Loses WBA boxing title, refuses to fight Tony Tucker.

1995-04-22 George Foreman beat Axel Schulz in 12 fights to win the heavyweight boxing title in Las Vegas

1995-06-29 George loses his IBF boxing title for refusing to re-fight Axel Schulz.