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| Birth Name(s) : George Foreman |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Athlete |
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Full George Foreman Biography
George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. He is the oldest man ever to win the heavyweight title, and also has been named one of the 25 greatest fighters of all time by Ring magazine. Nicknamed Big George, he is now a successful businessman and an ordained Christian minister who has his own church.
By the age of 19, Foreman had won a gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. When he walked around the ring with an American flag following his victory, members of the black community chastised him for being an Uncle Tom, especially since two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze), who had competed for the United States in the 200-meter dash, had raised their black-gloved fists on the award podium as a protest during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem. Others, however, lauded him for being a patriotic American during a time of political upheaval and strife.
In 1971, Foreman won seven more fights, including a rematch with Peralta, whom he defeated by knockout in the tenth and final round in Oakland, California, and a win over Leroy Caldwell, who was knocked out in the second round. After amassing a record of 32-0, Foreman was ranked as the number one challenger by the WBA and WBC. In 1972, his string of wins continued with a series of five consecutive bouts in which he defeated each opponent within three rounds.
Foreman was sometimes characterized by the media as an aloof and antisocial champion. According to them, he always seemed to wear a sneer and was not often available to the press. Foreman would later attribute his demeanor during this time as an emulation of Sonny Liston, for whom he had been an occasional sparring partner.
Foreman was widely considered to be the most physically empowered specimen and the hardest hitter in the history of the sport, and many at the time considered him to be the greatest heavyweight ever. He seemed invincible.
1977 would prove to be a life changing year for Foreman. After knocking out Pedro Agosto in four rounds at Pensacola, Florida, Foreman flew to Puerto Rico, where he lost a 12-round decision to Jimmy Young. Foreman fought cautiously early on, costing himself points, but as in the Ali fight he tired in the later rounds. Despite nearly scoring a KO at one point, Foreman could not mount a sustained attack on the elusive Young, who knocked down Foreman in the last round to secure the decision victory.
Foreman became ill in his dressing room after the fight. He was suffering from exhaustion and heatstroke and believed he had a near death experience. He claimed he found himself in a hellish, frightening place of nothingness and despair. He began to plead with God to help him. He explained that he sensed God asking him to change his life and ways. After this experience, Foreman became a born-again Christian, dedicating his life for the next decade to Christianity. Although never formally retiring from boxing, Foreman stopped fighting, became an ordained minister of a church in Houston, Texas, and devoted himself to his family and his parishioners. He also opened a youth center that bears his name.
In 1987, after 10 years away from the ring, Foreman surprised the boxing world by announcing a comeback at the age of 38. For his first fight, he went to Sacramento, California, where he beat journeyman Steve Zouski by a knockout in four rounds. Foreman weighed nearly 270-lb for the fight, and looked badly out of shape. Although many thought his decision to return to the ring was a mistake, Foreman countered that he had returned to prove that age was not a barrier to people achieving their goals (as he would say later, he wanted to show that age 40 is not a "death sentence"). He won four more bouts that year, gradually slimming down and improving his fitness. In 1988, he won nine times, and a clear trend began to emerge although none of his opponents was a rated contender. Perhaps his most notable win during this period was a seventh round knockout of an overweight former light-heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi.
A year later, Foreman fought journeyman Alex Stewart, who had previously been stopped in the first round by Mike Tyson. Foreman knocked down Stewart twice in the second round, but expended a lot of energy in doing so. He subsequently tired, and Stewart rebounded to administer the worst beating of Foreman's career. By the end of the 10th and final round, Foreman's face was bloodied and swollen, but the judges awarded him a majority decision win. Many urged him to retire after this match, but he refused.
Foreman was gracious and philosophical in his loss to Briggs, but announced his "final" retirement shortly afterward. However, he did plan a return bout against Larry Holmes in 1999, scheduled to take place at the Houston Astrodome on pay per view. The fight was to be billed as "The Birthday Bash" due to both fighters' upcoming birthdays. Foreman was set to make $10 million and Holmes was to make $4 million, but negotiations fell through and the fight was canceled. With a continuing affinity for the sport, Foreman became a respected boxing analyst for HBO. |
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