One of the Soviet journalists compared George Foreman with the character of science fiction writer Kir Bulychev Veselchak U (in the film “Guest from the Future” he is played by Vyacheslav Nevinny) - so huge was the former boxer and current pastor-preacher nicknamed Big George. The American competed against a boxer from the USSR in the final of the ’68 Olympics, after which he moved to professional boxing.
Fists the size of a good pumpkin, chest like a wheel, biceps bursting from the sleeves of his jacket and a bald round head. Well, except that his belly grew significantly during his religious activities away from the boxing ring, but otherwise, even after sixty, George Foreman looked the way a former Olympic and world heavyweight boxing champion should look. Once upon a time, Muhammad Ali himself was afraid of this man. And not only for physical data, but also for character.
George Foreman advises everyone to smile more often
The future boxer spent his childhood and youth in the ghetto of Houston (USA), where he was taught to rob, rape and kill on the streets. Teenagers studied optional subjects such as alcoholism and drug addiction. After the fearsome boxer first retired from the sport to become a Christian missionary, a legend arose that young George once returned his victim's wallet. The boxer himself denies this and does not find any mitigating circumstances for his past: “I was an inveterate scoundrel, and for those actions I have no forgiveness.”
The story of George Foreman is quite common for a resident of the Fifth District of Houston, where in the 50s and 60s there were real wars between gangs (this place is still included in the list of the most dangerous places America). The father abandoned the family, the mother raised several children alone. George was kicked out of school - he simply stopped going to classes. By the age of 16, he was a classic gopnik without any plans or prospects for the future.
Muhammad Ali said of Foreman: “I saw him shadowbox. And the shadow won!”
We had to fight often. The first rivals were their own brothers and sister. Then you had to defend your authority on the street and fight back against any bully. Otherwise the boys will stop respecting you. Let's give the floor to the hero of the article himself: “On the street you always need to know who is cooler. Before boxing, I developed only one skill in a fight - to make one right punch and knock out the enemy. But I wasn’t much of a fighter then, even though I fought a lot. In the ghetto there is always a reason to punch someone. I’m still amazed that I survived that period.”
Dog - best friend boxer!
Everything changed in one day. Big George was running away from the police and crawled into a crack under someone's house. To cover up his smell, the guy smeared himself in mud (or maybe something worse; it looked like a sewer pipe had burst nearby). And here he lies, hidden, under a concrete slab, and in his head the voice of his older sister is heard: “You can do whatever you want. You still have no future!” At that moment something like an epiphany occurred. “I’m 16 years old, I’m lying here in the shit, and there’s nothing ahead!” - Forman later told his biographer.
Foreman became the boxing star he dreamed of
Almost on the same day, having washed himself off, Forman entered the “Work Corps” - this was a US government program to combat poverty. There he received his education and working skills. It was there that he first tried what boxing was. In the very first sparring, the street fighter was brutally beaten: “The coach invited me to fight one of his students. I took a bunch of jabs, but I didn’t hit that guy even once! He got angry and tried to grab him. As a result, I was laughed at and kicked out. Then it became clear to me that I had no technology at all. AND street fights They didn't give me anything to become a boxer. Everything had to be learned from scratch. The only thing I inherited from birth was my body. Since childhood, I was told that I was too healthy and big.”
As an amateur, Big George made his debut at the 68 Olympics in Mexico City, where he became an Olympic champion, defeating Soviet boxer Jonas Cepulis. In that fight, the American severely smashed his opponent’s face, and this was also a consequence of living on the street. Subsequently, Foreman admitted that he entered the ring with the desire to kill his opponent. “It seemed to me that if I killed anyone in the ring, my career would go uphill from it. In general, I believed that if you want to become a world champion, then you need to become the coolest and most evil bastard.”
Big George became world champion many times
His secret desires were revealed by Muhammad Ali. When asked what he thought of Foreman, he replied: “This is not a boxer! He just wants to kill someone! The words of the great Cassius Clay struck Foreman - how did he guess?! By the way, he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974. There were suspicions that Foreman was given some kind of drug before the fight. The water that his trainer Dick Sandler brought to the boxer had some kind of chemical taste. Foreman and Sandler never worked together again. The fight itself turned out to be very difficult, since it was very humid and hot. The battle of the two titans even received its own name - “Rumble in the Jungle.”
However, Foreman became the world champion in 1973, fortunately without killing anyone. According to the WBC, Foreman won the belt twice, according to the WBA - three times (with a break of 20 years), and twice more according to the IBF. Between championships there was a ten-year break without boxing at all. And it happened like this.
In 1977, George Foreman left boxing. He didn’t want to do it anymore, because he saw nothing but violence and death in this sport. Foreman changes his life radically. He becomes a preacher, opens a youth center and teaches troubled teenagers to renounce violence. “I taught the guys never to hit a person out of anger. If you want to learn boxing, great, but you need to leave your anger behind the ropes. I taught them, and I myself learned to deal with aggression. With the help of the children, I was cured and was able to return to the ring. Now I had no desire to kill, only to win technically.”
The fight was canceled - he hit Foreman in the chin at the press conference
Foreman's career in professional boxing began a year after winning the Olympics. In this, his story is similar to his path to boxing. In 1969, George Foreman scored his first knockout and won for the first time as a professional. A year later, he defeated George Shuvalo, then Jose Rosman, and then Ken Norton by technical knockout. That is, Foreman won by knockout for 4 years in a row.
The unbeaten streak was interrupted by that same fight with Muhammad Ali, after which Foreman spent two years preparing for new fights. In 1976 he knocked out Joe Frazier, and a year later he lost to Jimmy Young on points. After this, Foreman would leave boxing until 1987. He would win and lose until 1994, when, at the age of 45, he became the oldest boxer to win the world heavyweight title.
One of Foreman's last fights: the fight with Shannon Briggs in 1997
After '94, Foreman's boxing career took off in spurts. He left the ring again, came back, won on points, lost on points. Last time They started talking about the next return of Big George 10 years ago, in 2004. Foreman wanted to show that even at 55 years old you can enter the professional boxing ring and win. Trevor Berbick could have become his opponent, but his return never materialized. According to rumors, Foreman's wife forbade her husband to fight. After which he again became a preacher, which is what he does to this day. On January 10, 2014, George Edward Foreman, nicknamed “Big George,” turned 65 years old. He fought 81 fights, won 76, 68 of them by knockout, and suffered 5 defeats.
Contains a great variety of different champions. It's hard to even imagine how much it was best boxers in each weight category throughout the existence of this sport. Nevertheless, even from such a huge number of people, there will always be that person who is worth paying special attention to. And all because his achievements are truly unique and evoke not just respect from the public, but to some extent special reverence. And Jorod Foreman can rightfully be considered such a person.
Brief biographical information
His childhood was spent in an extremely disadvantaged area of Houston, where he had to learn his first fighting skills, since it was a matter of basic survival. At a young age, George was in a gang and engaged in theft. This was a completely common occurrence, because he was from a large family and grew up without a father. According to his own recollections, after another theft, when his sister’s words flashed through his head that nothing would come of him in this life, Forman decided to give up life in a gang and start all over from scratch. He went to a specially created for difficult teenagers and received a working specialty and primary education.
The beginning of the boxing journey
It was thanks to a government program called “Work Corps” that George Foreman got into boxing. While in the camp, he begins to visit the boxing gym, where the guy set his first priority to lose weight and simply unwind. Having spent only a few fights, having been boxing for only a year and a half, he goes to the Olympic tournament.
1968 Olympics
It was these international prestigious competitions that revealed a new name to the world - George Foreman. In the final fight, the American met with Lithuanian Jonas Cepulis. The result of the fight was George's victory by technical knockout in the second round. What he lacked in technology, he more than compensated for with crazy pressure and strength, physically and mentally crushing the representative of the Soviet Union.
Professional career
Six months after his triumph at the Olympics, George Foreman, whose weight fell within the heavyweight limit, turns professional.
The fighter's debut occurred on June 23, 1969. Before the end of the calendar year, Foreman manages to fight 12 more fights, winning 11 of them by knockout.
The period 1970-1972 was marked by a series of 25 consecutive victories. 21 wins - clean knockouts. Thus, the fight between Foreman and Joe “Black Marciano” Frazier was simply inevitable. It is noteworthy that Fraser, going into the fight with Foreman, was a 100% favorite, since he was the owner of two of the most prestigious boxing belts and the only person who managed to win at that time
But as His Majesty boxing showed, George Foreman knocked out Frazier within 4 minutes 35 seconds after the start of the fight. At the same time, Joe visited the ring canvas 6 times. As a result, the fighter who defeated Ali was himself defeated.
A year later, Foreman won, who was also able to defeat Ali at one time. In general, by all indicators, the era of Foreman’s reign seemed endless, and the fight with Mohammed was supposed to be a mere formality. But….
Rumble in the jungle
It was with this name that the fight between Foreman and Ali went down in history. On October 30, 1974, this epic battle took place in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately for Foreman, he suffered his first defeat as a professional, losing by knockout in the 8th round.
Three years later, Big George leaves the ring after losing to Jimmy Young.
Return to the ring
In 1987, George Foreman, whose biography is full of great confrontations, returns to boxing again. After 28 fights, in 1994 he entered the fight against the then-current champion Michael Moorer and won! And this at 45 years old! Thanks to this, he became the oldest champion on the planet. True, in 1995 Foreman was stripped of his belts for refusing to carry out mandatory defenses.
November 22, 1997 was Foreman's last day in boxing. He lost Not everyone agreed with that judge's decision, but it happened as it happened.
Life outside the ring
In 1983, George opened a center to help troubled teenagers in his hometown of Houston. The champion taught them how to deal with their weaknesses, not to show aggression, and so on. He also expanded his family. Today he has 10 children. He became a pastor and helps everyone in need in every possible way.
“It’s clear that you can’t keep track of everyone, and I had freedom. I started hanging around on the street with just about anyone, stealing, and even robbing on the corner. My whole goal in life was to keep an eye out so that the police wouldn’t catch me. I left school. More precisely, I was kicked out because I stopped going to classes. At the age of 16, I was essentially simple. street punks", Forman recalled. At the same time, the American said that he very often fought on the streets: “I’m amazed that I survived.”
Foreman's transformation from a street hooligan to a law-abiding citizen occurred at the age of 16. While running away from the police after the robbery, as the boxer himself said, he remembered his sister’s words that none of their family had ever been or would become anyone, and “Big George” decided to dramatically change his life. It was then that the US government established a program to combat poverty - “Work Corps”, where Forman entered. At the same time, Foreman, a fan of swinging his fists, naturally took a liking to boxing a long time ago, and in the “Workers’ Corps” there was an opportunity to take it up professionally. At the same time, Foreman himself often made a reservation: “To say that a turbulent childhood made me a boxer is not entirely true.”
At the age of 18, Foreman achieved his first success, becoming the winner of the amateur Golden Glove championship. And the next year he received a ticket to the 1968 Olympic Games, winning the national championship. These Games in Mexico City brought the young boxer world fame - in the final, Foreman knocked out boxer from the USSR Jonas Cepulis.
Already in 1969, Foreman made his debut on professional ring, and within six months scored 13 victories, gaining a reputation as a boxer with a very hard punch. “Amateur experience is good, but if you don’t have it, then there is no point in looking back, because professional boxing is radically different,” said the American.
Four years later, the first title fight took place. Foreman's opponent was the hitherto undefeated Joe Frazier, who was considered the favorite of the fight. The fight lasted just over four minutes. Foreman knocked down Frazier three times in the first round, then the same number in the second, and on the seventh time the judge awarded victory by technical knockout to Foreman, who became the newly-minted WBA and WBC champion.
Defeat from Ali, then the life of a righteous man
During the year, Foreman entered the ring twice more, knocking out his opponents in the first (Jose Roman) and second (Ken Norton) rounds. And already in October 1974, one of the best fights in the entire history of boxing took place. His fight with Muhammad Ali was called "Rumble in the Jungle". At the beginning of the fight, the initiative was entirely on Foreman’s side, but by the middle of the fight, “Big George” was exhausted. And in the 8th round, Ali went on a counterattack, knocking out Foreman, who suffered his first failure and, accordingly, lost his titles. By the way, it was after the fight with Foreman that Ali acquired the nickname that he awarded himself - The Greatest.
“Ali had never been knocked out in his life. And then I understood why. My strongest blows, from which 99 percent of other boxers would have fallen into the ring, only had an exciting effect on him. He looked at me as if he wanted to say: “I’m going nowhere.” I'm not leaving, George. You will not get rid of me." I have never seen such brave people. Neither in the ring, nor in life. Words cannot describe the courage of this man. I remember in one episode I had an excellent episode. There were several good shots on the body and head, and the final one - on the liver. Well, just a very good series. I was sure that he was mine. He swayed, he leaned towards me... and suddenly said: “Is that all, George?” I will never forget these words. What kind of devil is this, I think? That was really all - everything I could give him, I gave him in this series. According to all boxing canons, this was a victory. According to everyone, except Ali’s canons,” Foreman shared his memories of the fight.
In January 1976, Foreman entered the ring against Ron Lyle; this fight was a real showdown: both boxers were knocked down more than once, but “Big George” still won in the fifth round. In June of the same year, Foreman's second fight with Frazier took place. The result was the same, but now Fraser’s presence in the ring lasted not until the second, but until the fifth round. In March 1977, Foreman, after an unexpected defeat on points from Jimmy Young, decided to leave boxing and abruptly changed his activity - he became a preacher.
“I felt Christ awaken in me,” the athlete explained. “I got into the shower and came out born again. I glorified the name of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah!” Foreman built a church in Houston, created a youth center and traveled around the country to collect donations. According to the stories of those around him, Forman changed a lot while mowing lawns and thinking about God.
In January 1987, when Foreman was a year shy of his fortieth birthday, the American shyly announced his return to the ring and his desire to become a world champion again. Naturally, people are still interested in the reasons for this decision. However, Forman’s answer is quite honest and logical: “Money. I’ve run out of it. People ask me this question all the time. Apparently, they are waiting for a pretentious answer. I don’t have such an answer, everything is banal: I’m impoverished. I, of course, would prefer to be, say, a golfer, because returning to golf at forty is much easier. But I’m a boxer, I don’t know how to do anything else.”
New championship belt at 45 years old
For some time, boxing associations did not give Foreman permission to enter the ring. The problem was resolved only after a legal complaint filed by Foreman's manager Bob Arum. As a result, after training for a year and losing a fair amount of weight, the athlete returned to professional boxing. He won 24 fights in a row, all by knockout, and in April 1991 he met the undisputed world champion Evander Holyfield, for whom this was his first title defense. The fight turned out to be equal, but the judges gave the victory by unanimous decision to the current belt holder. After the fight, Foreman told reporters that he had fulfilled half of his dream, showing people that even at 40 years old you can achieve your goals. Although he lost, many praised his resilience and dedication.
Foreman then scored two victories, and in June 1993 he met Tommy Morrison for the vacant WBO title. “Big George” was noticeably inferior to his opponent in speed, and the judges naturally gave the victory to Morrison. However, in November 1994, fate gave Foreman another championship fight. The opponent was WBA and IBF title holder Michael Moorer. The lighter and more agile Moorer won in all respects due to his speed, however, in the middle of the 10th round, Foreman accurately hit the jaw several times, and Moorer collapsed to the canvas. Foreman won by knockout, despite the fact that Moorer had a confident advantage on points.
“Boxing is like jazz. The better he is, the less people appreciate him.”(c) George Foreman.
George Edward Foreman was born on January 10, 1949 in Marshall, Texas. George's biological father, Leroy Moorehead, died some time after his birth, and his mother raised her son with his stepfather, J.D. Foreman. George spent his childhood in Houston. He had six brothers and sisters, the family lived poorly.
Stepfather worked at railway, but he drank almost all his money at the bar, and the family lived on his mother’s modest salary. At the age of 15, George was expelled from school, he often played truant and bullied other children. On the street, he increasingly began to fight with teenagers, participating in wars between street gangs.
Fortunately for himself, Foreman joined the "work corps" - the so-called program for the poor and disadvantaged, in which people were trained different types work and encouraged to take up sports. As part of this program, George traveled to California, where he met Doc Broadus, who was a labor corps adviser and also a boxing trainer. Thus, in addition to working as a carpenter and laying bricks, Foreman learned to box.
Having started training, George quickly achieved incredible success in the amateur ring. In 1967, he won the National Amateur Athletic Tournament in the heavyweight division and left the working corps. Having only 25 amateur fights, in 1968 he became an Olympic champion at Olympic Games in Mexico City.
“After my victory in the finals of the Games, I waved the American flag for a long time. I was so proud. I waved the flag not so much for myself as for my country. I wanted everyone to understand who I was and make it clear that I was proud to be an American."
In 1969, at the age of 20, George Foreman turned professional. He won his first seven victories by knockout, including a victory over Chuck Wepner at New York's Madison Square Garden. In total, George fought 13 fights in 1969, and 11 the following year. Including a victorious fight with Gregorio Peralta, in which Foreman received a small cut, and a spectacular, but short-lived fight with the strong George Chuvalo, stopped by the referee in the third round.
In the ring, Foreman was best known for his incredible physical strength and striking power. He was often portrayed as a villain or someone in a perpetual bad mood. Moody and brooding. He reminded everyone of this former champion, with whom, by the way, I had many sparring sessions.
In 1972, George fought five fights. He finished all of them by knockout in the second round. In 1973, he faces a seemingly very serious challenge - the undefeated world champion, who two years earlier defeated Muhammad Ali himself. Plus, Fraser was a 3.5-to-1 favorite.
The fight took place on January 22 in Kingston, Jamaica. The fighters wore eight-ounce gloves. It took 24-year-old Foreman just 4 minutes and 35 seconds to become the two-time heavyweight world champion. In two incomplete rounds, Frazier was on the floor six times, after which referee Arthur Mercante decided to stop the beating. This match was the first boxing match to be shown on cable television on HBO (Home Box Office). He was also named Fight of the Year by The Ring.
“You know, titles don’t matter to me. They are important to the people, the fans. I want to be good champion and I say thank you to God. I want to give hope to millions of children who have any difficulties in life that they can do what I did."- George said after the fight.
He made two successful title defenses. In the first defense, George destroyed Jose Roman in 50 seconds and earned his first million dollar fee. At that time it was the shortest heavyweight fight in history. In the second defense George wins famous fighter (who also beat Ali), sending him to the floor three times. So much so that Norton’s coach, Bill Slayton, personally flies into the ring to stop the beating.
George Foreman made his third title defense against the legendary, who by that time had already had a rematch with Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Big fight between two Olympic champions it was decided to take place in Africa, namely in Zaire. And the now notorious Don King took charge of organizing the fight. King promised both Foreman and Ali $5 million each. However, he did not have the money, and he found a sponsor in the person of the President of Zaire, Mabutu.
Despite the fact that the fight was planned for the fall of 1974, both Foreman and Ali spent most of the summer in Zaire in order to acclimatize and adapt to the weather conditions of the African state. The original date for the fight was September 24, but during one of the sparring sessions, George Foreman suffered a cut above his right eye. The fight was postponed to October 30.
When Muhammad Ali arrived by plane in Zaire on the eve of his fight with George Foreman, he asked his business manager Gene Kilroy: “Hey, Gene, who do the local people like?
Jin replied: “I don’t know, but they probably don’t like white people.”.
“I can’t call Foreman white. Who else don’t they love?”- asked Ali.
“Belgians,” Kilroy replied.
Since then, from the very beginning of his stay in Zaire, Ali began to call George Foreman "Belgian", to which the locals shouted ALI BOOMAYE (Ali, kill him).
*Between 1908 and 1960, Zaire (and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) belonged to Belgium - site note.
Partly because of this, "Big George" had a problem with his shepherd named Dago, which the Zairean police were initially reluctant to release. The fact is that the Belgians often poisoned local residents with German shepherds, which George himself, of course, did not know about.
“They said that people are afraid of this dog. My God, they have hyenas and lions next door, and they’re afraid of a German shepherd?”
George Foreman at a press conference
It is worth noting that George was considered a serious favorite. According to some insiders, members of Foreman's team prayed in the locker room before the fight that he would not kill Ali.
From the first round, Muhammad Ali began circling George, periodically retreating to the ropes and letting him work. Foreman walked forward and threw out his most powerful blows, sparing no effort. As the fight progressed, Ali increasingly resorted to this tactic, hanging on the ropes and leaning outside the ring. Most of George's blows ended up being softened or missing their target altogether. George Foreman, who had not previously fought such protracted fights, usually instantly destroying his opponents, quickly ran out of steam, and Ali began to increase the number retaliatory strikes. After the sixth round, Muhammad's advantage became noticeable, and in the eighth round he threw an exhausted Foreman onto the ropes and carried out a short series of blows. Big George ended up on the ring floor. He stood at the count of nine, but the referee decided to stop the fight.
This legendary fight has found many reflections in world culture - books, cinema and music. IN live it was watched by more than 60,000 viewers. He was named "Fight of the Year 1974" by The Ring. The eighth round, in turn, was called the “round of the year.”
Having suffered his first defeat, “Big George” did not enter the ring for more than a year, spending only a few exhibition fights, among which there was even a fight with five opponents in one day ( ! ). In 1976, 27-year-old George Foreman changed his team, including hiring famous trainer, and decides to resume his career.
On January 24, 1976, he met dangerous puncher Ron Lyle in the ring for the vacant champion title. North America. The fight was not a classic demonstration of the essence of boxing - hit and don't miss back. It was more like a mixture of two bulls butting and a bar fight.
In the first round, Lyle seriously shocked Foreman with a right hand, who nevertheless survived until the end of the three minutes. For most of the second round, Lyle himself was saving himself from Big George’s blows. The 4th round was the most spectacular: first Foreman was knocked down, and then Ron Lyle. At the end of the round, after an accurate counter right hand, Foreman falls again, and a stain of his blood remains on the canvas. George is saved by a gong.
In the middle of the fifth segment of the fight, Lyle misses a series of blows, after which he retreats to the ropes and finds himself practically unable to defend himself and respond to the heavy blows of Foreman, who is carrying out a protracted finishing move. Lyle falls, the referee stops the match. The fight received the “fight of the year” award, and its fourth round took sixth place in the list of the most impressive rounds in history according to The Ring.
“This is by far the toughest fight I've ever had. It could have ended with either of us winning, but I showed my determination and a big heart." - said George Foreman.
George Foreman - Ron Lyle
Five months later, George faces Joe Frazier in a rematch. One of the bookmakers in Las Vegas considered Joe Frazier a favorite at a ratio of 7 to 5. A few hours before the fight, Joe Frazier decided to shave his head, he entered the ring bald.
This time, Frazier decided not to go at Foreman, but tried to box from a distance, which did not help him much. In the fifth round, “Smoking Joe”, who had several successful episodes, was knocked down. Foreman began to finish him off. After a devastating right uppercut, Coach Joe asks the referee to stop the fight. Early victory for George Foreman. Each fighter received $1 million for this fight.
Then, three early victories followed. Among them is a victory over Scott LeDoux. Foreman became the first person to knock out the tough Scott. On March 17, 1977, “Big George” entered the fight against Jimmy Young.
The fight took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Young kept his opponent at a distance, mainly working with his front hand. From the first seconds it became clear that he had a significant advantage in speed and accuracy of strikes. Finding himself at close range, Jimmy Young would throw a short punch and immediately enter the clinch. As for Foreman, in episodes he acted quite dirty. At the beginning of the seventh round, “Big George” greatly shocked his opponent, but Young withstood a terrifying hail of blows, and even managed to snatch the end of the round. In the middle of the twelfth three-minute period, George himself was slightly knocked down. The battle was completely lost.
“George doesn’t know this, but in the seventh round I was on my feet, unconscious. He could have dropped me with a push of his little finger. I don't know how I survived this."(c) Jimmy Young
The fight was named “Fight of the Year 1977” according to The Ring. The twelfth round was called the "round of the year". Based on the stories of trainer Gil Clancy, when he arrived in the locker room after the fight, George Foreman plunged into despair. He claimed that a giant hand was creating emptiness around him. After that, he said that his hands and head were covered in blood and shouted: Jesus Christ comes alive in me! After that, he jumped into the shower, and as the water poured on him, George screamed: Hallelujah, I'm clean! Hallelujah, I am born again! Clancy himself considered it hallucinations as a result of dehydration.
After this defeat, George Foreman retired and turned to faith. He became a minister and also began preaching in his hometown- Houston. In 1980 he opened a church. And in 1984 he founded a youth assistance fund. Almost the same as the one that once helped him find himself. However, in the second half of the 80s he ran out of money, and the charitable foundation was in danger of being closed. Our hero decides to resume his career.
After 10 long years, on March 9, 1987, he returned to the ring. This was not quite the same hot young George. He shaved his head bald, gained several kilograms of weight, improved his defensive skills and began to box more methodically. Started smiling more. During the year he wins five early victories. The following year, 1988, there were 9 early victories, including a victory over the famous ex-champion light heavyweight. Winning streak continued.
In 1989, Foreman defeated famous slugger Bert Cooper. After the second round, Cooper refused to continue the fight. The crowd was indignant. Bert Cooper was tested positive for cocaine. After the fight, he claimed that he had recently met his twin sisters and spent three days spending his energy on sex, cocaine and booze. He also stated that in this way he was basely set up by one of Foreman’s coaches.
George, meanwhile, continued his victorious march. Worth noting early victory over the "great white hope" of Gerry Cooney and a few more quick triumphs. In total, after his return, George consistently won 24 victories, 22 of which were by knockout. Success and popularity brought big opportunity to 42-year-old Foreman. He got a chance to meet in the ring with the absolute world champion -.
World-famous investor Donald Trump allocated $11 million to organize this fight and made a significant contribution to ensuring that promoters Arum and Duva were finally able to reach an agreement among themselves. The fight marked the birth of TVKO, which is now called HBO pay-per-view or paid broadcast system. Evander Holyfield was considered a favorite at a ratio of 3 to 1. The fight turned out to be spectacular, both fighters were shocked several times during the fight. The winner was 28-year-old Holyfield. He received $20 million for the fight, versus Foreman's $12.5 million. Interestingly, during the third round, one of the spectators launched a smoke bomb, which forced a whole group of people who bought tickets for $1000 to leave their seats.
In December 1991, George met Jimmy Ellis in the ring. After getting beat up in the second round of the fight, Ellis goes to the wrong corner. Coach takes him from Foreman's corner. In the third round, the referee stops the one-sided fight. Then came a tough fight with Alex Stewart. George managed to send his opponent to the canvas a couple of times, but by the end of the fight, Foreman’s own face was terribly swollen.
In 1993, “Big George” lost to Tommy Morrison. Morrison moved a lot and periodically managed to land accurate short combinations. After this defeat, George took a short break, starring in a short television series and working as a commentator on HBO.
On November 5, 1994, Foreman meets in the ring with the world champion in two versions -. Moorer was considered the favorite. The age difference between the boxers was almost 19 years old. Shortly before the fight, Moorer's coach, Teddy Atlas, tried to piss Foreman off, to which he replied: “Go make me a sandwich and sit down.”.
The WBA, whose title was at stake, refused to sanction the fight, and Foreman went to court to prove he was fit to fight. Interesting fact is that he went to this fight in the same shorts that he wore to the fight with Muhammad Ali twenty years earlier.
Murer started the fight superbly, hitting his target every now and then fast strikes. By the beginning of the ninth round, it was clear that only a knockout would help Foreman win. In the tenth round, "Big George" struck powerful blow on the right, after which his opponent failed to rise to the count of ten. This was Michael Moorer's first defeat in the professional ring and a triumphant victory for 45-year-old George Foreman.
He regained the title he lost 20 years ago. George received the Comeback of the Year award as well as the Knockout of the Year award. In doing so, he became the oldest boxer to ever win the world heavyweight title.
Foreman knocks out Moorer
In 1995, the World Boxing Association stripped George of his title for refusing to defend it against Tony Tucker. Instead, Foreman defeated Axel Schultz in a very controversial fight. Afterwards, George refused a rematch with Schultz and was stripped of another title. He fought three more fights, including a controversial loss to Shannon Briggs, and retired at the age of 48.
Since the early 90s, George discovered a talent for sales and launched a grill device under his own name. In the United States, the George Foreman grill is wildly popular; more than 100 million units have been sold. In addition, for more than ten years he ran an automobile service company that grew to 1,000 franchises. George has successfully launched a line of eco-friendly cleaning products, an exclusive line of personal care products, a special line of shoes for diabetics to prevent amputation, his own chain of restaurants and has written about ten books (including culinary and children's - note site).
Four times a week he preaches in his church on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was married and divorced three times. Now lives with his wife named Joan. George has ten children - five sons ( everyone named George) and five daughters, including two adopted.
George Foreman was named one of the 25 greatest boxers over the past 80 years according to Ring magazine. The magazine also ranked him ninth on its list of the hardest punchers of the 20th century.
“To be successful in life, you must have the habit of turning negative things into positive things.”
There is a certain category of people who, even being in a well-deserved pension, still look very dignified, arouse respect and even to some extent fear among others. This is exactly how George Foreman, a legendary boxer in the past and now a pastor of one of the religious movements, appears before the average person. Even at his advanced age (he is already 67 years old), he is still in excellent health. physical fitness and always smiles. In this article we will take a detailed look at the life path of this outstanding athlete and his main achievements.
Birth and childhood
The future champion was born in the American state of Texas, the city of Marshall, on January 10, 1949. Children's and teenage years George Foreman spent time on the streets of the Houston ghetto, where young people learned to rob, kill and rape. At the same time, many teenagers became drug addicts or alcoholics. There is a version that the outstanding boxer, after retiring from the sport, at some point returned the purse to one of his victims, but the American himself denies all this and does not justify himself at all. “I was a bandit, and there is no forgiveness for my past crimes!”
George Foreman, biography early years whose life is quite typical for a resident of Houston, he fought on the streets as part of a gang. His father left the family, and his mother raised several children alone. George was also kicked out of school because he didn't attend classes at all. In general, by the age of 16, the young man had become an inveterate gopnik without the slightest bright prospects for his future.
The turning point
However, fate prepared for the guy a fate different from the life of his brothers in the area. One day everything changed after George Foreman tried to escape from the police and hid under someone else's house. In order not to give himself away by the smell, he smeared himself with mud and fell silent, trying to wait out the raid. And while under the building, the words of his older sister began to swirl in the guy’s head: “You can do whatever you want! You still have no future!” Having got out from under the house, the young man washed himself and decided to radically change his life. As a result, he joined the ranks of the Work Corps, a government program aimed at combating poverty and unemployment.
First steps in boxing
The Work Corps turned out to be Foreman's saving grace. It was there that he received his primary education and basic work skills. In addition, it was there that he learned what boxing was. Already in the first sparring, he - a street fighter with extensive experience - was very badly beaten. The opponent managed to inflict on him large number blows without the slightest damage to himself, and George himself never hit the enemy.
So our hero realized that he didn’t know anything about boxing at all, and street fights gave him nothing in terms of boxing, and he had to start training from scratch.
amateur top
George Foreman did not compete in the amateur ring for very long and already in 1968 at the Olympics in Mexico City he was able to win a gold medal. In the final fight he was opposed by the outstanding Soviet athlete Jonas Cepulis. During their fight, the American badly smashed his opponent's face, which also turned out to be a manifestation of his long life on the street. Some time later, Foreman admitted that he rose to the square of the ring with a burning desire to kill all his opponents. As he then believed, by killing one of his opponents, his career would begin a new, brighter round.
Going Pro
In the summer of 1969, our hero switched to professional boxing. George Foreman, in his first fight as a pro, brutally knocked out his compatriot Don Waldheim in the third round. After this fight, there followed a series of more than thirty successful fights for Foreman and access to the championship fight, which is worth talking about separately.
Winning the world title
On January 22, 1973, a duel between two hitherto undefeated heavyweights, Foreman and Frazier, took place in Jamaica. From the first seconds of the fight it became clear that the current champion would not last long.
And so it happened. In less than two rounds, Joe was knocked down six times, which eventually naturally led to the fight being stopped and Foreman winning by technical knockout. The Ring magazine, respected in sports circles, named this fight the fight of the year. After winning the championship belt, George successfully defended the title in a duel with Jose Roman and Ken Norton. And then the no less legendary Mohammed Ali appeared on Foreman’s path...
Loss of the title of champion
George Foreman's successful fights were interrupted when he met Ali in the ring. Their fight took place in the fall of 1974 in Zaire. The promoter of the fight, Don King, agreed with the ruler of the country to hold this fight in Africa and allocate a lot of money for it at that time - $12 million. By the way, each of the fighters then received 5 million.
Both Foreman and Ali arrived on the continent in advance and spent the entire summer there, systematically undergoing acclimatization. George Foreman's training took place in a hotel in the capital, and Mohammed's - in an environment closer to ordinary people who literally idolized him. A day before the scheduled fight, both fighters attended a party hosted by President Mobutu.
Since the location of the championship fight was very high in temperature and humidity, both boxers quickly began to lose their physical condition. Already from the second round, Ali begins to hang on the ropes and launch effective counterattacks, trying to carry out a successful cross to Foreman's head.
During the first half of the fight, Ali missed quite a few heavy blows, after which, according to him, he began to have severe hallucinations. After the completion of the fifth round, George asked the referee to tighten the ropes, but his request was ignored. In the seventh three-minute round, Ali began to increase his advantage, and in the eighth round he managed to knock out the young champion. Thus, Foreman lost the title and for a long time justified this with all sorts of unfavorable moments for him: the ring ropes were too weak, the referee’s very fast countdown, the poisoned water that his coach gave him.
After that, George fought with Ron Lyle, and the fight could have ended unsuccessfully for Foreman again, but he still managed to knock out his opponent.
In the summer of 1976, “Big George” again met with Joe Frazier and again beat him by knockout, the only difference being that this time the fight lasted until the fifth round.
In the spring of 1977, Foreman suffered another defeat in his career. This time he could not defeat Jimmy Young. The fight lasted all 12 rounds, in the last of which the boxer was knocked down. This defeat was the impetus for the end of our hero’s career.
Life outside the ring
In 1977, Foreman George, whose knockouts were so loved by the public, left professional sports. In his own words, he no longer wanted to engage in boxing, which did not bring anything good to people. Former boxer radically changed my life. He became a preacher, opened a center for youth and began teaching troubled teenagers the ability to extinguish anger and aggression, urging them to renounce violence. The athlete also used his own money to build a church in his native Houston and traveled a lot around the country.
And again into battle!
In March 1987, viewers again saw what George Foreman's punch was worth. His return to the ring was successful: he managed to knock out Steve Zosuki. After this fight, a series of successful fights followed, which quite logically brought him back to the top, giving him the right to meet the champion.
In the spring of 1991, at the age of 42, Foreman entered the ring against Evander Holyfield to challenge the title absolute champion peace. Almost no one gave George any chance to win. The fight itself turned out to be quite spectacular. Foreman went forward and punched, and Holyfield successfully counterattacked and eventually won on points. Many experts and boxing fans were surprised that George managed to go the entire distance.
Last chance
In 1994, Foreman had another opportunity to win the title: he met with WBA and IBF world champion Michael Moorer. Champion at the expense high speed movements and strikes won the fight before the start last round, and Foreman managed to win only the fourth. However, in the tenth, George managed to hit his opponent’s jaw with a “deuce”, and Moorer was knocked out. This victory allowed George to become the oldest boxer to win the championship belt.
Somewhat later, George Foreman - a boxer with an outstanding track record- was stripped of his title due to his refusal to meet mandatory challenger Tony Tucker.
After this, in the spring of 1995, the American met in the ring with the German representative Axel Schulz. In that fight, the insignificant WBU title was played out. The fight ended with a judge's decision in favor of Foreman, which many considered very controversial. The IBF obliged the American to provide revenge to the German, but he refused and was stripped of his belt.
Mine last Stand George played on 22 November 1997 against compatriot Shannon Briggs. And again, the judge's decision caused fierce debate, with the only difference being that this time the victory was taken away from Foreman. After this fight, George finally retired from the sport and again devoted himself to religion and helping poor teenagers. In 1999, he tried to return to the ring again by signing a contract to fight Larry Holmes, but in the end the fight never took place.
Marital status
George is married and has ten children: five daughters and five sons. This deserves no less respect. According to rumors, it was the wife of the legendary champion who opposed his return to the ring in 2004 to fight Trevor Brebik.
