George Foreman/Exhibitions/sparring partners(1970-1977)

[Brutu]

You know someone had to think twice about being a sparring partner to him.
Sounds like a thankless and painful job.

[Brutu]

Here is a list of a few .

Jim Patzke(amateur days)

Eddie"Bossman"Jones(main sparring partner)
Terry Hinke
Stamford Antonarias(aka Stamford Harris aka "Big Bamboo" )
Frank Steele
Elmo Henderson
Henry Clark
Bill McMurray(caused the cut to George Foreman that postponed the fight in Zaire)
Terry Lee(lightweight)for speed in Zaire October 1974.
Dwain Bonds

[actjac]

The infamous five exhibition fights the same day in Toronto in 1975 televised by ABC.

Charley Polite
Boone Kirkman
Terry Daniels
Jerry Judge
Alonzo Johnson

[Brutu]

Here are some others,

1973-Jamaica
Carl Baker
Bob Stallings

Sept.1973-for Joe King Roman fight/Tokyo,Japan

Terry Hinke
Larry Frazier
Stanford Harris
Len Hutchins(Lightheavyweight)
Sam Helmer(middleweight)

[Goodnight, Irene]

"Brave men, who come to die..."

[CNorkusJr]

Foreman with former contender Charley Norkus at Foreman/Frazier weigh-in for their fight at the Nassau Coliseum,Long Island ,NY

[Brutu]

In the Spring of 1973,George Foreman as World Heavyweight champion did a series of exhibitions.
I remember it kicked off in Las Vegas,NV in April 1973 ,on and off with one in Hawaii in August 1973,before he went over to Tokyo Japan
to fight Joe King Roman.
As Foreman was not particularly popular with some fight fans it appears,,
the exhibition tour has not been well documented it seems,but I will try and find some additional info regarding it.

[Brutu]

Here are the sparring partners Foreman worked with
while training for the rematch with Joe Frazier in June 1976.
Foreman was still practicing the pushing away with both hands technique.

Bob Stallings
Cookie Wallace(knocked Wallace down with a right hand while sparring)
Scrap Iron Johnson
Duane Bonds
Ernie Lassiter jr

[Brutu]

Prior to his fight with Ron Lyle,Foreman did 2 ,no-decision bouts.
The first exhibition bout was scheduled for 10 rounds was against Jody Ballard at the
Concord Hotel
Lake Kiamesha New York, November 26 1975.
A fundraiser for the Olympic team.
Foreman weighed 229 bs to Ballards 202lbs.
If you were a guest of the Concord hotel you got to see this fight for free(crowd 2,000)
Foreman knocked down Ballard in round one and went back to work in round two.


http://www.youtube.com/atch?v=6MWjMZnsKRY

[Brutu]

Foreman's next scheduled 10 round exhibition tuneup match was December.17.1975
against Eddie Brooks
at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco as a pre-liminary under the
Tyrone Everett-Ray Lunny III,12 round jr lightweight fight.
Foreman knocked down Brooks twice in first round and twice in the second before the ref stopped it.
I havent seen any footage of that exhibition bout.

[Brutu]

In a 1973 interview,Foreman's trainer Dick Sadler claimed that Foreman never used"sparring partners",
but instead trained with"main event fighters" in getting ready for his fights.
He said that in the past Foreman had used
Cleveland Williams,Mac Foster and Jerry Quarry
in training.

[Goodnight, Irene]

In a 1973 interview,Foreman's trainer Dick Sadler claimed that Foreman never used"sparring partners",
but instead trained with"main event fighters" in getting ready for his fights.
He said that in the past Foreman had used
Cleveland Williams,Mac Foster and Jerry Quarry
in training.

Who cut him again?

[Brutu]

In a 1973 interview,Foreman's trainer Dick Sadler claimed that Foreman never used"sparring partners",
but instead trained with"main event fighters" in getting ready for his fights.
He said that in the past Foreman had used
Cleveland Williams,Mac Foster and Jerry Quarry
in training.

Who cut him again?

Bill McMurray's elbow in Zaire Africa.

[Brutu]

One of Foreman's exhibitions as HW champ took place August.3.1973 at the Coliseum in San Diego California.
He did a 6 exhibition rounds as a preliminary on a main event boxing card of Raul Montoya vs Miguel Mayan
Foreman did that exhibition with
Billy Ryan and Mike Weaver.
reportedly the crowd of 3 thousand booed Foreman and began chanting, Ali-Ali-Ali-Ali.

[Brutu]

George Foreman sure was mean.I remember reading when he was training to fight for Ken Norton in early 1974.
The newspapers reported that he had knocked out cold Eddie Bossman Jones then a day or 2 later knocked out Stamford Harris.
That could be why Bossman Jones left the Foreman camp and went to Ali's camp later on that year.
I still remember that scene in the movie THE GREATEST(1977),were the one guy re-enacted the part in Ali's camp.

[Brutu]

On June.16.1969 for a publicity party at Duffey Square on Broadway NYC for the Frazier vs Quarry fight.
George Foreman did an exhibition-sparring session with former top amateur and now pro heavyweight Forest Ward.
(Foreman was soon to make his professional debut on the Frazier-Quarry preliminary)
Reportedly the sparring session with Forest Ward got so rough and almost out of hand and was stopped after the second round.

Later on that Summer(1969),Dick Sadler wanted Forest Ward to have been Foreman's next opponent after the Wepner fight,
but Ward retired around that time for some reason.
Anyone know what the reason for Forest Ward retiring so soon in his pro career?

[Brutu]

Foreman had used Mac Foster as a sparring partner when Foreman was training to
fight Ken Norton in Venezuela in 1974.
Mac Foster along with Orville Qualls aka Lee Mandingo and Pedro Agosto were originally
suppose to have been part of the"Toronto Five" on April.26.1975.
Mac Foster pulled out April.15.1975(tendinitis)
and was replaced by Jerry Judge.
Foreman later fought Pedro Agosto later on as a main event
January.22 1977 on the CBS Sports Spectacular.

[Brutu]

Here is a link to a publicity poster for George Foreman and the Toronto Five.

http://books.google.com/books?id=O0MDAA ... pg=PA53&dq


This short article also mentions a couple of proposed Foreman fights that never happened.
Foreman vs Larry Middleton June1975 Las Vegas(for network tv).
Foreman vs Pedro Lovell July 1975 LA Forum.

[Caractacus]

I know that This thread use to be a lot longer and contained a lot more information in it,
but the posts were suddenly deleted from it 3 years ago for some reason or another.

[Nile4000]

Surprised George and Mac didn't fight for real. Would have been an intriguing matchup from 1970-1972.

[Caractacus]

On June.16.1969 for a publicity party at Duffey Square on Broadway NYC for the Frazier vs Quarry fight.
George Foreman did an exhibition-sparring session with former top amateur and now pro heavyweight Forest Ward.
(Foreman was soon to make his professional debut on the Frazier-Quarry preliminary)
Reportedly the sparring session with Forest Ward got so rough and almost out of hand and was stopped after the second round.

Later on that Summer(1969),Dick Sadler wanted Forest Ward to have been Foreman's next opponent after the Wepner fight,
but Ward retired around that time for some reason.
Anyone know what the reason for Forest Ward retiring so soon in his pro career?

I think Forrest Ward was chosen by the commitie overr Ken Norton to go to the 1967 Pan American game trials,
something Norton seemingly was bitter about for years.

[Caractacus]

Marty Monroe when Gil Clancey was training Foreman
( possibly for the fight with Ron Lyle in 1976 I would imagine)

[Caractacus]

BTW does that look like Foreman is sparring with Marty Monroe in this clip ?
does anyone know who it could be ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufksZ8DtTMg

[Caractacus]

BTW does that look like Foreman is sparring with Marty Monroe in this clip ?
does anyone know who it could be ?

[Caractacus]

now this thread is some info for the real George Foreman fan.