BoxRec

Ion Alexe fought as an amateur hywt who fought for Romania during the late 1960's and early 1970's.

George Foreman was asked in an interview about 15 years ago,as to which fighter had hit him the hardest,
and Foreman said it was the south paw that he faced in the semi-finals in
Mexico City in 1968,
( Ion Alexe).
If Ion Alexe had defected to the West October.23. 1968,and later had some top grade professional trainers to train him in Europe or the USA,
how well would he have fared in the professional heavyweight division in the
"Golden ageof Heavyweights"?

Here is a link to some rare hard to find film footage of Ion Alexe in a boxing tournament in Europe in June 1969.(He can be seen in the last 20 seconds of film footage,the southpaw-wearing 195).


http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=68338

Didnt Ion Alexe also defeat Teofilio Stevenson in an international boxing tournament a few months later after the 1972 Olympics?
I also seem to remember hearing somewhere that in the 1972 Olympics inMunich
Germany,Ion Alexe was supposed to fight Teofilio Stevenson
for the Gold Medal,but Alexe had broken his thumb in the semi-finals,
soStevenson actually won the gold by walkover?

Here is a link to a newspaper dated Oct.23.1968 with a rare AP wire photo of Foreman vs Alexe it was a quarter-final bout at the 1968 Olympics,Mexico City.
the refere stopped the fight on a 3rdround TKO due to a cut around Alexe's eye.
(scroll to the far left to see the rare photo at this link)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tx ... 2858308&dq

Im just a George Foreman fan.
I just figured if Foreman had been quoted as saying that,
then Alexe must have been a boxer of some merit.
Anyway I was able to locate my source for that quote.
Its from the Los Angeles Times July.26.1984
article title-
Foreman Ranks Gold Medal as Favorite Boxing Moment-
(It's a pay article so I will just quote Foreman here in it,)

"The only one of my four opponents in Mexico City,I can clearly remember
is a Romanian.
I dont't even remember his name(it was Ion Alexe).
He was a short stocky southpaw.
He didn't look like much,
but he hit me so hard with a straight left that a siren went off in my head".

Has the George Foreman-Ion Alexe film/video shown up anywhere?
Surely ABC WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS had recorded it.
Does anyone here remember actually watching all four of George Foreman's Olympic bouts on television back in 1968?

Here's a good match: Ion Alexe versus Clay Hodges

from the Los Angeles Times July.26.1984
article title-
Foreman Ranks Gold Medal as Favorite Boxing Moment-
(It's a pay article so I will just quote Foreman here in it,)

"The only one of my four opponents in Mexico City,
I can clearly remember
is a Romanian.
I don't even remember his name (it was Ion Alexe).
He was a short stocky southpaw.
He didn't look like much,
but he hit me so hard with a straight left that a siren went off in my head".