On This Day: ‘Fat’ George Foreman returns after 10-year lay-off and targets Mike Tyson

[Ruthless-RKO]

1. According to Boxing News, George Foreman looked “fat and slow” as he halted Steve Zouski is four rounds in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 9, 1987. The 38-year-old, weighing over 19st, had not fought since losing to Jimmy Young in 1977 and had been forced back into boxing for financial reasons. Few were taking his return seriously, particularly now that the heavyweight landscape was being ruled by Mike Tyson.

2. Zouski had been hammered by Tyson 12 months before and did not rate the former champion’s chances of regaining his title, saying Foreman is “going to have to do a lot more work and needs some luck,” before adding: “There are a lot of guys out there who are bigger and faster than me who can throw some punches that can reach him.”

3. Foreman was not impressive, plodding after Zouski before catching up with him in the fourth. Some onlookers – undoubtedly with memories of Foreman destroying all-comers in the 1970s – feared for Foreman’s future if he persisted with the comeback but the fighter himself said: “Hey, I’ve been off for 10 years. Not one year, not 10 months, but 10 years. In those 10 years I relaxed, got fat and had babies. What else can you expect?”

4. The old campaigner had planned to seven or eight rounds to lose some rust, but claimed he went for the finish earlier due to a swelling he suffered under his left eye began to worsen. At the end, the 5,000 crowd gave Foreman an ovation but some boos were heard before the finish.

5. Foreman earned $24,000 – his percentage of gate receipts – and the minister declared his intention to put the funds towards church work like the youth centre in Houston, Texas.

6. Before the opening bell the favourite looked relaxed and happy to be back inside the ring. It was a far cry from the scowling brute who terrorised Joe Frazier and Ken Norton.

7. Time had soothed his rage and he admitted feeling compassion, saying he stopped hitting Zouski to give him a break. “I hit him with a left hook and let him recover,” George said. “Can you imagine me doing that 10 years ago?”

8. In defeat, Zouski slipped to 25-11, a record which included losses to Marvis Frazier and Tony Tubbs, as well as Foreman and Tyson. This was his seventh defeat in a row.

9. California boxing commission chief Ken Gray wasn’t impressed with the spectacle and wanted to see improvement in Foreman if they were going to allow his comeback to continue. “We approved George on the basis of him being in a good physical state,” said Gray. “But before he fights again I think I would have to talk to him about his weight first and also about facing a stronger opponent. My understanding is that he intends to do both, and that’s fine. But we just want to be sure we don’t have a repeat of this.”

10. Seven years later, 45-year-old Foreman stunned the world when he knocked out Michael Moorer to regain the world heavyweight title.

By Matt Christie

[Kalan]

Foreman scheduled the fight when he was really fat and out of shape... because he said he was coming back so often during that 10 years without following through - that even his kids didn't believe his intentions anymore... They were like "You ain't doing sheeet Pops -- maybe 5 years ago. Look at you, GTFOOH"

[writehooks]

The fight was in Sacremnto, California ... not Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[Kalan]

Foreman didn't target anyone specifically.. He targeted money fights, and winnable fights ... Especially the Morrison and Moorer fights -- who he knew he could KO if he could only tag them well... The Moorer upset was the only KO punch Foreman threw in his last 7 fights -- and it came 7 years into his comeback... If George were after Tyson he would have fought him instead of Alex Stewart---who beat him up... The speedy Tyson blitzed Stewart a year earlier.

Rocky Marciano fought only 8 years total... Can you imagine Marciano trying to wade into a young George Foreman's wheelhouse like Frazier did???

[HomicideHenry]

Its kinda funny in a way how the sports writers kept going on about how "out of shape" Foreman was in his first comeback fight in ten years. The fact of the matter was Foreman was actually in shape. He trained for quite a long time, before coming back against Zouski. He was well over 300+ pounds before training, and his training consisted of him chopping wood for 15 rounds, pulling cars uphill during roadwork, sparring fifteen rounds at a time, etc. I believe the lowest he ever got in his comeback was 235 pounds against Dwight Muhammed Qawi, and after that experience put on more weight because he felt that he needed it in order to keep the younger guys off of him even though he was in great shape at 235.

[Kalan]

Good fighters sometimes throw homerun shots and miss... lose their footing and slip... Mike wanted a quick KO and had steam coming out of his ears

It's better than getting hit with the hundreds of punches Foreman got hit with -- when he failed to knock Steward out and started getting clocked big time.

[wvboxer]

I followed Foreman's comeback hard back then. Off the top of my head I can remember opponents like Sekorski, Trane, Hernandez, & bunch of short little guys that he beat on USA network. He really blasted Cooney out. That was an impressive ko.

I remember seeing him training possibly for Holyfield & he looked really trim. He then said he felt more comfortable with the extra weight & packed it back on.

[klompton]

No one will ever convince me that the Moorer fight wasnt a fix. Remember less than six months later Foreman and Arum combined paid a minimum of $350,000 to the IBF just to get Axel Schulz ranked so Foreman could defend against him. Foreman got paid 10 million for the Schulz fight, Schulz got paid $350,000, the same amount as they were willing to pay the IBF in bribes. When Moorer defended against Foreman Moorer only got 7m and Foreman only got 3m. You think they wouldnt have been willing and able to pay a premium to get the Foreman gravy train rolling if they were willing to pay that much just to get some bum a top ten ranking so they could fight a gimme? And dont forget that fight was a terrible robbery so how much more did they pay the officials to vote for Foreman? Watch that fight and see how easily Moorer is beating Foreman and then he just drops his hands, stands straight up, takes a punch and folds up like a cardboard box. Bogus. Foreman never once did that any legitimate top ten guy during his comeback including guys like Morrison and Stewart who were both limited and somewhat fragile. No, Foreman's whole comeback was a smoke and mirrors circus sideshow with Arum acting as ringmaster and taking the quarters from the rubes and hayseeds.

[klompton]

Foreman didn't target anyone specifically.. He targeted money fights, and winnable fights ... Especially the Morrison and Moorer fights -- who he knew he could KO if he could only tag them well... The Moorer upset was the only KO punch Foreman threw in his last 7 fights -- and it came 7 years into his comeback... If George were after Tyson he would have fought him instead of Alex Stewart---who beat him up... The speedy Tyson blitzed Stewart a year earlier.

Rocky Marciano fought only 8 years total... Can you imagine Marciano trying to wade into a young George Foreman's wheelhouse like Frazier did???

This of course will be the same " speedy Tyson " who loaded up on a big right hand shot, missed and FELL OVER versus Stewart.

Should we also conveniently forget Stewart was previously stopped in 8 rounds by Holy in only Vanders 5th fight at Heavyweight, as opposed to Tyson's 40th?

Whats your point? Does Tyson's overeagerness and Evanders win over Stewart somehow enhance Foremans life and death struggle with Stewart? Or somehow illustrate that Stewart was a better opponent for Foreman than Tyson in any regard other than the fact that he was easier? Or that Foreman was somehow legitimately after a Tyson fight? Please. Foreman's the same guy that admitted on live TV while he was still active that he was ducking Lewis and Bowe BUT hes going to go after a guy who would have been favored over both when Foreman made that statement? Yeah right. The only reason Foreman kept saying Tyson's name was because Tyson was the biggest name in boxing and by pretending he was chasing him he got himself more publicity. He knew damn good and well Tyson would have kicked his ass. You really want to argue that Stewart, who rearranged Foreman's face, was more durable or a more difficult opponent, or a harder puncher than Tyson would have been for Foreman? Nope.

[Cutman Scabbers]

Whats your point? Does Tyson's overeagerness and Evanders win over Stewart somehow enhance Foremans life and death struggle with Stewart? Or somehow illustrate that Stewart was a better opponent for Foreman than Tyson in any regard other than the fact that he was easier? Or that Foreman was somehow legitimately after a Tyson fight? Please. Foreman's the same guy that admitted on live TV while he was still active that he was ducking Lewis and Bowe BUT hes going to go after a guy who would have been favored over both when Foreman made that statement? Yeah right. The only reason Foreman kept saying Tyson's name was because Tyson was the biggest name in boxing and by pretending he was chasing him he got himself more publicity. He knew damn good and well Tyson would have kicked his ass. You really want to argue that Stewart, who rearranged Foreman's face, was more durable or a more difficult opponent, or a harder puncher than Tyson would have been for Foreman? Nope.

I really do believe Foreman wanted to fight Tyson and was confident he could beat him just the way he beat Joe Frazier. All the six-foot and shorter heavyweights he fought in his comeback weren't accidents, but practice. Sure Tyson may have been favored to beat Lewis and Bowe at that time, but for Foreman this is a match-up issue, and Foreman never had trouble with shorter stocky, aggressive opponents -- only with ones about his height or taller who could move, out-speed, out-think or out-box him. Foreman knew his own strengths and weaknesses. That said, he surely underestimated Stewart, and paid the price. By the way, how do you think Mike Tyson would have fared against Joe Frazier? The other thing is the $$$. Foreman vs. Tyson would have been a much bigger money fight than Foreman vs. anyone else, partly because of the ATG factor, partly because of the polarizing differences between the two boxers, and partly because of the sense of vulnerability Foreman carried with him as the "old, slow, fat" nice-preacher-burger-eating guy from the first moment of his comeback to the last.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

He definitely wanted to fight Mike. He'd have had a good shot at it too.

[bollocks]

One of the mags had a picture of George riding a bike in 1987 and what a fat bastard he was. He did well to lose a fair bit of the weight as his second career progressed

[SaadOffTheDeck]

at the moorer fight being fixed. Only the truly idiotic believe that.

[bollocks]

at the moorer fight being fixed. Only the truly idiotic believe that.

If Lewis had shards of glass embedded in his gloves V Klitschko then you never know do you?

[bollocks]

p s As George's comeback went on I got the impression at the time that Tyson was wary of fighting him. It was the biggest fight out there yet it never came close to being made

[SaadOffTheDeck]

at the moorer fight being fixed. Only the truly idiotic believe that.

If Lewis had shards of glass embedded in his gloves V Klitschko then you never know do you?

True, Moorer got the shaft as far as dives go. You usually don't have to get flattened and an exploded face to get it done. Perhaps klompus can do an investigative book!

[SaadOffTheDeck]

p s As George's comeback went on I got the impression at the time that Tyson was wary of fighting him. It was the biggest fight out there yet it never came close to being made

King knew it was a bad match up. Mike was too arrogant to duck anyone. King never wanted evander or George to face him.

[Cojimar 1946]

I think its understandable that people are skeptical about Tyson losing to a guy who couldn't even get past Tommy Morrison. Tyson was a much more devastating puncher than Frazier. George didn't face any really big hitters during his comeback. Guys like Tua and Witherspoon seem like much bigger threats.

[Cojimar 1946]

Foreman didn't do anything to warrant a shot at Tyson pre-Moorer anyway

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Three dumb comments in a row is it now in yet another Big George thread? No wonder civilization stays in such an uproar.

We have testimony that Tyson refused King's offer to fight George, so it don't matter what you squash flowers "think," at least one offer was made to and turned down by post prison Tyson who fought mostly 2nd and 3rd tier opponents during his comeback, but not one of the most dangerous heavies in history, Big George.

Tactics boys, ever stopped to consider them in your club fighter mentality displayed in your discussions? Foreman faced plenty of big punchers in his comeback, Stewert, Cooper, Cooney, and Field who had an 84% KO ratio and 100% of every heavy he faced going into that fight. Moorer was a also a big puncher as was Briggs who holds the record for 1st rd KOs. All but Moorer ended ended up in reverse against the plodding tank that Foreman was. Morrison comprehensively beat Foreman that nobody else accomplished by doing what nobody knew about him, stick and move, dangerously flirting with a DQ by turning his back and running at times. Stewert was knocked down hard twice early, so George asked the ref to stop it. He really was a preacher and didn't enjoy hurting someone so infirm, but the ref refused and Stewert got on his bicycle and ran from an old man. Big deal, he marked up an old man, but he ran because he got clobbered and was ready to go out. Briggs ran like a schoolboy that got kicked the first time he tasted Foreman's power.

Field was hanging on for dear life the last three rounds of that fight and took all 10 of his losses there after looking like clubfighter with a distinct lack of power sorta like that pitbull I ran off from me the other day. Ever since the poor thing acts like I neutered him through I sure he could jump a school kid which is why I turned him in to animal control. Free range pitbull owners, now I bet they make fun conversation on these forums.

Oh, for our resident Greb expert who perhaps specializes in not watching fight video that doesn't exist or understanding that which does, Psycho Teddy hated George for dismissing him for the loon that he was and basically forced Moorer to stand toe to toe, just the dumbest advice that we come to expect from that dumbass trainer. Moorer was an excellent boxer though and put a skilled beating on the old man like nobody before or since, but Moorer also took steady right hands from rd 1. So the right hand that finished Moorer wasn't the one punch miracle KO out of nowhere the media made out, it was an attrition KO where a 1-2 was actually the finisher that George had hit him with all night. Hit that lightswitch enough times and it breaks, elementary 101 boxing, not fraud. Now Tony Fulilangi admits on his own he layed down because he didn't want to get beat up. Plenty more retired in their corners as George tended to ruin careers like Ali and Frazier who were also never the same after he pounded em.

[Counter-puncher]

Field was hanging on for dear life the last three rounds of that fight and took all 10 of his losses there after looking like clubfighter with a distinct lack of power sorta like that pitbull I ran off from me the other day. Ever since the poor thing acts like I neutered him through I sure he could jump a school kid which is why I turned him in to animal control. Free range pitbull owners, now I bet they make fun conversation on these forums.
.

As usual, but even more so, there's a contradiction here, between what you seem to see as your irreverent iconoclastic wit and style, and the turgid near-incomprehensible gibberish the rest of us perceive.

Your equivalent of verbal diarrhoea would be painful to behold if written in a normal tone, but with the added ingredients of totally unmerited smugness and misplaced knowingness that pervade nearly every ill-begotten sentence, it's utterly excruciating hubris to look upon. Really, your internet persona is a tragic figure.

[HomicideHenry]

No one will ever convince me that the Moorer fight wasnt a fix. Remember less than six months later Foreman and Arum combined paid a minimum of $350,000 to the IBF just to get Axel Schulz ranked so Foreman could defend against him. Foreman got paid 10 million for the Schulz fight, Schulz got paid $350,000, the same amount as they were willing to pay the IBF in bribes. When Moorer defended against Foreman Moorer only got 7m and Foreman only got 3m. You think they wouldnt have been willing and able to pay a premium to get the Foreman gravy train rolling if they were willing to pay that much just to get some bum a top ten ranking so they could fight a gimme? And dont forget that fight was a terrible robbery so how much more did they pay the officials to vote for Foreman? Watch that fight and see how easily Moorer is beating Foreman and then he just drops his hands, stands straight up, takes a punch and folds up like a cardboard box. Bogus. Foreman never once did that any legitimate top ten guy during his comeback including guys like Morrison and Stewart who were both limited and somewhat fragile. No, Foreman's whole comeback was a smoke and mirrors circus sideshow with Arum acting as ringmaster and taking the quarters from the rubes and hayseeds.

If there was an 'iffy' fight out of Foreman's comeback it wasn't against Moorer, it was against Tommy Morrison. And, of course, the Axel Schulz fight, as well as the Shannon Briggs bout. The latter two, of course was highly controversial decisions. One benefiting George, the other Foreman being robbed. But the Morrison bout was quite peculiar because either Morrison had the greatest luck in the world facing a slower-than-usual George, or Foreman simply didn't want to pull the trigger when he could have many times. Why that is, I will never know. But Morrison fought completely different than he ever did in his entire career, constantly moving when before he was a bang-em-out type. Then again, maybe it was legit, but it was odd.

[klompton]

Bring up the FACT that Foreman benefited from bribes and fixed fights and his butt licking apologists come out of the woodwork. Its to be expected. Hes arguably one of the most overrated fighters in history.

P.S. LOL at the Morrison fight being fixed. Foreman looked clueless and was outboxed by a glass jawed no stamina hype job who did nothing but walk around the ring and pop jabs at Foreman's fat ass. If Tommy Morrison can outbox you and Alex Stewart can outslug you dont come bringing any bullshit about wanting to fight Mike fornicating Tyson. LOL. That bullshiz is too funny. It was all about name recognition. Mention Tysons name and everyone's ears prick up. Thats just what Foreman did. He mentioned Tysons name all while taking the path of least resistance.

[BoxBuzz]

Good fighters sometimes throw homerun shots and miss... lose their footing and slip... .

Yes indeed they do....good to see you coming round'.......and sometimes they don't exactly fall, but they throw clumsy homers and goof up their rotator cuffs or (other delicate parts).. on their more fit rivals.


E.G. V.K. vs Byrd...or Liston Vs Ali.

[APerno]

Bring up the FACT that Foreman benefited from bribes and fixed fights and his butt licking apologists come out of the woodwork. Its to be expected. Hes arguably one of the most overrated fighters in history.

P.S. LOL at the Morrison fight being fixed. Foreman looked clueless and was outboxed by a glass jawed no stamina hype job who did nothing but walk around the ring and pop jabs at Foreman's fat ass. If Tommy Morrison can outbox you and Alex Stewart can outslug you dont come bringing any bullshit about wanting to fight Mike effing Tyson. LOL. That bullshiz is too funny. It was all about name recognition. Mention Tysons name and everyone's ears prick up. Thats just what Foreman did. He mentioned Tysons name all while taking the path of least resistance.

What did Foreman do, run over your puppy or something?