BoxRec

Amateur Background

Foreman started boxing at the age of 17 in 1966. In 1967 he lost on points to Clay Hodges in the Golden Gloves finals. In 1968 he won the AAU Heavyweight championship and later on won entry into the Olympic Games, winning the Gold Medal by winning all four of his matches there, three by stoppage. His amateur record was 22-4 at it's conclusion, three of those losses were to Clay Hodges.






Special Note to Make at This Point

Foreman served as chief sparring partner for former Heavyweight champion Sonny Liston 1966-1968. Foreman would mold his demeanor after Liston. The two men even engaged in two five round exhibition bouts in July 1968.

Foreman, The Prospect



1st fight
5-4-2 Don Waldhelm hits the deck in round three of a scheduled six.


2nd fight
2-6-1 Fred Askew gets skewered in the first round.


3rd fight
Sylvester Dullaire, 6-1, also kayoed in the first round.

4th fight
Chuck Wepner, 19-4-2, who recently fought and lost to Foreman's hero Liston in ten rounds gets stopped in the third round; in my interview with Wepner he said his eye socket "blown out" thus ending the fight.


5th fight
12-19-2 Johnny Carroll done in one.


6th fight
7-12-1 Roy Wallace kayoed in two.

7th fight
7-4 Vernon Clay hits the hay in two.

8th fight
Roberto Davila, 21-14, is the first man to take Foreman the scheduled distance (eight rounds).

9th fight
3-4 Leo Peterson goes four.

10th fight
7-7 Max Martinez in two.



11th fight
3-6 Bob Hazelton in one.

12th fight
20-21 Levi Forte extends Foreman the whole ten rounds.

13th fight
Gary "Hobo" Wiler, 4-3, goes looking for a new line of work after this one round blowout.

14th fight
11-14-3 Charlie Polite stopped in four rounds. People will remember him better for the 1975 Toronto Five exhibition.

15th fight
18-5-2 Jack "The Giant" O'Halloran is arguably the biggest man Foreman ever fought, and it goes five of a scheduled ten. O'Halloran prior to this had beaten Manual Ramos. Giant Jack would later become an actor most notably in the Superman films.



16th fight
Gregorio Peralta, 77-5-8, takes Foreman the whole ten rounds. Very competitive match.

17th fight
13-2 Rufus Brassell stopped in one. Brassell served as a sparring partner for several heavyweights in the 70s including George Foreman.



18th fight
14-5-1 James J. Woody stopped in three.

19th fight
19-7-2 Aaron Eastling goes four.

20th fight
17-18-4, George "Scrap Iron" Johnson, goes seven rounds with Foreman. He was one of the toughest journeymen of his time and an occasional spoiler.

21st fight
11-7-2 Roger Russell kayoed in one.

hey don't forger ,Foreman's fight with the Romanian boxer Ione Alexe in the 1`968 Olympics,
is on there somewhere.9or was)It is the only fight from the Olympics that Foreman had said that he remembers because Alexe (a southpaw really clocked him and Foreman heard sirens !

22nd fight
59-15-2 George Chuvalo is stopped in three rounds. Chuvalo, a pro since 1956, would compete until 1978.


23rd fight
15-30-5 Lou Bailey gone in three.



24th fight
22-1 Boone Kirkman, at this time considered a solid contender for the heavyweight title, kayoed in two by Foreman. Prior to this Kirkman had wins over Eddie Machen and Doug Jones.


25th fight
8-10 Mel Turnbow in one round.



26th fight
3-0 Charlie Boston also in one round.



27th fight
14-21-2 Stamford Harris, a well known journeyman, goes down in two.



28th fight
82-6-8 Gregorio Peralta, the rematch! Very competitive and fun, Foreman kayos him in the 10th of a scheduled 15 and Foreman nabs the NABF title.


29th fight
1-2 Vic Scott out in the first. In reviewing these matches it makes virtually no sense in my mind why Foreman's being fed guys like this--- but I tend to believe that maybe these mismatches were arranged for local/regional television markets to promote Foreman as an indestructible colossus.



30th fight
11-9-1 Leroy Caldwell goes in two.



31st fight
21-39 Ollie Wilson also in two.


32nd fight
18-7-1 Luis Faustino Pires in the 4th.


33rd fight
1-14-1 Joe Murphy Gordwin goes two.


34th fight
3-25-2 Clarence Boone out in two.



35th fight
Ted Gullick, 15-5-1, goes two rounds. A highly decorated amateur in his own right, he was thought to be a heavyweight with all the skills & abilities to make it to the top.



36th fight
Miguel Angel Paez, 48-15-13, lasts two.


37th fight
4-15 Terry Sorrell also in two. In retrospect this is a very bizarre pathway to the title--- that eight of your previous bouts before facing the champion were against handpicked deadmen. Is it any wonder why Frazier was a 3.5 to 1 favorite over Foreman?

the Foreman vrs Jack O'Halloran fight was filmed with a super8 camera.
part of it use to be on youtube.

38th fight
"DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!", Foreman displays impressive power stopping the 29-0-0 champion in two horrific rounds. Frazier hit the deck six times before the referee seen enough. Nobody believed Foreman could be beaten after this fight.



39th fight
44-7-1 Jose King Roman kayoed in the first round. This would be the first Heavyweight title fight held in Japan and it wouldn't be until 1989 that another Heavyweight Championship fight would be staged there.



40th fight
30-2 Ken Norton had beaten Muhammad Ali just like Joe Frazier did, but seemed absolutely powerless against George Foreman getting stopped in two rounds.



41st fight
"MUHAMMAD ALI HAS DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE!" screamed Howard Cosell as George Foreman punches himself out to exhaustion and fails to beat the ten count. Foreman, now perceived as a flawed heavyweight with no stamina, tries like mad to erase the embarrassing defeat but public opinion doesn't change.

"The Toronto Five" exhibition stunt is the most noted event that Foreman participated in the year 1975. He had zero pro bouts in that year--- which in retrospect was a mistake. Unfortunately for Foreman the whole ordeal made him out to be an even bigger villain than he already was & people were more pro-Ali than ever. George did have other exhibitions that year--- including one with Jody Ballard.



42nd fight
31-3-1 Ron Lyle was the 1976 Fight of the Year that is oftentimes called the greatest heavyweight non-title fight of all time. Foreman & Lyle hit the deck many times, with Foreman getting the upper hand in the 5th. Foreman has said in the years since that Lyle was the hardest puncher he ever faced--- quite the compliment considering how many murderous punchers he's faced.



43rd fight
32-3 Joe Frazier, rematch, went a little longer this time around but one can argue that he was hurt WORSE this go around. Frazier fought a "stand up" style this time rather than bobbing and weaving.



44th fight
"The Fighting Frenchman" Scott LeDoux, 18-3-1, would be blown out in three. LeDoux would in total fight eight champions in his career.



45th fight
28-0-1 John Dino Denis gets stopped in four rounds.



46th fight
28-7-1 Pedro Agosto also stopped in four rounds.



47th fight
20-5-2 Jimmy Young, the 1977 Fight of the Year, was for the #1 contendership. Foreman burning himself out in the later rounds, loses a decision by margins of 118-111, 116-112, and 115-114. Little did anyone know that this would be the last time anyone would see Foreman in a boxing ring for a decade.

Following his loss to Jimmy Young, George Foreman had a religious conversion in the dressing room. His handler's thought he was having a mental & physical breakdown due to dehydration. Foreman began shouting, "Jesus Christ is coming alive in me!", and though his handler's tried to quiet him Foreman was adamant, "I need to tell the world!"



Foreman, to the shock of the boxing world announced his retirement. What shocked people more was his announcement that he was a Born Again Christian and was now a minister.



He opened up a church in Houston, Texas where he still preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. He traveled the world preaching salvation through Jesus Christ and he also opened up the George Foreman Youth Center.

Little did he know then that little community for the kids would be the catalyst for the greatest comeback in boxing history. The center was in danger of shutting down, and Foreman's finances could only do so much. To the surprise of friends and family and the sporting world George Foreman announced a return to the ring.

He was now well over 300 pounds and was 38 years old. Every critic and every boxing historian said he'd get killed. Many people tried to tell him not to go through with it because he'd be considered a joke. But Foreman was insistent on helping the kids. Originally he had no aspirations to regain the title--- just to keep the center alive.

Nice work, HH. However, there were two errors that I should point out. Those being that Liston stopped Chuck Wepner in his final fight not the other way around & George Chuvalo's final fight was not the loss to Foreman. Other than that the piece is spot on.

48th fight
25-11 journeyman Steve Zouski was Foreman's first opponent in a decade. George won in the 4th round.



49th fight
Charles Hostetter, 16-4, stopped in three.



50th fight
30-15-1 Bobby Crabtree goes six.



51st fight
18-8 Tim Andersen goes four.



52nd fight
20-7 Rocky Sekorski goes three.



53rd fight
22-14-1 Tom Trimm out in one.



54th fight
13-6-4 Guido Trane done in five.



55th fight
Foreman shows he's to be taken seriously here as he's down to 235 pounds and kayos former Cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi in the 8th round. Foreman makes a critical decision here to fight heavier rather than lighter after this fight--- as the extra bulk helped keep opponents off him.



56th fight
18-30-1 Frank Lux out in one. Foreman weighs in at 243 to Lux's 208 pounds.



57th fight
18-5-1 Carlos Hernandez goes in four.



58th fight
Ladislao Minjangos, 21-6, in two rounds.



59th fight
14-2 Bobby Hitz couldn't take the hits. First round kayo. Hitz would later become a manager & promoter.



60th fight
36-3-2 Tony Fulilangi out in two.


61st fight
20-15 David Jaco out in one.



62nd fight
Mark Young, 11-13, in the 7th round.



63rd fight
3-8-2 Manoel de Almeida in three.



64th fight
23-4 J.B. Williamson in the 5th.



65th fight
20-4 Bert Cooper, 2nd RTD



66th fight
17-7-1 Everett Bigfoot Martin goes the distance with Foreman on Tuesday Night Fights on the USA network.

sweetviolenturge wrote: ↑19 Nov 2018, 22:06 Nice work, HH. However, there were two errors that I should point out. Those being that Liston stopped Chuck Wepner in his final fight not the other way around & George Chuvalo's final fight was not the loss to Foreman. Other than that the piece is spot on.

Fixed it. Dunno why I did the Wepner mistake. I got confused on the Chuvalo fight because it was the last stoppage loss of his career.

67th fight
Despite all the wins he racked up, and despite beating Cooper & Qawi, the mainstream media and the boxing pundits saw Foreman more as a traveling circus sideshow than as a legitimate contender. That is until he kayoed Cooney in two rounds. "The Puncher & The Preacher" promotion changed things.



In retrospect, the fight wasn't as big as it was made out to be with Cooney unretiring after three years. But because Cooney's last fight was for the Heavyweight championship it made the critics raise some eyebrows.



67th fight
14-15 Mike Jameson was next. He is stopped in four rounds. At this point and time, believe it or not, serious talks began of Mike Tyson facing Foreman. The plan was for Tyson to get passed Douglas, and Foreman to get passed Adilson Rodriguez.



As one can see for themselves, Bob Arum and Don King discuss making that fight happen on television--- and over the years some have suggested it was Tyson's relief that it never happened because Cus D'Amato told him that no swarmer could ever beat Foreman.



68th fight
36-3 Adilson Rodriguez was Foreman's toughest fight to date--- at least on paper. He was 'ranked' courtesy of Don King at #10 by the WBA. Tyson, unfortunately, was kayoed by Douglas so the Foreman "Battle of the Ages" was scratched for the time being. Foreman kayoed him in two rounds. Tyson was in the main-event knocking out Henry Tillman.



67th fight
20-15 Ken Lukasta was stopped in three.



68th fight
19-3 Terry Anderson falls in one. Foreman by this time was ranked #7 WBA, #4 WBC, #5 WBO and #10 IBF. To the surprise of everyone he's selected as newly crowned champion Evander Holyfield's first defense.



69th fight
Larry Merchant famously said before the bell sounded, "Evander is a 90s Corvette and George is a 70s Cadillac. If they collide the Cadillac will smash him up." To the surprise of HBO commentators, prior to the fight, seven ex-champion's selected Foreman to win. What transpired was a pretty fun & competitive contest, but George lost clearly. Foreman was no longer a comedy club act but a bonafide contender.

Following the Holyfield fight (1990) the 42 year old Foreman was larger than life. He was everywhere throughout the 90s: commercials, music videos, talk shows, and magazine's most boxers could never dream of being on. He even would have his own television show & video game FOREMAN FOR REAL.



Everything from KFC to MEINEKE he was a pitchman for. But it was the partnership on a fat-reducing electric drill that would make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. He even promoted the grill after winning his fights!



However.... Foreman still had a goal in mind and that was to regain the Heavyweight Championship, and he still had a long ways to go... And it only got harder, and it seemed highly unlikely as time went on.

70th fight
16-0-2 Jimmy Ellis was an ex-football player who was with the Oakland Raiders. Foreman handedly beat him in three rounds.



71st fight
Alex Stewart, 28-3, was supposed to be an easy night for Foreman. No hiccups. Unfortunately for George he fought a fight on half a tank of gas, using up most of the night that fuel in the first three rounds. Many felt he was gifted a majority decision--- Foreman's face was hideously swollen and people called for his retirement. Foreman claimed that he didn't want to hurt Stewart at the post-fight press conference. Sugar Ray Leonard, overhearing the comment, said: "Bullshit George."



72nd fight
39-4 Pierre Coetzer gets stopped in the 8th round in a much needed victory to boost Foreman's dwindling image as a contender. This fight made Foreman eligible to fight for the vacant WBO Heavyweight championship against Tommy Morrison.



73rd fight
36-1 Morrison changed his fighting style for Foreman. From knockout artist to high volume jabber & mover Morrison won a unaminous decision over George in a rather fun & tension filled contest where Morrison was dying for air from all the activity he did in the ring. Unfortunately for Foreman it made his stock plummet because people viewed Morrison as a soft touch, and some harsher critics claimed Foreman "let him win." Foreman, figured to be written off for good and never achieving his dream, gets an unexpected second chance when the Michael Moorer camp gave him a call.

"IT HAPPENS! IT HAPPENS!", screams Jim Lampley when Michael Moorer failed to beat the count. Foreman, a two-to-one underdog, at 45 years of age becomes the oldest Heavyweight champion in history with this surprise 10th round kayo after losing every minute of every round. "Lucky Punch" or systematic trap to lure Moorer into a false sense of security will always be debated. Regardless, Foreman became the biggest star in all of boxing with two well placed punches.

75th fight
Following the Moorer fight, George opted for an easy voluntary defense of the title. Axel Schulz, a relatively unknown heavyweight from Europe. Pegged to be a safe-bet for Foreman, to most observers Schulz beat George but didn't get the decision. Forman picks up an additional belt--- the WBU Championship which is an organization that folded in 2004.



76th fight
For reasons still disputed to this day Foreman relinquished the IBF title he won from Michael Moorer. It's possible that Foreman, who was essentially a free agent throughout his comeback, wanted to float his own boat--- rather than be beholden to anyone, especially an organization that would tell him who he had to fight. His mandatory had been Tony "TNT" Tucker. Foreman, now fighting as the "Lineal Heavyweight Champion", took his wares to the highest bidder. The public didn't seem to mind that Foreman "won" in name only against Schulz, as they were still coming out in droves to see him fight whoever whenever the matches could be staged. Enter Crawford Grimsley (20-0-0). The fight was held in Japan. It's worth noting Tommy Morrison, after his HIV diagnosis, had his "retirement match" on the undercard.



77th fight
36-0-0 Lou Savarese was next. Held in New Jersey. Foreman wins a split decision over his fellow Texan. Ironically Savarese was a 7 to 5 favorite coming into the fight. Foreman was still as popular as ever but ever since the Schulz fight his credibility as champion had wavered. According to the punch statistics Savarese out landed George 336 to 296.



78th fight
As far as the critics and the public was concerned Foreman legitimately won the fight. Yes he was gifted Schulz & Savarese, but he won the Briggs match. But the old saying, "What goes around comes around," and this time it was George getting burned by the judges. Foreman had gone 31-3 (26) in his come back, and he made far & away more money the second time around than he ever did in his prime. Although an internal investigation was done concerning the decision it was never overturned. Briggs four months later would lose his "Lineal Championship" to Lennox Lewis in six rounds.


Aftermath of the Title Reign



Contrary to popular opinion Foreman didn't officially announce he was retired after losing to Shannon Briggs. In fact, he was still hopeful for more big paydays. As late as 1999 he was still in the game. A potential fight with fellow "senior citizen" Larry Holmes was on the table for an alleged purse of $10 million for Foreman and $4 million for Holmes.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/14/spor ... -bout.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/foreman-sa ... ht-is-off/

Unfortunately, Foreman withdrew from the contest as he said that the investors had X amount of time to come up with the remaining $9 million dollars and they did not meet the deadline.

Back when Foreman was campaigning as the Lineal Champion he did a three round exhibition match with Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately I have never come across film of the event, but Hogan chronicles the bout in his book.

Foreman has done numerous exhibition bouts since his amateur days, but film of those contests are rare & difficult to find. Many men he defeated he'd also do exhibitions with--- Jack O'Halloran for example fought Foreman "for real" and "for show".



Foreman has appeared in several movies and television shows throughout his career. In the 70s his bit parts in the film LET'S DO IT AGAIN and his guest appearance in SANFORD AND SON we're most memorable. In the 90s & 2000s he was in such films as PLAY IT TO THE BONE.

Caractacus wrote: ↑19 Nov 2018, 21:11 the Foreman vrs Jack O'Halloran fight was filmed with a super8 camera.
part of it use to be on youtube.

Unfortunately for us I can't find it.



Foreman also fought exhibitions with O'Halloran, so who knows what is all out there somewhere. Many fights that used to be on YouTube have disappeared over the years.

Also unfortunate is that O'Halloran doesn't like talking about his boxing past. I guess the business did him dirty--- sorta like Danny Hodge. He was a pretty good heavyweight in an era of super-talented men.

From what I understand for the first two-three rounds he got Foreman completely off his game, but George started turning the tide. It's no disgrace.

Oscar Bonavena, apparently, was scheduled to fight George Foreman in 1973 for what would have been Ringo's only shot at the title. This is something that I haven't heard previously, but, it wouldn't surprise me if there was such talks. Bonavena was 5-1 (3) since his loss to Muhammad Ali by the end of '73.


Chuck Wepner, whom Foreman defeated in his 4th pro fight, was to be Foreman's mandatory--- provided that Foreman got passed Ali in Zaire. Thank Jesus that never happened otherwise we'd of never had the Rocky franchise.



Foreman has said over the years that the only fighter he intentionally avoided was Jerry Quarry. This is likely true because "The Great White Hope" took a tremendous punch and was a brutal puncher in his own right.




Of course, previously mentioned, are the Tyson & Tucker & Holmes fights in his "second career", but it's worth mentioning that he never met the likes of Buster Mathis, Jimmy Ellis, Henry Clark, Terry Hinke, Floyd Patterson, etc--- though in fairness to Foreman he did spar or have exhibitions with many of these men.

There'll always be the occasional "What if?" when it comes to Foreman. What if he fought Ali in that rematch--- is perhaps the most interesting to ask. Ali certainly wasn't the same fighter following '74-'75 and it's plausible that Foreman could have won, though highly unlikely. He just wasn't mentally or emotionally fit for it.

Foreman fought Ali, Frazier (2x), Norton, and Lyle, and Young. So really it was not worth mentioning that he didn't fight Buster Mathis, Jimmy Ellis, Henry Clark, and Floyd Patterson.

Terry Hinke?

The Foreman vrs Peralta rematch was shown closed-circuit but I've never seen video of it

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑20 Nov 2018, 11:52 Foreman fought Ali, Frazier (2x), Norton, and Lyle, and Young. So really it was not worth mentioning that he didn't fight Buster Mathis, Jimmy Ellis, Henry Clark, and Floyd Patterson.

Terry Hinke?

Context Alp. I'm referring to the 37 previous fights before all that. Foreman was knocked by critics for substandard opponents, which is why he was an underdog going into the Frazier fight. Wepner and Peralta are the only ones that stand out in retrospect looking back.

You didn't mention that it was pre-Frazier.
He did beat Chuvalo before beating Frazier. You yourself were saying good things about Boone Kirkman and Ted Gullick. Terry Hinkle was a stiff and there is no reason for you to mention Foreman not fighting him.