With a limited novice background, former world heavyweight champion Big George Foreman won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
He defeated Ionas Chepulis of the Soviet Union, stopping him in two rounds, and walked around the ring afterward with American flags in his hands.
Foreman became champion in June of 1969. He won his 28th fight in a row, defeating South American champion Gregorio Peralta, 74-5-8, at Madison Square Garden.
In August 1970, he stopped iron-chin Canadian George Chuvalo, 59-15-2, in the Garden. Prior to this, Chuvalo had only been stopped by ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier, and this was the only time he was stopped in his career.
In January 1973, Foreman won the world heavyweight title, defeating Frazier, 29-0, in Kingston, Jamaica, in two rounds.
In September 1974, he stopped Ken Norton, 30-2, in Caracas, Venezuela. In October, he lost his title to Muhammad Ali, 44-2, by stoppage in Zaire, Africa.
Foreman bounced back in one of the biggest heavyweight fights in January 1976, stopping Ron Lyle, 31-3-1, for the NABF title that Ring Magazine called “Fight of the Year.” In June, in a rematch with Frazier, he stopped him in 5 rounds at the Nassau Coliseum, New York.
Four wins later, Foreman was upset by Philly’s Jimmy Young, 20-5-2, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His whole life changed when he was in the dressing room when he saw a vision of Jesus that would eventually lead him to become a preacher.
In April 1991, Foreman went on a 26-fight winning streak before losing to champion Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield, 25-0, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
He then won three in a row before losing to Tommy ‘The Duke’ Morrison, 35-1, in Las Vegas. In his next fight, he won the world title again, knocking out champion Michael ‘Double M’ Moorer, 35-0, while at the back of the card, in ten rounds in Las Vegas. At the age of 45 he became the oldest boxer to ever win this title.
Foreman won a controversial majority decision over Germany’s Axel Schulz, 21-1-1, in April of 1995 in Las Vegas. Two fights and two years later, he defeated Lou Savarese, 35-0, in Atlantic City. He was stripped of the title after refusing to give Schulz a rematch, winning the WBU title.
Next, in November 1997, in what would be his last fight, he lost a majority decision to Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs, 29-1, in Atlantic City and retired from boxing.
His final record was 76-5 which outshone 68 others.
Foreman would do millions of “Foreman Grill” commercials.
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