George Foreman: the Rumble, the ten years away and the oldest heavyweight champion | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

GEORGE FOREMAN won the heavyweight title twice, 21 years apart. The first time he knocked Joe Frazier, Who’s Who number 32 down six times in two rounds. The second time he was 45, behind on all three scorecards, and he knocked out Michael Moorer in the tenth round.

In between he lost the most famous fight of his era, to Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 in Kinshasa, quit boxing, became a preacher and came back ten years later to raise money for a youth centre.

Ask a fight fan about him and you’ll hear about the Rumble in the Jungle first. Then someone will bring up the red trunks.

Early life

He was born in Marshall, Texas, on 10 January 1949, and grew up poor in Houston, one of seven children raised by his mother, Nancy.

He left school after ninth grade and joined the Job Corps, first at Grants Pass in Oregon and then at Pleasanton in California. There he met the coach Doc Broadus and found boxing.

He had very little experience when he won the national AAU title and the Olympic trials in 1968. At the Mexico City Games he beat Lucjan Trela, Ion Alexe and Giorgio Bambini, then stopped Jonas Čepulis in the second round of the final on 26 October 1968. Afterwards he waved a small US flag in the ring.

Career chapters

1. 1968Olympic heavyweight gold, Mexico City
2. 1969Turns professional
3. 1973Stops Joe Frazier, Who’s Who number 32 in Kingston to become world heavyweight champion
4. 1974Stops Ken Norton, Who’s Who number 26 (story coming soon) in Caracas, then loses the title to Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 in Kinshasa
5. 1976Beats Ron Lyle, then stops Frazier again
6. 1977Loses to Jimmy Young in San Juan and retires
7. 1978Ordained as a minister
8. 1987Comes back after ten years, against Steve Zouski in Sacramento
9. 1990Knocks out Gerry Cooney in Atlantic City
10. 1991Goes 12 rounds with Evander Holyfield, Who’s Who number 31 (story coming soon) for the title; joins HBO as an analyst
11. 1993Loses to Tommy Morrison, Who’s Who number 25 (story coming soon) for the vacant WBO title
12. 1994Knocks out Michael Moorer, champion again at 45
13. 1997Last fight, a majority decision loss to Shannon Briggs
14. 2003Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

The rise 1969 to 1972

He turned professional after the Olympics and knocked out opponent after opponent. His trainer through the 1970s was Dick Sadler.

In Oakland in the late 1960s he, Charlie Shipes and Sonny Liston, Who’s Who number 20 (story coming soon) were stablemates, and he sparred with Liston. Jack Slack, writing for Vice, traced Foreman’s jab to those sessions.

Kingston 22 January 1973

Joe Frazier, Who’s Who number 32 was the unbeaten champion, and they met at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Foreman put him down twice in the first round and four times in the second, and the referee Arthur Mercante stopped it in round 2. Foreman was heavyweight champion of the world.

Caracas 26 March 1974

He defended the title twice. The second defence was against Ken Norton, Who’s Who number 26 (story coming soon) in Caracas. Norton was down three times, and it was over in the second round.

The Rumble in the Jungle 30 October 1974

Don King, Who’s Who number 18 (story coming soon) promoted it, and the government of Zaire put up a combined purse of about US$10 million, split evenly. ESPN called Foreman’s US$5 million “an unheard-of sum” for the time. The stadium in Kinshasa was set for a crowd of 60,000.

Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 leaned on the ropes and took Foreman’s punches. In round 8 Ali put him down with two right hands, and it was over. Foreman had lost his title.

Frazier again, and San Juan 1976 to 1977

In 1976 he beat Ron Lyle, a fight The Ring named its Fight of the Year. On 15 June that year he met Frazier again at Nassau Coliseum in New York. He put Frazier down twice in round 5, Eddie Futch asked for it to be stopped, and Frazier announced his retirement.

On 17 March 1977 he fought Jimmy Young at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. Young put him down in the 12th round and won the decision. In the dressing room afterwards, Foreman said, he had an experience that turned him to God. He was 28, and he retired.

The preacher 1977 to 1986

He was ordained in 1978, founded the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston in 1980 and opened his youth centre in 1984.

The comeback 1987 to 1991

He came back to raise money for the youth centre. In 1986 he was running six miles a day and sparring at his ranch in Marshall under Charlie Shipes, with Archie Moore, Who’s Who number 39 (story coming soon) expected to help.

On 9 March 1987, about ten years after his last fight, he stopped Steve Zouski in the fourth round in Sacramento. He weighed 267 pounds that night, down from 315. He won 24 fights in a row, 23 of them by knockout, and in January 1990 knocked out Gerry Cooney in the second round in Atlantic City.

Holyfield 19 April 1991

At 42 he challenged Evander Holyfield, Who’s Who number 31 (story coming soon) for the title in Atlantic City, with Shipes, Angelo Dundee and Moore in his corner. He lost a unanimous decision, 116 to 111, 117 to 110 and 115 to 112, but he went the full 12 rounds. That year he joined HBO as an analyst.

Morrison 7 June 1993

He fought Tommy Morrison, Who’s Who number 25 (story coming soon) for the vacant WBO title at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Morrison won a unanimous decision over 12 rounds.

Moorer 5 November 1994

Michael Moorer had the WBA and IBF titles, and Foreman met him at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Foreman wore the red trunks he had worn against Ali in 1974.

After nine rounds Moorer led 88 to 83, 88 to 83 and 86 to 85. In the tenth round Foreman knocked him out, at 2:03. At 45 Foreman was heavyweight champion again, the oldest in history. The Ring made it both its Knockout of the Year and its Comeback of the Year.

The last fights 1995 to 1997

He beat Axel Schulz in 1995. He was stripped of the WBA belt for refusing a mandatory defence against Tony Tucker, and later of the IBF belt over a rematch with Schulz.

His last fight was on 22 November 1997 in Atlantic City, against Shannon Briggs. Briggs won a majority decision, although Foreman landed 284 punches to Briggs’s 223, and Briggs said afterwards, “I was lucky.”

After boxing 1997 to 2025

The George Foreman Grill had gone on the market in 1994, and Reuters said he made a fortune from it. His own website says more than 100 million were sold.

George Foreman died in Houston on 21 March 2025, aged 76.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

Slack traced his jab to the sessions with Liston. Later in his career he sometimes switched to southpaw, and Moorer was the first notable southpaw he fought.

The punches

Slack called the uppercut his best power punch, and it was one of the shots that hurt Frazier in Kingston. Moorer called the punch that knocked him out “the most accurate punch.”

The guard

Archie Moore, Who’s Who number 39 (story coming soon) used a cross guard against bigger men. Foreman added it to his own game in the comeback, and Slack says it helped him win the title back.

The corner

Doc Broadus was his first coach, in the Job Corps. Dick Sadler trained him in the 1970s, and Gil Clancy was in his corner in 1977. In the comeback Charlie Shipes was his trainer and strategist, with Bob Cook on weights and nutrition. Angelo Dundee, who had trained Ali 20 years earlier, worked Foreman’s corner for three years up to the Moorer fight. The red trunks were so old that the elastic had gone, and Dundee pulled them up between rounds.

Weight

He was a heavyweight all the way through. When he came back in 1987 he weighed in at 267 pounds, having been as heavy as 315.

Stories people still tell

1. Knock this kid out quick.

   Dundee remembered what he told Foreman before the Moorer fight: “I said you better knock this kid out quick.”

2. The flag.

   After the Olympic final in 1968 he waved a small US flag in the ring.

3. In his own words.

   When he was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in January 2003, he said, “To have my name with the likes of Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali, I have made it.” Joe Louis, Who’s Who number 21 (story coming soon), Jack Dempsey, Who’s Who number 38 (story coming soon) and Jack Johnson, Who’s Who number 24 (story coming soon) are all in this painting with him, and so is Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33.

Legacy

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota on 8 June 2003, in his first year of eligibility. He’s still the oldest man to win the heavyweight title.

Other fighters say it plainly. Evander Holyfield, Who’s Who number 31 (story coming soon) said Foreman was the hardest puncher he ever faced. Lennox Lewis, Who’s Who number 29 called him “a guy who inspired in fighting,” and said Foreman’s commentary on his fights sent him to the gym to work on his jab. And when Foreman died, Mike Tyson, Who’s Who number 34 and Don King, Who’s Who number 18 (story coming soon) both spoke about him.