Tuesday, 03 December 2024

George Foreman

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Boxing
Statistics: Boxing Record: 76-5, 68 by KO
2-Time WBA Heavyweight Champion
1-Time WBC Heavyweight Champion
1-Time IBF Heavyweight Champion
1-Time The Ring Heavyweight Champion
2-Time Lineal Heavyweight Champion
1 Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medal (1968)
Member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
George Foreman has two distinct careers in the world of boxing.

Foreman won the Heavyweight Gold Medal in the 1968 Olympics, worked his way up the ranks, and received a title shot in 1973 against Joe Frazier in Jamaica. Foreman, a 3:1 underdog, knocked out Frazier and gave us a new champion and one of Howard Cosell’s most memorable calls:

“Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

Foreman successfully defended his title twice before he fell to the “rope-a-dope” tactics of Muhammad Ali in the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire. Foreman fought another three years and beat Frazier again but never received another shot against Ali. After a surprising loss to Jimmy Young, Foreman retired at the age of 28. Foreman was done. Or so we all thought.

Ten years later, Foreman shocked the sporting world when, at age 38, he announced a comeback. Few, if any, gave him a chance to reclaim the heavyweight championship, but he built up win after win but he was now doing so as an entreating father figure who became a fan favorite. Foreman failed in his first two attempts at the crown he was beaten by Evander Holyfield and later Tommy Morrison) but he beat Michael Moorer on this third attempt, and at age 45, he was on top of the pugilistic world one more time.

What a story!

We are proud to nominate George Foreman for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

Back to List