He was one of the most terrifying punchers ever to step into a ring. An athlete who redefined longevity, capable of becoming the world heavyweight champion over two decades after the first time. George Foreman passed away on Friday at the age of 76, surrounded by his loved ones. With him goes one of the most illustrious figures in boxing history. The giant who knocked down Joe Frazier six times before knocking him out, the one who pushed Muhammad Ali to the limit in Kinshasa, and the one who in 1994 surprised Michael Moorer with his most improbable victory, returning to the top at the age of 45.
Big George, a 191-centimeter behemoth, achieved 68 of his 76 victories by KO (89.5%) with only five losses, the last in November 1997, against Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City. It was the confirmation that his time had indeed come to an end. Since then, he could focus on business. Selling millions of kitchen grills (The George Foreman Grill) and starring in a short series (George) about his life on ABC.
He was born and raised in Houston, Texas, in a family of six siblings. At the age of 14, he dropped out of school and, along with a group of friends, formed a gang of robbers. Only the Job Corps, a government program aimed at helping teenagers, allowed him to leave the streets and learn the rules of the noble art. At the Mexico Olympics, he made his mark as an amateur, winning the gold medal by defeating the Soviet Jonas Cepulis.
His big breakthrough came in 1976 when he knocked out Joe Frazier after a brutal assault for the heavyweight title. Smokin' Joe, with his aura of eternal loser, managed to get up three times in the first round and three more in the second before the referee, urged by the tears of Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, stopped the fight. It was a moment of delirium for the 36,000 attendees at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, and immortalized by Howard Cosell, ABC commentator, with the cry: "Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier!!".
After knocking down Ken Norton three times in Caracas, it was time to defend his title against Ali. On October 30, 1974, the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa hosted the Rumble in the Jungle, one of the fights that defined boxing history. Foreman entered with an astonishing undefeated record of 40-0 and was the favorite against the outspoken Ali, who had knocked down Norton twice and Frazier once. Ali's cunning and fabulous footwork around the ropes eventually frustrated Foreman, who took several right punches and couldn't make it past the eighth round.
That defeat plunged him into a tremendous personal crisis and nearly two years of wandering in the wilderness. In January 1976, he ended Ron Lyle's fierce resistance at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and that same June, he knocked down Frazier twice in the fifth round. However, a loss to Jimmy Young, decided after 11 bell rings, led to his retirement. According to his own account, that evening at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, helped him connect with his most spiritual self.
That mystical path lasted as long as his savings did, so in July 1987, he had to put on the gloves again, defeating opponents of little significance, still intimidated by his fierce punching power. In April 1991, when Evander Holyfield put the International Federation (IBF) and World Council (WBC) belts on the line, Foreman received a severe beating. It is still astonishing how, being 14 years older, he managed to stand for all 12 rounds.
Beyond his forties, Foreman's bulky figure no longer repelled respectable families. He was kind, calm. He had evolved and knew how to wait for his moment, inside and outside the ring. In this unusual way, he managed to surprise Moorer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, in a fight organized by Bob Arum. The champion entered with a record of 35-0, but Foreman held his ground until landing the decisive blow in the tenth round. "It happened!" exclaimed his great friend Jim Lampley, with whom he shared television space on HBO between 1992 and 2004. Foreman had cemented his status as one of the greatest legends in boxing history at the age of 45.