George Foreman becomes oldest heavyweight champ
On November 5 1994 George Foreman age 45 becomes boxings oldest heavyweight champion when he defeats 26-year-old Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas.More than 12000 spectators at the MGM Grand Hotel watched Foreman dethrone Moorer who went into the fight with a 35-0 record.Foreman dedicated his upset win to all my buddies in the nursing home and all the guys in jail.Born in 1949 in Marshal Texas Foreman had a troubled childhood and dropped out of high school.
Eventually he joined President Lyndon Johnsons Jobs Corps work program and discovered a talent for boxing.Big George as he was nicknamed took home a gold medal for the U.S.at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
In 1973 in Kingston Jamaica after winning his first 37 professional matches 34 by knockout Foreman KOd Smokin Joe Frazier after two rounds and was crowned heavyweight champ.At 1974s Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasha Zaire the younger stronger Foreman suffered a surprising loss to underdog Muhammad Ali and was forced to relinquish his championship title.Three years later Big George morphed from pugilist into preacher when he had a religious experience in his dressing room after losing a fight.
He retired from boxing became an ordained minister in Houston and founded a youth center.A decade later the millions hed made as a boxer gone Foreman returned to the ring at age 38 and staged a successful comeback.When he won his second heavyweight title in his 1994 fight against Moorer becoming the WBA and IBF champ Foreman was wearing the same red trunks hed had on the night he lost to Ali.Foreman didnt hang onto the heavyweight mantle for long.In March 1995 he was stripped of his WBA title after refusing to fight No.
1 contender Tony Tucker and he gave up his IBF title in June 1995 rather than fight a rematch with Axel Schulz whom hed narrowly beat in a controversial judges decision in April of that same year.Foremans last fight was in 1997 he lost to Shannon Biggs.He retired with a lifetime record of 76-5.Outside of the boxing ring Foreman who has five sons all named George and five daughters has become enormously wealthy as an entrepreneur and genial TV pitchman for a variety of products including the hugely popular George Foreman Grill.
