George Foreman shared the ring with some of boxing’s biggest icons.
Foreman’s career was split into two halves, with the first portion coming from 1969 to 1977, where he became world heavyweight champion when he stopped Joe Frazier inside two rounds in 1973.
He lost his heavyweight titles to Muhammad Aliin the legendary ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ in 1974, before retiring after a defeat to Jimmy Young in 1977.
Foreman then returned in 1987 after a decade away, and after initially coming up short in a world title bid to Evander Holyfield in 1991, ‘Big George’ became world champion again when he knocked out Michael Moorer in 1994.
That saw Foreman become the oldest world heavyweight champion in history at the age of 46 years and 169 days old, before he hung up the gloves for good after a defeat to Shannon Briggs in 1997.
During his time fighting in the 90s, Foreman was continuously linked to a fight with Mike Tyson, but ‘Big George’ has explained why he wanted no part of ‘Iron Mike.’
“Mike Tyson was a monster. He was a monster. Those are the kind of guys you see in a nightmare and think ‘wake up, wake up, wake up,’ and you wake up and say, phew, I’m so glad that was in a dream. I didn’t want any part of Mike Tyson, no way.
“I really admired Mike Tyson. He wasn’t that tall and that big but he could hit you quick, real quick, and his footwork was outstanding. In his prime, there was nothing like him. If he had fought for another four years winning, I’d have put him number two to Joe Lewis.
“I love him because he’s strictly positive. He’s got nothing to say negative about anything, he’s having fun with life and that’s what it’s really about anyway.”
Tyson was undisputed heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990, and at 20 years 4 months and 22 days, remains the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.
