‘Big’ George Foreman spent the best part of over 20 years at the very top of the heavyweight division.
The thunderous puncher from Texas enjoyed a glittering professional career, where he become the world heavyweight champion on two occasions.
He captured heavyweight for the first time back in 1973 when he blasted out the great Joe Frazier in the 2nd-round of their bout at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Foreman made two defences of his crown before he suffered defeat for the first time at the hands of Muhammad Ali in the famous ‘Rumble In The Jungle’.
Foreman’s career had many highs, and a few lows, but the now 75-year-old once revealed the one regret he had which stuck with him for the duration of his tenure.
In an interview with Square Mile, ‘Big’ George gave an honest account of his actions following his defeat to Ali back in 1974, where he admits he wished he has shown better sportsmanship towards his former rival.
“I wish I’d gone across the ring and said, ‘good fight, champ’. I wish I’d done that.”
Heading into their highly anticipated battle in Zaire, ‘Big’ George was a heavy favourite with many predicting another devastating knockout victory for the unified heavyweight champion. Foreman flew out of the blocks against Ali as he looked to put an end to the contest as early as possible, although ‘The Greatest’ had different ideas.
In typical Ali fashion, he used his infamous ‘rope-a-dope’ style to wear down the reigning champion, absorbing many of his thunderous punches to force him into exhaustion heading into the second half of the fight. Ali applied the pressure from the beginning of the eighth round, where he went on to claim a stoppage victory to capture the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles from the grasp of ‘Big’ George, putting an end to one of boxing’s most iconic rivalries.
