Why Foreman Kept Fighting?

On November fifth, nineteen ninety four, at the age of forty five. George Foreman had made a comeback into boxing and had worked his way up to face off against Michael mor the first South Paul heavyweight, for the chance at the heavyweight title, and despite almost a twenty year age gap and a huge difference in physique, Foreman used strategy and was able to win, becoming the oldest heavyweight title champion of all time, completing his comeback and bringing himself from the bottom all the way back to the top. Today, we're going to dive into this incredible comeback on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees, your guide as you daily learn about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. And today's trivia question is who was the oldest heavyweight champion before George Foreman became the heavyweight champion in nineteen ninety four. Now, George Foreman, if you ever heard him talk, you can tell. He's a Texas boy and he's one of six siblings. But as most boxers are, he was a troubled youth, dropped out of school when he was fifteen and actually spent time as a mugger. But at the age of sixteen, he joined the Job Corps, which is a program that helps give education and vocational training to teenagers and young adults, and he was able to earn his ged and become a carpenter and bricklayer, but he was also able to use boxing as a way to get out his anger, his frustration and able to work his way up as an amateur and eventually make the Olympic team in nineteen sixty eight, where he won gold in the heavyweight division at the Mexico Olympics, and he finished with an amateur record of twenty two and four before making the jump to pro in nineteen sixty nine, winning his first fight against Donald Wellhelm with a three round knockout, and he had a total of thirteen fights that year, winning all of them in eleven by knockout. He was quickly climbing up the heavyweight ranks, which at the time was led by some of the greatest fighters of all time, including Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, who he would end up fighting in nineteen seventy two for the WBA heavyweight title, and he would win this by a technical knockout in the second round at just the age of twenty four and we would defend this for a couple fights until he came to one of the most famous fights of all time, facing off against Muhammad Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle. He came into the fight forty and zero, one of the best heavyweight fighters at the time, Ali was something different, something that his style was not ready for, and he got knocked out in the eighth round, losing his title. But that doesn't mean he was out forever. He would come back the following year and continued to win and win five straight fights, coming up against Jimmy Young, where he lost by decision in the twelfth round, and at this time he would retire after struggling towards this end of his career, he had become a born again Christian and wanted to follow that into a new career path where he would become a minister for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston, and he would even go to be on television programs, being a minister on the seven hundred Club in the Trinity Broadcast Network. But unfortunately, after ten years away from the boxing, he had been swindled a lot of his money and was essentially broke. And the only way he knew how to get money back was the skill he hadn't used in ten years boxing. Now this is before the George Foreman grill, so remember that he didn't have that money coming in. He was just a minister, but he wasn't making the money he needed for his family, and he announced he would be making a comeback at the age of thirty eight, which seemed crazy to most as he was not in the shape he was he was more Doe didn't have that huge muscular physique as he had previously, but that didn't stop him from making his comeback. So he comes back and in his first fight he wins by technical knockout in four rounds, and he continues to work his way up over the next three years, not losing a single fight, until he gets to the point where he's able to face off against Evander Holyfield, the current heavyweight title holder, on April ninth, nineteen ninety one. At this point, he is forty two years old and Evander Holyfield is in his prime. Despite the age gap and the difference in physique, he's able to take Evander Holyfield to the twelfth round, where Evander wins by decision. But Foreman shows he is still a draw and still a great fighter even into his forties, and then he wins his next three fights and gets to fight for the WBO heavyweight title against Tommy Morrison on June seventh, nineteen eighty three, at the age of forty four, but again loses in twelve rounds by decision. But despite this loss, he's able to come back the next year on November fifth, nineteen ninety four, to face off against the current WBA heavyweight title holder, Michael mor who was the first south Pole to win the heavyweight title, and we actually covered Michael on a previous episode. We'll put that link in the description if you want to check that out. We mentioned this fight briefly. Michael comes in undefeated and only twenty six years old. George is forty five years old in two hundred and ninety nine days, almost forty six, but he's already proven. He can face off against holy Field, he can face off against Morrison. He has the skills to fight, and he's not just overpowering fighters. He's using his knowledge that he's learned throughout years of fighting fighting greats like Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, which he fought twenty years previously, and now he's fighting fighters that may not have even been alive when he started fighting. And because of this you could see George Foreman's game plan. He couldn't match more speed, so he saved his energy. He let Moore wear down and used his defensive style to make it round by round, and Moore just kept exerting energy. In exerting energy, and through most of the fight, Moore was successful. He was landing jabs in combinations, using his footwork to stay out of the reach of Foreman, and was able to take control of the fight. But after the eighth round, Foreman knew win by points, he was too far down and now was the time for him to unleash his pressure. He had been conserving his punches, pulling punches, allowing more to fatigue when he disrupted Moore's rhythm and continued to land more and more shots right on his chin, leading to the tenth round. With two minutes and three seconds left, Reman was starting to unleash all that he had left, all that he had conserved the entire fight, and unleashedhit on Moore's chin, and after so many hits to his face, Moore's legs buckled and had sent him down to the ground, and though Moore tried to get up, he couldn't beat the count and it gave the win to George Foreman, making him the oldest heavyweight title holder of all time, a record previously held by Jersey Joe Walcott, who was only thirty eight years old when he won his title. And George wasn't done. He continued to fight for the next three years, retaining his heavyweight title until his last fight on November twenty second, nineteen ninety seven. As correct, his last fight was nineteen ninety seven. His very first fight, his very first professional fight was twenty eight years earlier in nineteen sixty nine, and he would lose this and he would lose this fight to Shane Briggs by major decision. Now, even though this was his last fight, he did have plans to fight against Larry Holmes in nineteen ninety nine, where Foreman would take home ten million dollars and Homes would take home forty million dollars. But as we all know, that fight didn't happen for one major reason. The Slaton Inc. Company, who had made this fat reducing grill, reached out to George Foreman about being a spokesperson. George had become known, especially his second stint in boxing, for his way to speak to the media and the way to talk after he'd been a minister. He talked so fluently and was able to get so many people to love him as just a fighter, and that's what they wanted for these grills, and basically he would earn a percentage of every grill sold and eventually sold over one hundred million Union units and for the rights to use his name, the company paid him over one hundred million dollars in nineteen ninety nine, which meant he didn't need to fight anymore. He was fighting to put money on the table for his family, as he had twelve kids and he wanted to support them as best he could. And that's why he fought, and that's why he stopped when he found another option to help make money. And George is a unique boxer because some of us may have never seen his boxing career. We just know him as the grill guy. But he was a great boxer when he was in his twenties and when he was in his forties. And if you want to learn more about boxing, check out The Boxing SQ where host Kurt uses his expertise in boxing and takes you through all you need to know from world championships to continue to top promoters. He gives you the background behind all of it so you can become even more engaged in boxing. We'll put a link to the description below, and if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave it like a review wherever you're listening. It really helps me out because it puts a huge smile on my face and keeps me wanting to bring you even more Daily Sports History and we'll see you tomorrow for more and the answer to today's trivia question, who was the oldest heavyweight champion before George Foreman became the heavyweight champion in nineteen ninety four and the answer Jersey Joe Wilcott, who became the heavyweight champion in nineteen fifty one at the age of thirty eight, seven years younger than when George Foreman won his title.