the devastating power of George Foreman is something of a legend big George Foreman in his career he's copied the baleful stare of the man who once was his boxing hero Sunny list before Mike Tyson there was forance a mountain of a man who scared opponents and Spectators alike get it and he is knocked out GE fman wins his first professional fight he claimed what was once considered the greatest prize in sports twice as two different Fighters two different human beings raised in Houston's Fifth Ward an infamously impoverished Community riddled with crime and violence it's such
a shame when you're so poor and you don't want everyone else to know that you're so poor the really you're not poor you're po it was here Foreman became the king of the street fight cuz I kept fighting getting into fights picking on people pushing around I was a bully Foreman found refuge and purpose inside the square circle he began training at age 17 then all of a sudden uh you get into boxing what anger is applauded who got you involved in boxing now was a trainer doc BR the 1968 Olympics were only a year
away but doc promised to make George one hell of a boxer as a young man he was regarded as one of boxing's most brutal contenders sparring sessions aren't just a training routine they are instead intense efforts by sparring partners to simply survive a three-minute round with a man whose punching power is frightening 1967 I had my first boxing match well as you have seen we have some young bombers to prepare for the Summer Olympic Games and boxing I wanted by knockout it inspired ired me to be going to be a Golden Glove champion in San
Francisco first time i' had ever heard his name George was brand new he had only been in a boxing ring for a couple of months at that time George raced through the Golden Gloves and into the Olympics a jing right hand to the jaw where his uncanny power was too much for even the veteran Fighters George Forman wins the gold medal of the 19th Olympian for Foreman boxing was a means to lift himself out of poverty how much Forman has progressed since his Olympic days remains to be seen you know even though you were having
all this professional success at that time you were pretty angry in his first 40 fights he knocked out 92.5% of his opponents bman with a left that is like a Lampo a recurring piston if you will the three that really scared the hell out of everyone were Sunny Liston first then George Foreman who was like an improvement on Sunny Lon and then Mike Tyson George mimicked his Persona after the great Sunny Lon I met Sunny Lon he became my role model he had to be the most angry fell I'd met he'd look right through you
he had this very forbidding and intimidating utterly hostile manner ofers I came believe early on that George had acquired some of Sunny's characteristics directly from Sunny he learned how to glow and he learned how to punch George is doing his best imitation of Sunny Lon all of a sudden you have this stare coming at you George F he wanted to scare his opponents to be seen as a monster it worked bed him a little bit of left hand staggers him oh when I was in the ring you really saw the best of me outside the
ring I was really some terrible fellow because I did some things to people that mostly in the ring I'm not ashamed of my boxing matches but outside the ring some of the things we did I did I'm ashamed of to this day he can't do anything at all and it's Forman ping him into the canvas and the referee AR madney stops the fight in the second round look at George Pizer I thought that with my fist I could knock any man out the media his peers and the fans all viewed him as the villain the
monster who hurt and punished his foes with little remorse Morman Dynamite power in both hands is making him the scourge of the heavyweight division George foran is now the number one Contender for the heavyweight championship and the question is who's going to stop this for Forman Steamroller it looks like Muhammad Ali and even Champion Joe Fraser will have to make room for this Houston tornado George foran in his first title fight Foreman would be pitted against fan favorite Joe Frasier Frasier had recently defeated Muhammad Ali and was viewed as the far superior boxer conventional wisdom
heading into the Frasier fight was the George was a raw sort of rookie without the depth or the background to beat a great fighter like joeing 4 Knockouts he's 6'4 and has a reach of 78 1/2 in George Foreman the Challenger because Joe Fraser had beaten Muhammad Ali and was undefeated they didn't see how this young kid could win he was undefeated was coming off the Ali win and he was a three and 1 half to one favorite I must break [Music] you ra it what down and then he's got these hands that are literally
like canned hands and he just George was powerful there's no doubt about that then he was out there to get me right his power seemed to be a weapon unlike any of the sport had seen the greatest of boxers could not stand up to him it was absolutely devastating no one could believe it and from that point on George was regarded as [Music] Invincible ding discharges on me man I couldn't survive him Foreman demolished the great Joe Frasier knocking him down six times you've been known as the hardest puncher ever has never taken this kind
of punishment all I had was this one punch and if I could hit you with you I would hit you with it I take you out if I missed you you'd win on decision it's target practice for Joy Brom and remember how he knocked Joe Fraser upside his head when Joe Fraser literally tried to run away from him the winner is George foran to be heavyweight champion of the world as soon as it happens to you it's like uh John El Sullivan uh brck all the Joe Lewis Rocky Marana moam it's like they all just
pour right into you and you feel that moment you feel I am the heavyweight champion of the world George was now a celebrity and the couple was besieged by reporters it's that those guys weren't Tony tubs and guys like that it was Joe Frasier and Kenny Norton Fraser split two fights with Ali I never thought that Mike Tyson was the scariest in his prime the scariest Fighter the person that I thought about was George Foreman well to be a boxer number one you got to be stupid you got to halfway be crazy we think we
are likely to have a slugfest we don't expect the fight to go all the way and that quick punishing right flaws him for the second time any of his fights when he when he scored those big knockouts he would really brutalize the guy before he got them out of there final knockdown takes place look at Roman's eyes utterly glazed Forman with that impassive face now forman's being acknowledged as the winner Roman still cannot get up Kenny Norton had split two fights with Ali 24 rounds and was Ali was lucky to win the second one and
he broke Ali's jaw and four for and knocked them both out in two rounds and then turn around and lost two Mohammad Ali 12 rounds on a split decision back in September combination of cheers and Cat calls definitely the favorite here as far as the crowd is concerned is Ken Norton as far as the odds are concerned it's George Foreman the most menacing heavyweight of all time it would be George Foreman I was going to be the best heavyweight that ever existed he is with Ken Norton and the reason for that of course is that
he doesn't like George Foreman one B do you really believe Ali that he can beat man yeah the man went 24 rounds with me broke much John the first round I was in shape and S fight in those days he was a bully the people around him were afraid of him foran had really brutalized the people who trained him and they were terrified of him give him the hell he gave me as fast as I am as ACC as I am I couldn't whoop Ken Norton I had beaten the best in Joe Frasier no doubt
about it I had beaten the best people had something to say about that I said you know what what I'm going to kill one of these fellas then they'll shut up man it looks like Norton has really been staggered foran was a guy who destroyed frasia destroyed Kenny Norton wh by Kenny N I knocked Kenny Norton out easily once again Muhammad Ali found himself in great demand the WBC and the WBA mandated the fight the public certainly wanted it and the media clamored for it I think George Forman knock Muhammad Ali out and it'll end
Muhammad Ali's career the boxers were scared handlers were scared the only person that didn't appear scared of Foreman was Ali the foreman that fought Ali 40 and0 37 Knockouts undefeat unbeatable guy's never going to lose everybody was scared but Muhammad Ali himself and Ali is getting the people to chance Ali B that means Ali kill [Applause] him have you fought many guys who were Talkers in their ringing no one never get a chance to talk M by the time you get the know fellas all over as for the fight itself discussion centered not on who
would win but on how much punishment Foreman would dish out time may have come to say goodbye to Muhammad Ali and now we understand that George foran is about to make his way through the ring because very honestly I don't think he can beat George Foreman coell was convinced that Ali was washed [Applause] up this guy was the closest thing to a human monster I I'd ever seen before he was certainly the scariest boxer look at this now as they stare Muhammad Ali beginning to talk to George Forman they're really putting the stare on each
other I looked him in the eye to stare him down and said oh George you were in school when I was beating Sunny list gone in the past four years Beyond Two Rounds in any fight Wild by George foran he knew that the one weakness in in this monster was thought of as unbeatable was his stamina the first round all of us y get off the ropes ending round one and he would just say shut up I know how I'm doing well I would say the the the round was very even course that and Ali
totally got into the guy's head and he didn't even realize it it was Muhammad Ali's fertile mind that created the Rope Here We Go Round number two the determin Ali get off his duel in between rounds George foran sat down all the way Ali's on the Rope ining him second or third round when he went to the ropes he was calling performing all kinds of name any name of ugliness you can think of definitely serious tremendous combination he F just like your initial bumb just lay on a rope and take a with him this time
he did it with character he say I'm going to weather this Stone the Rope of does was something was invented by Muhammad Ali that night I must say I don't understand those tactics staying on the ropes and letting him hit it just shows you the power of intellect and intelligence and how that compete against anything and believe me I was a big powerful Giant in the ring with Mohammad I mean a knockout on him he stood up to me Forman setting him up against the Rope what look at him whispering in the a of for
foran so young so strong not supposed to do leaning up against the ROP four punches downstairs on Ali so Fearless I had him beat I really did and really thought I had him beat up in the body had him tired continues to talk against George Foreman he does away with his opponents one after another in less than three Rs George not going that type of distance a long time he was treading in water you know never been in before this is the furthest that George Foreman has gone in a fight since 1972 misses the right
hand Ali is definitely confusing him missing the shots that he missed it drained him look at Foreman's face he does look tired nobody knew the strength of Muhammad Ali he was manhandling just like Arie said grabbing him and he emptied the guy's tank I was afraid he was going to get killed by a George Foreman that many of our young viewers don't know up backs him up in his back back the and I the round of the fight unbelievable I thought he was hurt I thought his body was hurt he came back he hit for
with everything and he winked at me guess there's no doubt about it he win right over here to this com you know the guy really was the People's Choice and he was the People's Choice because he loved them yes I'd hate to predict any fight but my goodness those people who said Foreman would win in a Flash have certainly been proved wrong in about the seventh round he asked me that all you got George that was like a nightmare I couldn't believe it I just knew I was going to knock him out in a few
seconds and after eight rounds down am laying on the canvas listening to a referee I was embarrassed [Applause] 5 I sh up the world I sh up the worlded Ali has won muhamed Ali has won by a knock down in the most devastating thing in the world to lose the covered heavyweight championship of the world i' worked so hard to get it and it doesn't you really your life is going to change once more from all of this confidence and to Devastation he was beaten mentally more than physically come home and I was angry for
a long time I figured I'd been betrayed by my managers I've been giving things in my water the roast for loose I had all the kind of excuses that fill me with hatred and revenge I felt like I lost everything not just the championship of the world but I lost myself as a man many have felt that Foreman's psyche was materially damaged by the disaster in zah ear of 15 months ago foran stamina having become suspect in the zah ear effect after the defeat the Mystique of Foreman had vanished the intimidating bully destroyer of world's
Persona was replaced by questions about forman's boxing skills if Foreman is to come back and get another shot at the crown he must win this fight and it would help to Win It impressive the face of George Foreman and for that matter of Ron Lyle each speaking for itself just look at this he would immediately be tested by fellow brawler Ron Lyall we're about to bring you what we think promises to be a slug pest a legitimate heavyweight contest one of the great backand forth Wars in boxing history a good right by Lyall and he's
got bman in trouble he's got him in trouble I was hit so hard I didn't even feeling until I hit the canas Bing is down it started with a right then a left I know never been hit so hard in my life now Forman fighting back Forman trying to hold together now now George struck back now now George bought back we a magnificent right every boxing match World title match would have ended like George Foreman run ly heavyweight title match there wouldn't be in UFC some punches and just speaking in general terms you said some
punches are so ferocious that they don't hurt they actually will interrupt communication between the Tower and the ground bman goes down B goes down wild fight again if only it had hurt I would have would not have gotten up it just it was like it you're no longer the same person you see your legs wiggle and you're not in control of yourself now ly is hurt now ly is hurt what an incred incredible fight utterly without boxing skills just punching away each fighter in turn leaving himself open this time it may be over this time
it may be over it's not going to make it he's not going to make it a knockout in the fifth round he won in spectacular fashion but the rematch with Ali was not given George you think Ali's maybe backing down from another meeting with you there's no telling what he's doing I would love a rematch I was fueled by a lot of anger and I walked around with that for [Music] [Music] years [Music] instead he would do battle with Joe Frasier again it went much like the first fight George foran wins in the fifth round
by a technical n out and dreams a whole new dream another match against Muhammad Ali in my mind there only exist one piece of tension and that's for the heavyweight championship of the world and I do like I would like to avenge the only defeat I ever had against you know who I'm not going to give him no still the rematch with Ali was not given George's love for the sport of boxing had begun to Wayne he would lose a close decision to Jimmy [Music] Young and Jimmy young who said he had a religious experience
after the loss to Young others called it heat frustration in Puerto Rico in 1977 then he would retire unceremoniously everybody oh that's okay man you know you come back it was just a fight but then all of a sudden he things started happening in that room he was rushed to the hospital and the Press was told that foreman had become overcome by the heat but George felt he had suffered more than a momentary blackout the feared brute known as Big George Foreman disappeared from the public Consciousness during a 10-year break from boxing George Foreman contemplated
what Ali had taken from him one of the beautiful things that he did is he acknowledged the ability of Muhammad Ali and acknowledge that loss and uh put a shrine up in his home is the proof that I was in the fight with it punched me right on that eye when I you know I started to not only be happy about my life but be happy about the Life I Lived before and put them together and become an evangelist 14 years ago Foreman retired from boxing to preach the word of God the little Fame and
Fortune we get is not going to follow us in the grave brother and sister he would find his peace in his faith serving as a minister for the next 10 years during that 10 year absence at any time did you have the desire to come back 10 years I didn't even shadow box he became a terrific father uh you've got five Sons Five Daughters I know you're very proud of all of them they're all named George I named All My Sons George Edward foran in 1984 he had started the George Foreman Youth and Community Center
he opened his own Youth Center emptying his entire savings to do so giving money for scholarships for kids to go to school I had to keep that up he would hold fundraisers to keep the center going but as his money ran out George was in danger of losing at all the youth center started to take every dime I could get it start costing everything to get a foundation lawyer fees building I wanted to go out and do myself and I ran out of money and that's the reason I even got my got myself back in
the Box 13 years after losing his title George Foreman began the seemingly impossible task of regaining it I said I got to go back into boxing I asked my wife I said what do you think she said they're going to kill you don't do it you look you're 300 lb you're too old you'll never be champled world because they thought I wanted it overnight but I looked in the mirror and said you know they're telling the truth I'm pretty old here tomorrow night veteran boxer George Foreman will put on the gloves and climb back into
the ring after almost a decade in retirement but I'm going to start from the bottom I know how to promote I know how to recreate I know how to get myself back in shape just as unceremoniously as he had retired he returned fighting no-name opponents and journeyman so I came back I was I got a scale I was 315 lb that's a knockdown because no it isn't it should have been he went against the RO the ROP right I think Howe wants to quit that's it and then when people started to take him seriously because
they were tantalized by a Charming fat old heavyweight I just swooned at their gullibility George was feuded as a joke held up as an example of the decline of the sport of boxing cash grubbing on his past accomplishments well George Foreman wins on the TKO it is his eighth straight wins an aging overweight husband they laughed at me and people wrote me from all over the world George don't do it trying to recapture That Glory but the one thing they all had in common who would write me there wasn't a dime in the mail carefully
and quietly he rounded himself back into boxing form they laughed at me and I fought one fight after another one after another they laugh the more I win the more they would joke George foran is not fighting anyone that is George Foreman the 39-year-old ex champ as his competition Rose opponents were dead set on proving the old man was finished yeah he still has that unbelievable punching power even though he's got a belly and he looks like he's shambling around in his pajamas he's he's still got something but here he is 3 years later so
I have to salute him salute him for pulling off one of the great scams in boxing history which trust me is saying a lot there he goes and he is badly hurt and that's it and I don't think this fight's over this fight's over George Corman gos Away Jerry C unlike in his first goar around George was now a fan favorite his lovable Charisma and willingness to poke fun at himself endeared him to the masses in boxing no one is bigger more admired or more in demand by George I think he's got it George had
become the Undisputed King of the big cell cuz George is very popular and he deserves the popularity that he's gotten because he's a natural there's nothing phony about him appearing on magazines commercials his own sitcom good you look great you only saying that because it's true Foreman the boxer was famous but Foreman the salesman was a Phenom George thei I was a Salesman I'd learned to be a Salesman I had 10 years out of boxing to be an evangelist and I'd understood if you don't really make some noise and make people pay some attention no
one is going to stop and listen to you at the peak of his Fame he became the spokesperson for a household grilling product the George Foreman grill earning Foreman nearly 5 million a month from sale and then all of a sudden the checks just start rolling in that this thing sold over 100 million right and to give the check some context too you end up being bought out I think for something like $140 million after what you had already made this is my George Foreman family siiz grill that what is it it's my George Foreman
gdle that cooked pan everybody likes a jolly fat man well one thing people love about him you saw right there the highest knockout percentage in the history of all Heavyweight Champions part of George Foreman's Odyssey in this comeback up and down the scale thus seems like yesterday's weighin yes his first return fight he weigh 267 here he is 3 years later 263 you've heard of the diet formula what is it slim fast I think George has developed slim slow it doesn't appear like George is hitting hard but once he hits the guy he totally paralyzes
his opponents [Music] boom perfect timing rod rgz goes down 6 7 8 9 10 gas in [Applause] point Foreman who demolished Joe Frasier to capture the world Crown 17 years ago is making a remarkable comeback now shaven headed he's recorded 22 victories on his way to another shot of the world title and it wasn't long before a super fight against heavyweight champy Vander Holyfield was in high demand in what would be at that time the biggest payday in heavyweight history D said I may be old I may be fat but he said here I is
Mark with a 28-year-old aand holifield Undisputed heavyweight champion and for the first offense he's fighting A 42-year-old George Foreman the pundits were convinced the fight was more far than anything a lot of people made a big deal about this as being a farce beforehand you think that George even though you say Holyfield is going seemingly impervious to pain George seems to have absorbed those punches in the previous round rather well there he did the first round I gave to George because I think he legitimately hurt theander the last 30 seconds round six scheduled for the
winner by unanimous decision and still oned heavyweight champion of the world the real deal Evander Foreman uh it's TR to say but Foreman was a win winner in many respects here tonight as well ultimately Foreman was beaten on points but the way he fought proved that the second coming of big George Foreman was no Mirage like the eighth wonder of the world never will you ever see this again take 50 years before another generation see something like this we're man closer to 50 60 than he is to 20 and 19 show the whole world by
going toe to- toe and the young man is holding on for his breath and we keep going boy I tell you what is happening to the world all ior citizen around the world can be proud of them themselves hooray like a lot of fans I started to think to myself George you've thrilled us you've been great you've inspired us you've entertained us but now please isn't it time to go back to the old fishing hole before you seriously get hurt few days after Michael MOA beat van the hfield and I got a call from George
and I said George you can't kid me you want to fight my Michael Mo and he said more than anything else in the world when Michael MOA defeated Holyfield to become the new Champion George Foreman at age 45 would get one final shot I knew what Teddy told me like this is a he's a big con and I just look at him like go get me a sandwich and sit down you're so fake featuring The Clown King of the sport the Larger than Life George Foreman well there are a lot of Skeptics out there who
think that George now is more King Khan than King Khan but George hasn't earned this Championship shot as a fighter he hasn't fought in a year and a half and on that inauspicious occasion he lost to Tommy Morrison with with the fighter he's fighting he's going to have to punch and punch and try to Club him and just keep beating him but I don't think that's going to happen so you see no chance that George can win the fight very little very little Foreman looked to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history but despite
the optimism of the crowd few gave Foreman more than a puncher's chance middle-aged men don't knock out 25-year-old heavyweight champions he would be the oldest to win the heavyweight title by a huge margin over walad who was 37 when he beat ezard Char I always thought if the George Foreman from the r Rumble in the Jungle had the brain of the George Foreman who fought Michael Moore that's the greatest fighter ever let's get ready to rumble on The Bard R in here take the George how are you going to find the vibrations are against him
the planets are against him and already already he don't want the first five round but it's revealing that he chose to wear the same trunks on this night that he had worn in the jungle 20 years before George Foreman in the shorts he wore that night in zier The Rumble in the Jungle when he lost his world heavyweight title I told you I told you I'm the champion of the world but he always saw the ghost of Muhammad Ali and everybody is felt all along that you're always chasing the ghost of Ali does this make
[Applause] you 20 years after being beaten by Ali big George Foreman recaptured the heavyweight championship the oldest champion in the history of boxing I'm not the greatest but I'm the hungriest those guys were younger stronger faster more sophisticated but the one thing they lacked and I had was good old Hunger nobody brings it home like Joe nobody make it so [Music]
