“It happened, it happened!” buzzed HBO’s lead commentator Jim Lampley. “I can’t believe it,” added Gil Clancy, a Hall of Famer who had previously trained George Foreman, the same fighter now causing such a sizeable stir in the MGM Grand ring.
It was November 5, 1994, and a swift flick of the wrist had facilitated a right hand to land on Michael Moorer’s chin, leaving the undefeated New York native flat on his back, staring up at the new IBF and WBA heavyweight champion of the world.
But not just any champion. This was a 45-year-old veteran, seven years into an ill-advised comeback, making all the doubters eat their words. Pulling off a victory so surprising that even the impeccably groomed MC, Michael Buffer, seemed startled as he confirmed the official particulars.
Referee Joe Cortez doled out the academic count. Moorer failed to rise. The official time of the stoppage was recorded as 2-03 in round number 10. Foreman, the punching preacher, slumped to his knees in prayer. Perhaps by divine intervention, it was mission accomplished.
And what an unfeasible mission it had appeared to be when, in March 1987, Foreman embarked on his route to redemption. 10 years after losing to Jimmy Young in 1977 and claiming he was done with the sport, the new adventure would ultimately span two decades.
While the old-school Foreman was a snarling, afro-haired destroyer of bodies and reputations, this rebooted version of the deeply religious, shaven-skulled grandfather, complete with a muffin-top waistline, lent his achievements a kind of everyman feel.
Foreman after the Moorer fight
Foreman would fight four more times before finally hanging up the gloves for good, just weeks after the three-year anniversary of his win over Moorer.
That quartet of contests was a mixed bag of controversy, close calls, and carnival. Having left the Vegas Strip with two titles, George dropped the WBA to avoid the relentless clutches of a Don King-promoted mandatory, instead opting to defend the IBF against Germany’s Axel Schulz.
Escaping with a narrow, debatable victory, Foreman refused to rematch Schulz and took his Lineal (the man who beat the man, etc.) crown to Japan. After beating Florida’s unblemished (20-0) yet seriously untested Crawford Grimsley for the farcical IBA and WBU baubles in Tokyo, Foreman returned to the States in 1997.
Opponent Lou Savarese also boasted a statistically impressive 36-0 slate, yet the Texan of Italian descent was a lumbering boxer who managed to give the ageing Foreman problems while conceding a split-decision loss. Three years later, Mike Tyson would notoriously hammer his way through referee John Coyle to bludgeon Savarese in a round in Glasgow.
Taking the Savarese win on face value, determined to continue phase two of his career, Foreman, by now pushing 50, rolled the dice once more, meeting Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City.
While never able to beat the best, ‘The Cannon’ evolved into a loquacious needle in the side of the better operators and had too much fresh energy for George, pushing the Houston dynamo into retirement.
Foreman’s underrated fight record
Remarkably, across his entire career run of 81 bouts, Foreman only lost once inside the distance. Also significant was the fact that George’s impossible heist over Moorer took place more than 20 years after the infamous fight that left him halted, fatigued, and out of ideas. It was, of course, the historic clash with Muhammad Ali, better known as the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’.
Throwing down in Kinshasa, formerly Zaire, in what was to become an iconic fight night, Foreman entered the ring as a youthful destroyer. Ali was a supposed old stager, withered by time and a series of hard fights.
Expecting to do to Ali as he had done to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton (each bludgeoned inside two rounds), Foreman laid it on thick, swinging away with hooks galore, employing his usual bulldozer style. Peak Foreman was a flatrack bully. A good one at that.
Relying on his mental toughness and ring savvy, Ali soaked up the pressure using a ‘Rope-A-Dope’ strategy. Foreman tired himself out. Ali took advantage. The beast was slain in eight rounds. He was never the same again – during that portion of his career at least. The next best was yet to come, as we discovered 20 years later.
When Foreman defeated five fighters in one night
The defeat to Ali obviously hit Foreman as hard as any contemporary heavyweight. Struggling to work out how his fearsome finishing and overall aura had failed to intimidate ‘The Greatest’ led to a great deal of soul-searching and an eventual route back to notoriety.
Returning to the ring on April 26, 1975, in Toronto, Canada, it was not quite the end product many had expected.
Long before the Misfits generation, regular crossover bouts between stars from different combat disciplines or even the popular PrizeFighter tournament, George and his team concocted “Foreman vs. Five”, billed as The Greatest Boxing Exhibition Spectacular.
What better way to remind people of your phenomenal punching power than to inflict it on five potential victims in one evening? The promise of a lucrative payday, while glueing back together the remaining fragments of his confidence, seemed like the perfect plan.
First opponent, Alonzo Johnson, had been absent from the ring for a while, and it showed as George dropped him several times en route to a mercy stoppage. So far, so good.
Second foe, heavy-handed Jerry Judge was also eventually overwhelmed, much to his annoyance, making it two out of two.
The Holy Trinity of KOs was complete when Terry Daniels read the script and got battered in double-quick fashion.
And then…Foreman became a little drained. His wins over the remaining two contenders, Massachusetts mover Charley Polite and solid Boone ‘Boom Boom’ Kirkman, ended in decision victories.
Muhammad Ali was on the mic to witness his conquered opponent try to run back the clock. A bunch of traditionally hard-to-please newspaper scribes shook their heads and raised a collective eyebrow at the absurdity of such a parade.
It certainly doesn’t define George Foreman’s career, especially given what was to come years later, but it does add a jovial note to a meritorious body of work.
Speaking years later about the five fighters in one night, Foreman recalled, “I was trying to prove that I was strong. Losing to Muhammad in Africa, it just put a shadow over my whole career and I wanted to prove that that was not the real George Foreman who lost.”
And that was Big George in a nutshell. Proving people wrong and creating memorable quotes. From “Down goes Frazier!” on the night he blitzed Smokin’ Joe in Jamaica, to “It’s all right, son” as he stopped a rogue reveller from entering the chaos of Madison Square Garden in 1996 as Riddick Bowe’s entourage wreaked havoc following Andrew Golota’s low-blow mayhem.
Of course, the “Lean, mean, grilling machine” of the ridiculously profitable George Foreman grills shows how the heavyweight was able to switch personas and assume different roles at different times.
For all of Foreman’s achievements, setbacks and memorable moments, few boxing fans of a certain vintage will ever forget the night “It happened”, and they probably still can’t quite believe it.
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