On this day in 1994, George Foreman, aged 45, made history by becoming boxing’s oldest heavyweight champion after defeating 26-year-old Michael Moorer in the 10th round during their WBA fight in Las Vegas.
Foreman’s surprising victory over Moorer, who entered the match with an undefeated 35-0 record, took place in front of more than 12,000 fans at the MGM Grand Hotel. Foreman dedicated his remarkable win to “all my buddies in the nursing home and all the guys in jail.”
Foreman, born in Marshal, Texas in 1949, faced a difficult childhood and ultimately dropped out of high school. He later joined President Lyndon Johnson’s Jobs Corps work program, where he discovered his boxing talent. Nicknamed “Big George,” he earned a gold medal for the U.S. at the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. After winning his first 37 professional fights—34 by knockout—he knocked out “Smokin'” Joe Frazier in two rounds in 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica, thus claiming the heavyweight championship.
At the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire, a shocking defeat came when the stronger and younger Foreman lost his title to the underdog Muhammad Ali. Following this, three years later, Big George transformed into a preacher, inspired by a religious experience in his dressing room after a loss.
He stepped away from boxing, became an ordained minister in Houston, and established a youth center.
A decade later, having lost the millions earned from boxing, Foreman returned to the ring at 38 years old and made a triumphant comeback. When he secured his second heavyweight title in his 1994 fight against Moorer, becoming both the WBA and IBF champion, he sported the same red trunks he wore the night he faced Ali.
However, Foreman did not keep the heavyweight title for long.
In March 1995, he lost his WBA title after refusing to fight No. 1 contender Tony Tucker, and he relinquished his IBF title in June 1995 to avoid a rematch with Axel Schulz, whom he had narrowly beaten in a contested judges’ decision earlier that April.
Foreman’s final fight took place in 1997, where he suffered a loss to Shannon Biggs. He retired with an impressive career record of 76-5.
Away from boxing, Foreman, who has five sons—all named George—and five daughters, has amassed considerable wealth as an entrepreneur and a likable TV spokesperson for various products, notably the immensely popular George Foreman Grill.
