George Foreman

During 1981-83, Foreman got married and divorced thrice. It is also known that one of his wives fled to Barbados with their kids but he found them and got them back.

He has 12 children and 2 daughters. He has adopted two girls, Isabella Brandie Lilia and Courtney Isaac, in the years 2009 and 2012 respectively. He lives with his wife Mary Joan.

George Foreman was born on 10 January 1949 in Marshall, Texas. He was raised by his mother and his stepfather J.D. Foreman, whom his mother married after he was born. His biological father was Leroy Moorehead.

He grew up with six other siblings in a very poor household in Houston, Texas. His stepfather was a drunkard who spent all his railroad worker’s wages in drinking and they all depended on his mother’s meager salary.

As a youth he got into trouble with the law many times and got dropped out of the school at the age of 15. He was often involved in street fights and gang clashes. It was during these years that he decided to join Job Corps and moved to California to get trained in boxing.

In 1968, Foreman went on to win a gold medal in Olympics’ Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Mexico City. It was during this time that there were riots in US over civil rights and Vietnam. African-American community was still under speculation whether to support US policy or not. Many African-American athletes were publicly showing their contempt against US policy. Foreman was tempted for a while but it did not deter him from winning the medal.

In 1969, Foreman decided to take up boxing professionally and went through serious and rigorous boxing training sessions. In the same year he fought his first pro boxing match against Don Walheim in New York City. He won the match in a three-round knockout.

1969 and 1970 were glorious years in the career of Foreman as he fought 13 fights in 1969 and won all of them, and in 1970 continued winning boxing matches by knocking out 11 men in total. Despite all his wins people criticized Foreman and said that he only won these matches because he fought against the has-beens.

In 1973, he silenced all the criticisms against him by fighting the ace champion Joe Frazier. In this epic match Foreman sent Frazier twice to the mat by the end of first round, once by lifting him off his feet. By the end of second round Frazier was beaten.

In 1974, Foreman escalated his success by fighting a match against the infamous heavyweight boxer Ken Norton. Ken Norton was notorious for his awkward boxing techniques and for breaking Muhammad Ali’s jaw. By the second round, Foreman had beaten Norton so badly that he wobbled on his legs in the ring and the referee had to intervene to stop the fight. This gave him 40-0 record with 37 knockouts.

In 1974, the match famously promoted as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ against Muhammad Ali was a historical match and an important one in the life of Foreman. It was the first time that he faced a defeat in his boxing career.

In 1987, Foreman made his comeback after 20 years of retirement from the boxing world. He won at the age of 38 in a match against Steve Zouski by knocking him out by the 4th round. He won the match even when he has been out of shape for the years he was not boxing. He self-proclaimed that he wanted to show everyone that the age 40 is not a ‘death sentence’.

In 1994, he became the world champion by defeating Michael Moorer in Las Vegas. He gained the title of the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation, the tile he has lost to Muhammad Ali in the epic ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ 20 years back.