Who was the last boxer to beat George Foreman?

Who was the last boxer to beat George Foreman?  George Edward Foreman, popularly known as ‘Big George’, enjoyed a long, illustrious boxing career, winning seventy-six of his eighty-one fights, including sixty-eight by knockout. Foreman first won the world heavyweight title – in fact, the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) titles – in January, 1973, with a second-round technical knockout of the hitherto unbeaten Joe Frazier. He defended the title twice, before suffering his first, and most famous, professional loss, when knocked out by Muhammad Ali in the eighth round of the so-called ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Kinshaha, Democratic Republic of the Congo in October, 1974.

Foreman retired from boxing, the the first time, in 1977, but returned to the ring a decade later. After two unsuccessful attempts to regain the world heavyweight title, against Evander Holyfied in 1991 and Tommy Morrison in 1993, he finally did so, at the age of 45, when knocking out Michael Moorer in the tenth round in Las Vegas, home of usa casinos,  in November, 1994.

Foreman fought his eighty-first, and final, professional bout against Shannon Briggs at Trump Taj Majal Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on in November, 1997. Despite dominating the fight for long periods, 48-year-old Foreman was unable to knock out his 25-year-old opponent and Briggs was awarded a highly controversial majority decision. Judge Steve Weisfeld scored the fight a draw, at 114-114, but relatively inexperienced judges Calvin Claxton and Larry Layton scored the fight 112-116 and 113-117, respectively, in favour of Briggs. His fortuitous pay packet no doubt made even best payout online casinos look modest. Interviewed a year later, Larry Hazzard, commissioner of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, acknowledged widespread criticism of the decision.

Why is a boxing ring so-called?

Of course, the term ‘ring’ typically describes a solid object in the shape of, or a group of objects arranged in, a circle. However, according to Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) regulations, a boxing ring must be 20 feet, or 6.10 metres, square inside the ropes. Indeed, a square boxing ring, albeit with different dimensions, was first specified in the ‘London Prize Ring Rules’, developed by the London-based Pugilistic Society in 1838.

In a boxing context, the term ‘ring’ is a throwback to the days of bare-knuckle fighting, which reached the peak of its popularity in the seventeenth century. In those early, pioneering days, contests were fought inside a circle, roughly drawn on the ground, and surrounded by spectators. Often, those spectators held a rope, which not only confined the fighters to a prescribed area, but prevented interference once the contest was underway.

Thus, the term ‘ring’ became part of boxing parlance and persisted even after the sporting arena became square, rather than circular. In fact, in some quarters, the boxing ring is still referred to as the ‘squared circle’.

Was George Foreman the hardest-punching heavyweight champion in history?

Of course, no hard-and-fast, empirical evidence exists for comparing the punching power of George Foreman with, say, Mike Tyson, or any other heavyweight champion in history. However, former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who fought both men, including a 42-year-old, 275lb Foreman in the so-called ‘Battle of the Ages’ in 1991, called ‘Big George’ the hardest puncher he ever faced.

Famously an ‘arm’ puncher, who threw punches from the shoulder without putting his body weight behind them, Foreman was, nonetheless, blessed with immense physical strength and fearless constitution, which more than compensated for what he lacked in speed, stamina and technical prowess. Indeed, in his early years, Foreman was probably the most intimidating puncher in the history of boxing.

Foreman first won the world heavyweight title against ‘Smokin’’ Joe Frazier in the so-called ‘Sunshine Showdown’ in Jamaica in 1973. In a devastating performance, Foreman punched Frazier from pillar-to-post, knocking the hitherto undefeated, undisputed champion down six times before winning by technical knockout after 1 minute 35 seconds of the second round. Foreman retired for the first time in 1977, but returned to the ring a decade later at the age of 38; seven years later, he became the oldest heavyweight champion in his history when, at the age of 45, he knocked out another hitherto undefeated champion, Michael Moorer, in the tenth round of the so-called ‘One for the Ages’ in Nevada with a clean, short right hand.

Who was the first undisputed heavyweight champion?

The undisputed heavyweight champion is, of course, a boxer who is recognised as world champion, in the heavyweight division, by each of the sanctioning bodies in professional boxing. Prior to the foundation of the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) in 1920, and the National Boxing Association (NBA) in 1921, the world heavyweight championship was a lineal championship, which could only be won by defeating the existing title holder.

In the early Twenties, the lineal heavyweight champion was William Harrison ‘Jack’ Dempsey, otherwise known as ‘The Manassa Mauler’, and he became inaugural NBA champion on July 2, 1921 and inaugural NYSAC champion on July 24, 1922. Of course, this was long before the foundation of the World Boxing Council (WBC) in 1963, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) in 1983 and the World Boxing Organisation (1988) but, having held the NBA and NYSAC titles simultaneously between July 24, 1922 and September 23, 1926, Jack Dempsey was effectively the first undisputed heavyweight champion in history.

His reign came to an end at the hands of the hitherto unheralded Gene Tunney, who won the NBA title, by unanimous decision, at Sesquicentennial Stadium, Philadelphia. Tunney also won the rematch – later christened ‘The Long Count Fight’ – at Soldiers Field, Chicago, a year later in similar fashion.

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