"fourth round and proceeded to knock out Morrison in brutal fashion by pinning him against a corner and landing several unanswered, heavy blows until the referee stopped the bout 28 seconds into the fifth round. The victory made Mercer one of the top fighters in the heavyweight division and he quickly vacated the then less regarded WBO title in order to face 42-year-old ex-heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in a match to determine who would next meet Evander Holyfield for the IBF, WBA and WBC versions of the Heavyweight Championship. Holmes had twice retired, first after failing to recapture his IBF"
"George Foreman George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1969 to 1977, and from 1987 to 1997. Nicknamed ""Big George"", he is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. Outside the sport he is an ordained minister, author, and entrepreneur. After a troubled childhood Foreman took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the world heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. Two successful title"
"secure a fight with Muhammad Ali during his prime (when Kirkman was the seventh-ranked boxer in the world). Additionally, Hurley was not heavily involved during the training process, which contributed to poor scheduling. Two other former boxers who were signed to Hurley, Harry Matthews and Pete Radarmacher, experienced similar frustrations, often finding themselves overmatched when up against highly-ranked opponents. Boone Kirkman Daniel Victor ""Boone"" Kirkman (born February 6, 1945 in Vallejo, California) is a former amateur and professional Heavyweight boxer. He fought during the same era as George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier, which is often credited as one"
"in Larry Holmes. Although the 43-year-old Holmes had won six consecutive fights after recording what were his only career losses to that point (his 1985 title-losing fight and 1986 rematch with Michael Spinks and his 1988 comeback fight against Tyson) and went the distance with the champion, Holyfield emerged with another unanimous decision win. Afterwards he faced criticism for taking the title from an uninterested Douglas and then defending it against two past-their-prime fighters in Foreman and Holmes and nearly getting knocked out by the journeyman Cooper. As a result, some in the boxing world looked at Holyfield's match with"
"Larry Holmes Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which gave birth to his boxing nickname of ""The Easton Assassin"". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, ""The Ring"" magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. He made 20 successful title defenses, placing him third all time, behind only Joe Louis at 25 and Wladimir Klitschko at"
"George Foreman vs. Ken Norton George Foreman vs. Ken Norton, billed as ""The Caracas Caper"", was a professional boxing match contested on March 26, 1974 for the WBA, WBC and ""The Ring"" heavyweight championships. Undefeated heavyweight champion George Foreman had little trouble in his two fights the previous year. First he captured the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles after dominating Joe Frazier, scoring six knockdowns in less than two rounds in an easy technical knockout victory in January 1973. Foreman would follow this by making his first defense against Jose ""King"" Roman in Tokyo in September of that year, easily"
"the opportunity to fight for a world title. </ref>http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/38283</ref> Holmes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008. Larry Holmes Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which gave birth to his boxing nickname of ""The Easton Assassin"". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, ""The Ring"" magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985."
"Boone Kirkman Daniel Victor ""Boone"" Kirkman (born February 6, 1945 in Vallejo, California) is a former amateur and professional Heavyweight boxer. He fought during the same era as George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier, which is often credited as one of the greatest heavyweight eras of all time. Kirkman was born in Vallejo, California in 1945 to Oehm and Margarite Kirkman. His father, a naval officer, was stationed there at the time. When his father was discharged from the Navy, the family moved back to Renton, Washington, where Kirkman's grandfather initially settled. From a young age, Kirkman's favorite activities"
"last opportunity to fight for a heavyweight championship when he traveled to Copenhagen to fight undefeated International Boxing Organization champion Brian Nielsen. Nielsen won by a 12-round split decision to retain the title. Holmes and George Foreman signed to fight on January 23, 1999 at the Houston Astrodome. Foreman called off the fight several weeks before it was to take place because the promoter failed to meet the deadline for paying him the remaining $9 million of his $10 million purse. Foreman received a nonrefundable $1 million deposit, and Holmes got to keep a $400,000 down-payment of his $4 million"
"by Larry Holmes in 1980 and Trevor Berbick in 1981. Despite repeatedly calling Ali out, Foreman was unable to secure a rematch with the champion before Foreman abruptly decided to retire after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977. Ali did not hurry to set up a rematch, making title defenses against unheralded opponents such as Jean Pierre Coopman and Richard Dunn. However, he would repeatedly state that his rematch with Foreman was one of the major fights he wanted to get to before retiring. Foreman later made an unlikely comeback, culminating in his regaining the world heavyweight championship at"
"he fought sporadically until 1990, when he retired for good after being knocked out in two rounds by George Foreman. Holmes, on the other hand, was Heavyweight champion until he lost his belt to Michael Spinks in 1985. He retired in 1986, but has made several comebacks since. HBO presented a documentary on the fight as part of its ""Legendary Nights"" series on memorable boxing bouts. Holmes and Cooney are now very good friends and Holmes has helped Cooney with Cooney's organization, F.I.S.T., which helps former boxers get other jobs and medical insurance after they retire. Larry Holmes vs. Gerry"
"Al Foreman Al Foreman (3 November 1904 in London – 23 December 1954), was a British-born boxer of the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s who in the last four years of his career won the Canadian lightweight title, British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) British lightweight title, and British Empire lightweight title. He unsuccessfully contended for the Canadian Featherweight title against Leo Roy in Montreal on 8 May 1924. He first took the Canadian Lightweight title against Leo ""Kid"" Roy in 1928, and took the BBBofC British Lightweight Title on 21 February 1930, in a first-round knockout of reigning champion Fred"
"by the WBA and WBC. In 1972, still undefeated and with an impressive knockout record, Foreman was set to challenge undefeated and Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier. Despite boycotting a title elimination caused by the vacancy resulting from the championship being stripped from Muhammad Ali, Frazier had won the title from Jimmy Ellis and defended his title four times since, including a 15-round unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Ali in 1971 after Ali had beaten Oscar Bonavena and Jerry Quarry. Despite Foreman's superior size and reach, he was not expected to beat Frazier and was a 3:1 underdog"
"gave Foreman his second valid claim to the British lightweight championship, though few American newspapers covered the story. Kelso had taken the Australian lightweight title in April of that year. Taking the British Empire Lightweight Title was the greatest achievement of Foreman's boxing career. On 19 September 1933, Foreman regained the Canadian Lightweight Championship as well as defending his Commonwealth of the British Empire Lightweight Championship, beating Tommy Bland in a ten-round mixed decision before a crowd of 5,000 at the Mount Royal Arena in his Canadian hometown, Montreal. Foreman won the bout with hard blows to the body and"
"Alvin Lewis (boxer) Alvin Lewis, also known as Al Lewis, (born in Detroit, Michigan on 12 November 1942) was a United States professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division under the alias """"Al ""Blue"" Lewis"""". Lewis was a long-term sparring partner of Muhammad Ali and is mentioned in Ali's autobiography. He was well-known as a powerful gym adversary. He also sparred with, among others, George Foreman before the champion's match with Ken Norton. Lewis died in Flint, Michigan on 21 January 2018, aged 75. His death was not significantly publicized. Lewis was born in Detroit and, after a troubled"
"both well known boxers and celebrities from other walks of life during this period, including Michael Dokes, Antonio Inoki, Gorilla Monsoon, Lyle Alzado, Dave Semenko, and the famous Puerto Rican comedian Jose Miguel Agrelot (with Iris Chacon acting as Agrelot's corner-woman). About six months after Ali beat him for the world Heavyweight title, George Foreman participated in five exhibition fights in one afternoon: on April 26, 1975, he boxed Jerry Judge, Boone Kirkman, Charley Polite, Terry Daniels and Alonzo Johnson at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. On January 1, 1985, a show including several world champion boxers in exhibition fights was staged"
"and survive the round and would continue his fight in to round 8. With his corner growing even more concerned as time passed and the punishment on their fighter mounted, they threw in the towel stopping the fight in round 8. Arthur Mercante (referee) cleared the ring and restarted the fight. Foreman would eventually succumb to the pressure of Miguel in the following round after the fight restarted. He made one defense of his world title on March 12, 2011 against Ricardo Mayorga, with a technical knockout in the 12th round, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. He"
"George Foreman vs. Axel Schulz George Foreman vs. Axel Schulz, billed as ""Celebration"", was a professional boxing match contested on April 22, 1995 for Foreman's IBF and lineal heavyweight championships, as well as the vacant WBU heavyweight championship. In his previous fight, 45-year-old George Foreman made history by becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history after scoring an upset knockout victory over Michael Moorer on November 5, 1994. In early 1995, Foreman began negotiations to make the first defense of his newly won WBA and IBF titles against German mid-level prospect Axel Schulz. However, Schulz was unranked by both"
"any weight class after Bernard Hopkins (at light heavyweight). He retired in 1997 at the age of 48, with a final record of 76 wins (68 knockouts) and 5 losses. Foreman has been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and International Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Foreman as the eighth greatest heavyweight of all time. In 2002, he was named one of the 25 greatest fighters of the past 80 years by ""The Ring"" magazine. ""The Ring"" ranked him as the ninth greatest puncher of all time. He was a ringside analyst for"
"Ron Lyle Ronald ""Ron"" Lyle (February 12, 1941 – November 26, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980, and in 1995. He challenged once for the undisputed world heavyweight title, losing to Muhammad Ali in 1975. Lyle was known for his punching power, crowd-pleasing fighting style, as well as courage and determination inside the ring. He held notable wins over Buster Mathis, Oscar Bonavena, Jimmy Ellis, Earnie Shavers, Joe Bugner, and Scott LeDoux, but is best known for his slugfest against George Foreman in 1976, which won Fight of the Year honors by ""The Ring"""
"Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream (January 31, 1914 – February 25, 1994), best known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1930 to 1953. He held the world heavyweight title from 1951 to 1952, and broke the record for the oldest man to win the title, at the age of 37. That record would eventually be broken in 1994 by 45-year-old George Foreman. After retiring from boxing, Walcott did some acting, playing small parts in a few movies and television shows. He also refereed several boxing matches, but after the controversial ending to the"
"the count. The dazed champion could not recover, only reaching his knees before Cortez reached ten. Foreman was champion again. At 45 years and 360 days, Foreman beat Jersey Joe Walcott's old record by eight years, and he had also become the first man to regain a world boxing title twenty years after losing it - and on top of that, no heavyweight champion had beaten an opponent 19 years his junior to win a title. The fight would go on to be featured in HBO's ""Legendary Nights"", where Foreman revealed that he had planned to sucker Moorer in, get"
"Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, billed as ""The Battle of the Ages"", was a professional boxing match contested on April 19, 1991 for the WBA, WBC, IBF and Lineal Heavyweight championships. On October 25, 1990, Evander Holyfield defeated James ""Buster"" Douglas by third round knockout to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. Prior to his match with Douglas, Holyfield delayed a potential fight with Mike Tyson, instead agreeing to face 42-year-old George Foreman for the titles should he defeat Douglas. Since ending his 10-year retirement in 1987, Foreman was a perfect 24–0, with 23 of his"
"Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, billed as ""The Battle of the Ages"", was a professional boxing match contested on April 19, 1991 for the WBA, WBC, IBF and Lineal Heavyweight championships. On October 25, 1990, Evander Holyfield defeated James ""Buster"" Douglas by third round knockout to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. Prior to his match with Douglas, Holyfield delayed a potential fight with Mike Tyson, instead agreeing to face 42-year-old George Foreman for the titles should he defeat Douglas. Since ending his 10-year retirement in 1987, Foreman was a perfect 24–0, with 23 of his"
"Houston. Two years after his second and final retirement, Salton Inc. paid over $137 million to buy out the right to use his name on the George Foreman Grill, and it is estimated that he has made over $200 million related to the grill, which is more than he made in the ring. Michael Moorer vs. George Foreman Michael Moorer vs. George Foreman, billed as ""One for the Ages"", was a professional boxing match contested on November 5, 1994 for the WBA, IBF and Lineal Heavyweight championships. On April 22, 1994, Moorer defeated Evander Holyfield by decision to wrest the"
"George Foreman and Muhammad Ali ever gave Frazier a harder fight. Many regard the Frazier bout as being Bugner's best career performance. After the Ali and Frazier fights, Bugner won a further 8 bouts in a row, his most notable victories being over top contender and ex-WBA World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis, the highly rated Mac Foster, and European title defences against Giuseppe Ros, Dante Cane and Mario Baruzzi. By the end of 1974 Bugner was rated among the top five heavyweight contenders in the world. Bugner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world championship in June 1975, the bout being"
"he was going to continue fighting or retire. After a 22-month layoff, Foreman was victorious in his return to the ring on Lou DiBella's Broadway Boxing card at BB Kings in Manhattan, New York on January 23, 2013. Yuri won the 6-round bout by unanimous decision. On April 4, 2013, Foreman again emerged victorious by winning a six-round bout. He defeated Gundrick King by unanimous decision in the junior middleweight division at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. Foreman, ""the first Orthodox Jew to own a world title since Barney Ross held championships in two divisions in 1935"", is one of"
"Moorer–Lennox Lewis fight. However, Moorer would instead chose to put his newly won titles on the line against 45-year-old ex-Heavyweight champion George Foreman. Though Moorer was ahead on the judges scorecards, Foreman was able to land a short right hand to Moorer's chin, earning the victory by way of knockout and ending Moorer's first reign as champion. On November 11, 1997, Holyfield and Moorer would meet in a rematch. By this time, Holyfield had regained the WBA Heavyweight title by twice defeating Mike Tyson while Moorer had regained the vacant IBF Heavyweight title after defeating Axel Schulz. This time it"
"winning the bout by first-round knockout. For his second defense, Foreman was matched up against Ken Norton for a March 1974 bout held in Caracas, the capital and largest city in Venezuela. Norton was coming off two successive fights against Muhammad Ali in 1973, winning the first fight in March by split decision (famously breaking Ali's jaw in the process), and then narrowly losing the second by another split decision in September. Norton's impressive performances against Ali made him one of the top heavyweight contenders for Foreman's titles, but the future hall-of-famer was installed as a 3–1 underdog against the"
"title) George Foreman vs. José Roman George Foreman vs. José Roman was a professional boxing match contested on September 1, 1973 for the WBA, WBC and ""The Ring"" heavyweight championships. In his previous fight, George Foreman had dominated Joe Frazier, knocking the champion down six times in less than two rounds to become the new undisputed heavyweight champion on January 22, 1973. For his first defense, it was announced that Foreman would travel to Tokyo to take on little-known Puerto Rican challenger Jose ""King"" Roman. Prior to landing his title match against Foreman, Roman had little success at that point,"
"champion and successfully defended that crown (as well as the lowly regarded WBU heavyweight title) against then-undefeated prospects Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese. Following his win over Savarese, Foreman was given the opportunity to face Lennox Lewis for Lewis' WBC heavyweight title, with Foreman first having to win an ""eliminator"" bout against a contender. The WBC supplied Foreman with a list of acceptable opponents, including future heavyweight champions Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman and the recently returned former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion James ""Buster"" Douglas, though Foreman ultimately picked Briggs. Coming into the fight, Briggs sported a 29–1 record with 24"
"George Foreman vs. Gerry Cooney George Foreman vs. Gerry Cooney, billed as ""The Preacher and the Puncher"", was a professional boxing match contested on January 15, 1990. Late in 1989, 40-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman and 33-year-old former top ranked contender Gerry Cooney agreed to terms on a January 15, 1990 fight. Foreman was three years and 19 fights into his comeback. At that time of his fight with Cooney, Foreman had won all 19 of his comeback fights, scoring 18 knockouts and only one opponent, journeyman heavyweight Everett ""Bigfoot"" Martin had managed to go the distance with"
"In an effort to unify the three titles, the WBA and IBF organizations announced a unification bout between Holyfield and Moorer set for November 8, 1997. The two men had previously fought each other on April 22, 1994 for Holyfield's WBA, IBF and ""Lineal"" Heavyweight championships. In a close fight, Moorer earned an upset victory over Holyfield to become the first southpaw to win a major Heavyweight title. However, his reign would not last long as he was defeated by 45-year-old George Foreman via 10th-round knockout in his first defense of the titles. Foreman, however, would eventually be stripped of"