George Foreman has spoken out and revealed there was one fighter he avoided during his glittering career.
‘Big George’ enjoyed a successful near 30-year career, which began in 1969 shortly after he won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City.
Foreman faced a number of outstanding heavyweights during his illustrious career, including the likes of Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali. His contest against Ali, dubbed ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’ is perhaps one of the most iconic events in the history of the sport.
The 75-year-old still holds the record as being the oldest world heavyweight champion in boxing history, a feat he accomplished at the age of 45 when he knocked out Michael Moorer in November 1994 to win the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles.
In a career that was filled with so much success, there was one man that ‘Big George’ was known to have avoided facing shortly after he became champion once again in 1994.
Speaking to Oxford Union, Foreman reveals how he refused a fight with WBA mandatory challenger Tony Tucker, admitting ‘TNT’ would have been ‘too tough’ for him.
“They tried to force me to fight Tony Tucker after I’d beaten Michael Moorer and I remember looking at Tony Tucker and saying ‘momma didn’t raise no fools’.
I’m not fighting him, and they took the titles. Some people I’m not going to fight. That’s the good reason, I didn’t want to fight him. Too tough. I’ve got to tell the truth.”
After refusing to face Tucker, Foreman was stripped of his titles. He went on to fight four more times, losing just once, before he finally retired from boxing in 1997.
