RIP George Foreman

[awz50]

One of the best grill salesman around and a pretty decent boxer too

[Ty Hope]

One of the hardest hitters ever. Absolute legend.

[chezball]

Ernie says hold my beer.
2. Earnie Shavers: Virtually all who faced him, including Larry Holmes, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali, stated without hesitation that Shavers was the hardest puncher they had ever encountered. As Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb put it: “Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I’d shoot him.” Sixty-nine KOs in seventy-five wins.

[jdandns]

They were pretty much the same, in terms of KO percentage.
George knocked out 68 in his 76 wins.

Earnie had truly awesome power, but his knockouts of champions only included those of brief title-holders Jimmy Ellis and Ken Norton.

George KO'd Joe Frazier twice and Norton once, all of those fights being complete demolitions. Foreman, perhaps most thrillingly of all, came up with a last minute knockout of Michael Moorer to reclaim the Heavyweight title just two months shy of his 46th birthday.

None of today's heavyweights could stand up to any of these guys.

Rest in peace, George Foreman.

[Hallco]

Another legend from boxing's era of dominance gone. I guess Larry Holmes is the last surviving member of the elite group from my childhood.

[JosieD]

Won a gold medal at the Olympics before turning pro AND defeated an undefeated Joe Frazier. RIP Big George.

[marl1220]

Originally Posted by chezball

Ernie says hold my beer.
2. Earnie Shavers: Virtually all who faced him, including Larry Holmes, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali, stated without hesitation that Shavers was the hardest puncher they had ever encountered. As Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb put it: “Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I’d shoot him.” Sixty-nine KOs in seventy-five wins.

[rms13]

His grills kept me fed living in dorm in college. I'm forever grateful. RIP

[no10pin]

Watching him knock out Moorer and win the title again at age 45 was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

Rest in peace big man!

[jdandns]

That long layoff from the ring might've played a role in his outliving pretty much all his contemporaries from his first go-round. Ali, Frazier, Norton, Ellis, Lyle, Jimmy Young, now George, all gone. Of course, he was the only one in that group to not have to take a Foreman shot. In his entire career, George himself was only ever stopped once, by Ali.

Foreman had early wins over tough guys Chuvalo and Wepner, who are blessedly still around, as is Jack O'Halloran, who George beat with a 5th round KO. That's right, a 21 year old Foreman knocked out the big dude from the evil trio in "Superman II" at MSG in NYC.

I was watching the Moorer fight live that night. George wore the same trunks he'd lost to Ali in 20 years before. Joy in the boxing world erupted and it actually spread to wider culture. Talk about a second act! His SNL hosted episode had a couple of classic sketches. He was an Olympic Gold medalist, too.

[majestik101]

The idea for what would become the George Foreman grill was originally offered to Hulk Hogan, who, thinking it was a goofy idea, declined the offer.

That turned out to be an enormously costly mistake.

George got the last laugh.



Rest in Peace, Big Man.

[jlzinck]

Wow only 10 replies for a great in his sport.

Yet if it were some young baseball player it would be filled with RIPS and loss of value on cards.

I saw 2 heavyweight Champions at O'Hare airport on the same day in late 95 when flying home from training in Chicago.

Saw George and Riddick Bowe within 30 minutes of each other.

[Poorboy]

He was a legend .
He will be missed.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by jlzinck

Wow only 10 replies for a great in his sport.

Yet if it were some young baseball player it would be filled with RIPS and loss of value on cards.

I saw 2 heavyweight Champions at O'Hare airport on the same day in late 95 when flying home from training in Chicago.

Saw George and Riddick Bowe within 30 minutes of each other.

If it was a baseball player the post would be in the baseball section. But I'd also assume there are 100x more baseball fans on a card hobby forum then there are boxing fans.

[asujbl]

Originally Posted by majestik101

The idea for what would become the George Foreman grill was originally offered to Hulk Hogan, who, thinking it was a goofy idea, declined the offer.

That turned out to be an enormously costly mistake.

George got the last laugh.



Rest in Peace, Big Man.

He made that up by the way

[majestik101]

Originally Posted by asujbl

He made that up by the way

John Henry.
Casey Jones.
Johnny Appleseed.
George Foreman.

American Heroes, all.

[jdandns]

What, no Paul Bunyan?

[majestik101]

Originally Posted by jdandns

What, no Paul Bunyan?

Paul Bunyan was a made-up person

[quackhead]

Grill, Baby, Grill !!





RIP Champ.

[jdandns]

Originally Posted by majestik101

Paul Bunyan was a made-up person

Well, how do you like that?
C'mon along, Babe the Blue Ox.
We aren't staying where we aren't wanted.

[coltsnsox07]

I wonder how all the little Georges are doing. How many of his kids did he name George again?

[rms13]

Originally Posted by coltsnsox07

I wonder how all the little Georges are doing. How many of his kids did he name George again?

12 kids, 5 Georges. I think they're all in their 40s and 59s by now so not that little.

[blackvodka]

RIP Big George. We all know the team mean grillin machine. He had an interesting life.

[Stifle]

Fortunate to see him fight in his prime. One of the few legends from the 70’s that could retell their fights.

[asujbl]

Originally Posted by majestik101

John Henry.
Casey Jones.
Johnny Appleseed.
George Foreman.

American Heroes, all.

This is a very confusing response