The True Heavyweight KO King: George Foreman (Patreon)

By Paul

In mainstream media, only a few boxers are synonymous with the sport itself. Muhammad Ali is known for his footwork, Tyson is feared for his knockout power, and Floyd Mayweather is identified by his flashy lifestyle. When the name George Foreman comes up, many people immediately think of the cooking appliance that he sold with vigor in the early 90’s. You know the one.

Despite being largely known for his commercial endorsements of products more than his boxing accomplishments, Foreman is rightly known by many boxing fans as the original heavyweight knockout king. Sonny Liston hit plenty hard, Joe Frazier is recognized for his epic battles against Ali, and Earnie Shavers has one of the most impressive knockout records at heavyweight. However, if you take all of their accomplishments and compare it to Foreman, it’s clear that Foreman is in a class of his own. Not only does he still have the record for being the oldest world heavyweight boxing champion in history, he has two other distinct records that have yet to be broken: the record for the fighter with the longest time between his first and second world championships and the biggest age gap between the champion and challenger (for heavyweights). Given all the hype that Deontay Wilder has gotten lately for his knockout prowess, it’s important to remind fans of the legendary boxers of the past and what made them so great. Plus, some of their habits can still be seen in fighters today, proving the old adage true: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

To understand a fighter (especially from the pre-internet days), it’s important to know their trainers. Foreman had the fortune of being handpicked as a sparring partner for Liston, coached by Dick and Sandy Saddler, and advised by Archie Moore, the Mongoose himself. A lot of their habits can be seen in his style, so let’s break down the most prominent ones. Before he came into his own, Foreman was brought in to give Liston work as a training partner. The value of a powerful jab was a lesson learned from Liston, and both men had spectacular jabs. Liston’s jab was made more powerful by being a natural left-hander in his everyday life, and Foreman varied the power in his jabs constantly so you were never certain if it was going to merely block your vision or shut your lights off. Although the physical tools were important, one of most useful things Foreman acquired from Liston was his fearsome presence. Liston built a reputation as an intimidating figure, and Foreman utilized the same demeanor in order to win psychological battles over his opponents as well as avoid extended interviews with the media.

In stare downs, you can see how Foreman never broke eye contact with his opponent, keeping his gaze focused on them at all times. People remember Mike Tyson doing this exact thing, which just goes to show you how important mental warfare is when it comes to fighting. It probably helped that Foreman’s 6’4” height and large frame (which was considered big for a heavyweight at the time) made it so that he often looked down at his opponents.

The Saddlers are boxing legends with Dick acting as the head coach for Foreman and Sandy directly influencing Foreman’s style of striking. The cousins worked together to craft the early punching and ring craft of Foreman, and this is most notable in the smothering handwork. Saddler is famously known for beating Willie Pep in 3 out of their 4 match-ups during a time when Pep was considered one of the most elusive boxers around (Sandy himself is widely recognized as one of the greatest featherweights of all time). Even though Saddler’s outstretched arms and lowered right hand seemed like shoddy boxing, it actually did a fantastic job of intercepting straight punches and taking a lot of the power out of their strikes (in old school boxing terms, this is known as a leverage guard). Constantly checking the lead hand gives an opening for your right, which Foreman did repeatedly and with frightening accuracy. This hand placement also gives you a chance to come up quickly with a left hook (in the orthodox stance) and it doesn’t give your opponents a lot of time to react.

Joe Louis did a version of this as well (defensively) and you can see MMA fighters like Mark Hunt and Daniel Cormier use it to great effect. Although he wasn’t called out for it often, Foreman also took advantage by pushing down on his opponents shoulders and shoved them back, which isn’t technically allowed but happens so fast it’s hard to get called on it.

The kickboxing great Giorgio Petrosyan does this quite a bit as well, but it’s definitely a blink and you’ll miss it moment.  

Last but not least, Archie Moore spent a brief period during his retirement training a young Foreman, and although the training didn’t last long, the influence stayed for quite some time. Moore is one of the few fighters that had a career spanning close to 3 decades, and his boxing style was largely responsible for keeping him competitive throughout. Moore was a vicious puncher in his days, and Foreman was already a formidable power hitter when they met. One of Moore’s best contributions was his cross guard. While it was shaped vaguely like the Philly shell that Mayweather uses, it’s definitely more offense-friendly and allowed Moore to hide behind his arms while giving him room to counter with right straights and left hooks. When he sensed hooks coming his way, he would dip his body low and slip the strikes entirely.

If the fighter was too close, Moore wouldn’t put himself above initiating a clinch battle and leaning his upper body on the neck of his opponents, something we see today with Lomachenko and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Foreman utilized this guard and clinch game early on and was aided by his larger-than-usual frame. He could take a lot of damage and wait for his opponents to tire or leave an opening, something that Moore didn’t have the luxury of (given his age and physical stature, an aging light heavyweight facing off against bigger men). When he decided that his opponents were slowing down, Foreman could unleash his own offense with minimal pushback.

This is still used today by the likes of Jon Jones, and you can see it in full display against guys like Glover Teixiera.

Even with all the greats mentoring and fostering his growth, if Foreman didn’t have the physical skills to match their training, we wouldn’t be talking about him in such high regard today. As mentioned previously, Foreman was blessed with size and natural punching power, and he made the most of it by marrying it with proper technique and ring savvy. An adept jabber, Foreman would slam his lead hand constantly to your face and body, and with his already slightly outstretched right hand ready to slap down your own straight punches, it would only be matter of time before you looked to throw hooks in order to land something on him.

This gave Foreman time to counter with his own right straight or duck under and come back up with hooks of his own. Foreman didn’t have the cleanest footwork, but his forward movement and pressure meant that you were constantly being forced into the ropes or to a corner.

If you decided to try and pivot out to either side, surprise! A wide right hand was often there to greet you, and if you think you’re being smart and try to crouch under, an uppercut would soon find a way to your chin.

A combination of all of the above meant that the longer someone stayed in the ring with Foreman, the quicker their options would dwindle.

Adding to all this was one of Foreman’s favorite punches, the walking left hook. Moving with the speed of someone going casually for a stroll around the park, Foreman would walk to his right while throwing a left hook/uppercut, catching his opponents off guard as they turned to pivot and meet him at the new angle. It’s a punch he’s thrown his entire career, and it varied by angle, sometimes thrown more as a hook than an uppercut and vice versa.  

This didn’t mean that Foreman was unbeatable, his 76-5 record is proof that even the best have off nights. Muhammad Ali famously handed Foreman his first loss at the Rumble in the Jungle by wearing out Foreman against the ropes and waiting for just the right moment to land a clean right cross. Jimmy Young called out Foreman’s constant pushing and was able to get a point deducted from him. Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison were able to take advantage of an aging Foreman and use quick footwork and longer range (respectively) to outbox Foreman towards the latter end of his career. Michael Moorer was outworking Foreman until he got caught with a flurry of punches and short right hand that knocked him out in the 10th round, giving Foreman the WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight titles TWENTY YEARS after losing his title for the first time. When fighters say that power is the last thing to go, it’s a safe bet that they’re referencing Foreman and his unprecedented knockout win against Moorer. Even though he largely stays out of the sport of boxing itself, Foreman casts a long shadow in the heavyweight division, and anyone who claims that X is the new heavyweight KO king better double check, Foreman never gave up that particular title.