Top 12 Greatest George Foreman Victories
As we all prepare to say goodbye to 2025 and move on to 2026, the countdown to the New Year will be a poignant one for many fight fans as they recall that the year just ending will forever be the one that saw the passing of a heavyweight legend, the late, great George Foreman. But “Big George” was more than just a great fighter and an incredibly powerful puncher. To folks outside of the fight game, Foreman had become just as well known as a pitchman, cheerfully selling grills, fast food, and auto parts. However, today we’re looking back at his incredible boxing career and its greatest triumphs. Over the course of what amounted to two championship-winning careers, the Hall of Fame warrior who scored an incredible 68 knockouts in 76 pro wins notched some truly impressive victories. Check ’em out:
12. L-MD-12 Shannon Briggs, November 22, 1997: The final bout of Foreman’s career may have been recorded as a loss, but unlike his other four defeats, this one clearly should have gone the other way and therefore rightfully takes its place as one of George’s great victories. Briggs had big advantages in youth and speed, not to mention the physical tools to give George a difficult night, but the 48-year-old Foreman controlled the action with his ramrod jab, pushing the younger man around, and occasionally staggering “The Cannon” with heavy right hands.
Briggs didn’t quit, and stole a few of the middle rounds, but at the final bell all watching assumed the old man had won a clear-cut decision. But then the scorecards were read and it was announced that Shannon Briggs was the new lineal champ, prompting outrage, and even investigations. But George decided it was a good time to hang ’em up, and so he rode into the fistic sunset, seemingly unconcerned with the official outcome of his final fight.
11. SD-12 Lou Savarese, April 26, 1997: At this point in his career, George didn’t need to take any serious risks, but while Savarese was not viewed as a legit top contender, he was young, strong, undefeated, and fresh off a knockout win over Buster Mathis Jr. In short, Savarese wasn’t the biggest risk, but he wasn’t a pushover either. Foreman fought like he always did in the second act of his career: steady, relaxed, and with enough aggression to keep the younger man from trying to overwhelm him. He opened a bad cut over Savarese’s eye in round three, and the younger man’s vision was hindered through the rest of the bout, as the two big men spent most of it exchanging heavy shots at close range. After a bruising twelve rounds “Big George” was awarded a split decision in what would be the final victory of his long career.
10. MD10 Alex Stewart, April 11, 1992: Having surprised many with his highly competitive performance against world champ Evander Holyfield, Foreman was now a fixture near the very top of the division rankings. Meanwhile Stewart, though a ranked opponent, was not viewed as a major threat after stoppage losses to Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer. The Vegas bookies tabbed Foreman a six-to-one favorite and those expectations appeared fulfilled when George sent “The Destroyer” to the canvas twice in round two. But instead of demoralizing Stewart, the knockdowns appeared to galvanize him, as he went on to give one of the finest performances of his career, taking the fight to Foreman and landing enough big shots to cause the former champ’s face to balloon up into a grotesque mask of swollen lumps. It required all of George’s strength and experience to stay in the fight with the younger man as he just barely edged a razor close decision to keep his incredible comeback alive.
9. KO2 Adilson Rodrigues, June 16, 1990: Foreman had returned to the ring in March of 1987 and by this point had reeled off twenty straight wins over various over-matched opponents and journeymen, but he had yet to face a world-ranked contender. Until now. Rodrigues was not viewed as a serious threat to derail the former champion’s quest to regain the world title, but he did represent the first officially-ranked, top ten contender that the 41-year-old had faced since his defeat to Jimmy Young way back in 1977. Additionally, the Brazilian matched up well with Foreman size-wise, and was no slouch in the power department, having notched 28 stoppages in 36 pro victories. Given all that, any kind of legit victory, even a close decision, would have bolstered the veteran’s standing in the division, but a relentless Foreman walked Adilson down and ended the match in round two with a thunderous left hook to the chin.
8. TKO2 Gerry Cooney, January 15, 1990: This match-up was initially mocked by some as “The Geezers at Caesar’s,” but in fact it was the duel which proved for many that Foreman’s crazy comeback was now a very serious enterprise indeed as the match-up of two big punchers sold-out Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and guaranteed million-dollar paydays for both fighters. Some thought the younger Cooney’s power would shatter Foreman’s comeback dreams, and Gerry did rattle George with a heavy left hook near the end of the first round, but then Foreman unleashed a vicious two-fisted attack in round two which led to a knockdown and was then punctuated by the now legendary “drive-by” uppercut shot. Without question, one of George’s most memorable KO wins.
7. TKO10 Gregorio Peralta, May 10, 1971: In February of 1970, the experienced and durable Argentine contender Gregorio Manuel Peralta gave a 21-year-old Foreman the toughest bout of his young career. Peralta absorbed significant punishment, but consistently frustrated the younger man en route to a ten round decision loss that some fans in attendance enthusiastically disputed. Fifteen months and eleven victories later, Foreman met Peralta in Oakland for a rematch. This time around, George showed he had learned from their first bout. He was able to get to Peralta and hurt him in the seventh, and again in the tenth, battering the older fighter long enough to prompt an eight count. After another barrage from the surging young contender, Peralta was saved by the referee as George Foreman decisively demonstrated his superiority to the crafty veteran who had given him fits just a year earlier.
6. TKO3 George Chuvalo, August 4, 1970: The iron-jawed Canadian was, on paper, George’s toughest opponent to date, having hung around the top ten for half a decade. In fact, just a few months prior, Chuvalo had defeated the highly-regarded Jerry Quarry by knockout. But against Big George, Chuvalo was simply outgunned. Early in round three, Foreman landed a monstrous left hook that rocked the Canadian back into the ropes. For the next forty seconds the former Olympian unleashed a nonstop barrage that forced Chuvalo to cover up and just try to survive. The game Canuck was able to deflect some of the blows, and even threw a few shots back, but it was still a prolonged battering, one that ended with Arthur Mercante waiving the fight off. With the win, Foreman claimed a major scalp and took a large step into title contention.
5. TKO5 Joe Frazier, June 15, 1976: They billed it as “The Battle of the Gladiators,” but a Frazier vs Foreman rematch needed little hype. It was a clash of former world champs, two big punchers, both men having posted incredible performances in their most recent ring appearances. George had scored a much-needed victory over top contender Ron Lyle, while “Smokin’ Joe” was coming off an amazing performance in a losing effort against Muhammad Ali in the legendary “Thrilla In Manila.” Given the vulnerability that Foreman had shown against Lyle, having been hurt several times and knocked down twice, all agreed that, despite the blow-out loss Frazier had suffered in their first meeting in 1973, Joe had more than a puncher’s chance to get revenge. But when the bell rang, it was George’s greater power and size setting the tone while Joe, sporting a shaved head for the first time, just couldn’t keep up. Foreman methodically broke “Smokin’ Joe” down and scored two knockdowns to win by fifth round TKO.
4. TKO2 Ken Norton, March 26, 1973: Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20, and so looking back it seems predictable that Norton, who over the course of his career proved vulnerable to big punchers, would fall to the new heavyweight king who had scored nothing but early round knockouts in his last eleven bouts. But that was not the thinking at the time. Norton impressed many in two tough battles against Muhammad Ali, winning one and dropping a razor-close decision in the rematch and, while a 3-to-1 underdog, he was seen as a test for the new world champ. Few were predicting a Norton victory, but fewer still were anticipating a complete blow-out, but that’s what it was, the defending champ obliterating the fighter who had given Ali so much trouble with ease, his power shots sending Norton down twice before the referee stopped the massacre.
3. KO5 Ron Lyle, January 24, 1976: Foreman’s reputation had taken not one, but two devastating hits as he went into his showdown with fellow power-puncher Lyle at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The first was the upset KO defeat to Ali; the second was a ridiculous five fight circus in Toronto that almost made George a laughing-stock. Foreman needed redemption and he got it, but only after the dangerous Lyle took him to the brink of another knockout defeat. Rocked numerous times and floored twice in round four, George found the grit and the guts to take the punishment before roaring back to score a fifth round knockout in a fight that is now universally regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight slugfests of all-time.
2. TKO2 Joe Frazier, January 22, 1973: With a record of 37-0, George Foreman had clearly established himself as a dangerous contender and a serious threat to take the world title, and yet few at the time saw him as ready to best the battle-tested warrior that was undisputed world champion “Smokin’ Joe.” The Vegas odds-makers deemed Foreman a 3½-to-1 underdog as Frazier — the conqueror of Mathis, Chuvalo, Quarry, Bonavena, Ellis, and Ali — set himself to notch his eleventh straight championship win.
So one can only imagine the shock of sports fans when Foreman absolutely demolished the undefeated world champ in short order, scoring three knockdowns in the opening round and three more in round two before the massacre was stopped. No other victory in Part I of Foreman’s career made a greater impact, or so vividly defined his image as an immensely powerful force of unstoppable destruction.
1. KO10 Michael Moorer, November 5, 1994: It seems with the passage of time Foreman’s glorious and unlikely victory over a world title-holder nineteen years his junior has somehow lost some of its luster, no doubt in part because Moorer never regained the form which had made him a two-time world champ. But the simple fact is no one had a right to think that a 45-year-old battler coming off a one-sided defeat to Tommy Morrison had anything more than a puncher’s chance when he stepped through the ropes for what all knew had to be his final shot to regain the world title. Indeed, the challenger was a solid 3-to-1 underdog that night.
But a grimly determined Foreman gave an extraordinary performance, putting unrelenting pressure on the younger man while absorbing countless clean shots, before finally getting home a perfectly timed and perfectly aimed right hand to the chin that made “Big George” a two-time heavyweight king. If Foreman’s demolition of Joe Frazier more than two decades before had established his image as an all-time great puncher, it was his equally shocking win over Michael Moorer that made him a legit icon in heavyweight history, an immortal of the fight game, and an all-time great. Rest easy, Mr. Foreman. You are forever a heavyweight legend. –Neil Crane
