When George Foreman came out of retirement in March 1987, I was right on board in support of his comeback. Despite the fact that we didn’t have cable tv at the time, I did whatever it took to see as many of his bouts as possible. That meant going over to one of my sister’s houses to see them or asking them to tape them for me. When he finally reached his goal of a title shot vs. Evander Holyfield in April 1991, I was able to go to Atlantic City for a week to watch him train at Trump Plaza in training. Despite the fact that he lost to the younger and quicker champion in Holyfield, I was proud of his effort and supported him in whatever his next career move was.
‘Big George’ returned in December 1991 to easily knock out an inept Jimmy Ellis, hardly an opponent worth mentioning. After taking a beating against Alex Stewart in April 1992 and winning a narrow decision, he stopped Pierre Coetzer in January 1993 in 8 rounds. In June 1993, he lost a unanimous decision to Tommy Morrison in Las Vegas and announced his retirement with Tim Ryan in the ring afterwards.
The following April 1994, Evander Holyfield lost his titles to Michael Moorer. George disapproved of the decision working for HBO ringside and in July signed to meet Moorer himself on November 5, 1994 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. To prepare, he rented a house on the beach in Malibu, California and got into the best possible shape he could at 45 years old.
I was on vacation a week before the fight and bet $200 on George to win at 2 1/2 to odds as the underdog. It was the first time in my life I bet on a sporting event and I flew home confident that George could win.
As my brother and I sat glued to HBO’s coverage of the fight, we both were nervous as the bout entered the 9th round. Moorer had been pounding George consistently all night and despite his efforts, Foreman couldn’t land anything to hurt Moorer. In the 10th round, George became more aggressive and starting to land hooks and right hands. Out of nowhere, a short left-right combination knocked Moorer out cold with just a minute left in the round. As Jim Lampley screamed “It happened! It happened!”, I leapt from my seat in joy, knowing George had shocked the world and was the new heavyweight champion of the world at 45 years old.
I was on a high for days, and when I got my check from the MGM in the mail a few weeks later, that didn’t hurt either. To me it the fact that his 7 plus year comeback had ended in victory and November 5, 1994 remains one of the most memorable nights in my 45 years as a boxing fan.
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