‘I fought Muhammad Ali and Holyfield but one fight was too tough to accept’

Boxing legend George Foreman has confessed that he averted a bout with Tony Tucker, deeming him “too robust” to tackle. Foreman’s illustrious profession spanned 28 years, from 1969 to 1997, boasting a powerful tally of 76 victories and solely 5 defeats.

He not solely clinched the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBU heavyweight championships but in addition earned an Olympic gold medal earlier than retiring. Regardless of squaring off towards heavyweights like Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Joe Frazier, and Shannon Briggs, Foreman opted to vacate his WBA title in 1995 relatively than face Tucker.

At a 2016 Oxford Union occasion, Foreman defined: “They tried to pressure me to combat Tony Tucker after I would crushed Michael Moorer and I keep in mind Tony Tucker and saying ‘momma did not increase no idiot’. I am not combating him, and so they took the titles.

“Some folks I am not going to combat. That is the great cause, I did not wish to combat him. Too robust. I’ve obtained to inform the reality.” After knocking out Moorer within the tenth spherical in November 1994 to assert the WBA and IBF belts, Foreman was directed to defend his WBA title towards Tucker, who was the necessary challenger for the affiliation at the moment.

Foreman opted to not defend his title, which led the WBA to strip him of it. As a substitute, he selected to defend his IBF title towards Axel Schultz in 1995.

In that bout, Foreman gained the vacant WBU title through a majority choice – a title he defended the next yr whereas additionally securing the vacant IBA belt with a unanimous choice victory over Crawford Grimsley. He managed to carry onto his WBU belt with a split-decision win over Lou Savarese in April 1997 earlier than retiring with a majority-decision defeat to Briggs in November marking the top of a profession stuffed with victories.

Tucker was on a 33-fight successful streak when he clinched his first world title in 1987, defeating Buster Douglas with a tenth-round TKO to safe the IBF belt. He risked his title for a shot at Mike Tyson’s WBA and WBC belts later that very same yr, however finally misplaced by a unanimous choice to the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’.

Tucker went 14 fights unbeaten earlier than getting one other likelihood at heavyweight glory, as soon as once more falling quick towards Lennox Lewis in Could 1993 in one other factors loss. After securing victories over David Graves, George Stephens, Cecil Espresso, and Dan Murphy, the WBA insisted that Foreman give Tucker the chance to problem him for the belt.

Nevertheless, Foreman declined, leading to him vacating his title. With a powerful report of 52-2 on the time, Tucker lastly obtained his likelihood to combat for the title in 1995.

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He squared off towards Bruce Seldon, hoping to reclaim heavyweight gold. Nevertheless, ‘TNT’ needed to admit defeat when he retired within the seventh spherical at Caesar’s Palace as a result of extreme swelling on his left eye. Tucker obtained one other likelihood to achieve heavyweight glory in June 1997 when he confronted Herbie Disguise for the vacant WBO title.

However he suffered a second-round TKO. Regardless of this setback, he gained two of his subsequent three fights earlier than retiring with a victory over Billy Wright in Could 1998 with an total report of 57-7-1.