George Foreman's Second Career

Part of what’s impressive is what your mentioned — 3 1/2 years after he lost to Holyfield when he was already old and the comeback seemed to have been a novelty act but not one that was going anywhere, he shocked the world.

He maintained his resolve and self-belief, kept putting in the work and didn’t waver. Could have easily packed his bags after Holy and walked away and just been a bizarre footnote in boxing history rather than an historic icon.

 

People talk about that three years for Ali like it was three decades. The same people give not even a moments thought to Foreman being out three times as long.

 

Foreman smiled at his opponents during his second career, when it came to the stare down before the fight. He was also much more empathetic and often used less force that what was required or called the ref to stop the fight . This shows us as a man foreman matured immensely from first career to second. I think we should measure his second career with this in mind, and maybe not measure it as much based on his competition. Although his knock out of Cooney is arguably one of the best knock outs in the history of boxing.