[5][6] Ten years later he announced a comeback, and in 1994 at age 45 won the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer.

Roman was not regarded as a top contender, but had managed to beat a few decent fighters such as EBU champion Spain Jose Manuel Urtain, and was ranked the number-seven heavyweight in the March 1973 issue of The Ring.

In 1974, in Caracas, Venezuela, he faced the highly regarded future hall-of-famer Ken Norton (who was 30–2), a boxer noted for his heavy punch and crossed-armed defense (a style Foreman emulated in his comeback), who had broken the jaw of Muhammad Ali in a points victory a year earlier.

Norton did not hit the canvas, but continued on wobbly legs, clearly not having recovered, and shortly he went down a further two times in quick succession, with the referee intervening and stopping the fight.

Foreman was favored, having crushed undefeated heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and toppled formidable challenger Ken Norton both within two rounds.

[28] Ali had been known as a fighter of speed and movement, but the rope-a-dope technique worked exactly to plan, since Foreman had not had a fight that lasted past the fourth round since 1971.

By mid-bout an increasingly confident Ali began to taunt the exhausted champion relentlessly, who had been reduced to mere pawing and landing harmless rubber-armed blows.

Late in the eighth round Ali came off the ropes with a series of successively harder and more accurate right hooks to the side and back of Foreman's head, leaving him dazed and careening backwards.

After a lightning two-punch flurry squared him up, Ali ended the bout with a combination of solid left hook and straight right flush to the jaw that sent Foreman windmilling hard to the canvas,[30] the first time he had been down in his career.

In some quarters it was suggested Ali was ducking him,[33] while taking on low-risk opponents such as Chuck Wepner, Richard Dunn, Jean Pierre Coopman, and Alfredo Evangelista.

However, Ali also fought formidable opponents, such as Ron Lyle, and accepted rematches with Frazier and Ken Norton, the only two men to have beaten him up until that time.

Following his first loss to Muhammad Ali and a subsequent year-long hiatus, the event was meant to re-spark interest in Foreman and showcase his strength and ability to knockout opponents.

[34] Because of the one-sided Foreman victory in their first fight, and the fact that Frazier had taken a tremendous amount of punishment from Ali in Manila a year earlier, few expected him to win.

After knocking out Pedro Agosto in four rounds at Pensacola, Florida, Foreman flew to Puerto Rico a day before the fight without giving himself time to acclimatize.

His opponent was the skilled boxer Jimmy Young, who had beaten Ron Lyle and lost a very controversial decision to Muhammad Ali the previous year.

In 1988, he won nine times, including a seventh-round knockout of former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi when referee Carlos Padilla stopped the fight.

Foreman attributed this to his new, relaxed fighting style (he has spoken of how, earlier in his career, his lack of stamina came from an enormous amount of nervous tension).

His public persona improved considerably, and the formerly aloof, intimidating Foreman was replaced by a cheerful, friendly man who engaged in self-deprecation on The Tonight Show.

The following year, Foreman was given the opportunity to challenge undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield for the world title in a pay-per-view boxing event.

Foreman, who weighed in at 257 pounds, began the contest by marching forward, absorbing several of Holyfield's best combinations and occasionally landing a powerful swing of his own.

His relatively high profile, however, made a title shot against Moorer, 19 years his junior, a lucrative prospect at seemingly little risk for the champion.

For nine rounds, Moorer easily outboxed him, hitting and moving away, while Foreman chugged forward, seemingly unable to "pull the trigger" on his punches.

Shortly after the 1994 Moorer fight, Foreman began talking about a potential superfight with Mike Tyson, then the youngest heavyweight champion on record.

[48] On April 22, 1995, Foreman fought midlevel underdog prospect Axel Schulz, of Germany, in defense of his remaining IBF title.

The IBF ordered an immediate rematch to be held in Germany; Foreman refused the terms and was stripped of his remaining title, yet continued to be recognized as the Lineal Heavyweight Champion.

Foreman said he had no plans to resume his career as a boxer, but then announced in February 2004 that he was training for one more comeback fight to demonstrate that the age of 55, like 40, is not a "death sentence".

The bout, against an unspecified opponent (rumored to be Trevor Berbick), never materialized (Foreman's wife was widely thought to have been a major factor in the change of plans).

[5] Under his leadership, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ opened the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in order to minister to children and adolescents in the area.

[5] Foreman opines that "It doesn't matter what you achieve, what you accomplish in this life...The most important thing is to keep your eye on the true prize, and that's serving God.

[65] In recognition of Foreman's patriotism and community service, the American Legion honored him with its James V. Day "Good Guy" Award during its 95th National Convention in 2013.