Divine Intervention: Episode # 78: Two-Time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, George Foreman

On this episode of Divine Intervention, we are joined by two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, George Foreman.

George Foreman was born in 1949 in the town of Marshall, Texas. An impoverished youth, Foreman often bullied younger children, and even became a mugger and brawler on the hard streets of Houston’s 5th ward by age 15. Luckily, he was saved by Lyndon Johnson's Job Corps program, which helped troubled kids. Foreman traveled to California, where he met Job Corps counselor and boxing coach Doc Broaddus, who encouraged Foreman to become a fighter. Once he began to train at the gym, Foreman rapidly established an impressive amateur record. The culmination of his amateur boxing career came at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where he won a gold medal (his 25th amateur fight).

In 1969, Foreman turned professional, and within two years, he was ranked the No. 1 challenger by the WBA and WBC; by 1972, Foreman's impressive record was 37 wins (most by knockout) and no losses.

Foreman won the world heavyweight championship with an impressive second-round knock out of then favored champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 22, 1973. An unprecedented TV audience watched Foreman become the champ -- the fight was HBO Boxing's first-ever broadcast.

Foreman successfully defended his title twice, but when Foreman faced off against Muhammad Ali in the summer of 1974, he went down.

After taking 1975 off, Foreman returned to boxing, winning a number of fights before losing by decision to Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico in 1977. It was in his dressing room after the fight that Foreman had a divine intervention in the form of a near-death experience, and Jesus Christ revealed Himself to George, literally rescuing him from the grips of death and hell. After this life-changing experience, Foreman then gave up boxing and became a born-again Christian.

He was ordained a minister and began preaching in his hometown of Houston, Texas. In 1984, he founded the George Foreman Youth and Community Center, a non-denominational place for kids who need direction like he once did.

However, the George Foreman Center needed money to stay operational; by 1987, Foreman decided to return to boxing to support it. Foreman proved his detractors wrong when he kept winning fights into his 40s; in 1991 he had a shot at the title, but lost to champ Evander Holyfield by decision.

In 1994, however, Foreman took on the new champ Michael Moorer, and knocked him out in the 10th round. Foreman became, at 44, the oldest fighter ever to win the heavyweight crown, and also the fighter with the most time between one world championship and the next. Foreman gave away his titles in 1995, after defending them against Axel Schultz and refusing a rematch.

Since retiring from boxing, George Foreman remains active as a minister, businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and father to his ten children.