George Foreman’s choice for the best fighter he faced during his career is not the most obvious one.
During the first half of the 1970s, ‘Big George’ was the most feared man in the heavyweight division and underlined that reputation in emphatic fashion when he caused a stunning upset by dismantling Joe Frazier to win the world title in 1973.
Showing little regard for the champion’s famed left hook, Foreman tore through Frazier in just two rounds in front of 36,000 fans in Kingston, Jamaica.
Two more swift title defences followed before Foreman met Muhammad Ali in The Rumble in the Jungle — an iconic event that captured the world’s imagination. Ali’s infamous “rope-a-dope” tactics befuddled a tiring Foreman, whose reign ended in the eighth round as Ali’s legend soared to new heights.
Foreman waited 15 months to return to the ring following the defeat in Zaire. He had questions to answer and did not expect them to be posed so ferociously by Ron Lyle — the man Foreman later named as the best overall fighter he faced, ranking him ahead of Ali in The Ring’s Best I Faced series.
Explaining his choice, Foreman said:
“I have to say Lyle because he gave me the toughest fight of my career. He hit me so hard, knocked me down, got knocked down and picked himself up. That was the hardest fight I ever had in my life.
“With Muhammad Ali I could do whatever I wanted, but I got tired and he was able to knock me down. If I had been more respectful of Ali I could have coasted at stages in that fight and preserved energy, but I couldn’t coast with Ron Lyle because he would have killed me.”
Foreman rose from the canvas twice to stop Lyle in a savage contest in which Lyle also hit the deck twice. Decades on, it remains widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight fights ever staged.
