George Foreman Didn’t Hesitate To Name The One Man He Fought Who Was Better Than Muhammad Ali

George Foreman is one of the heavyweight legends from the so-called golden era of boxing.

‘Big George’ most famously holds the record for being the oldest ever man to become a heavyweight world champion after he stopped Michael Moorer with a 10th-round knockout in November 1994 aged 45, which was 20 years after his defeat to Muhammad Ali in Zaire in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’.

Even more impressive is the fact that he came off a long layoff to do it having had a successful first chapter in boxing which saw him beat the likes of Ken Norton and Joe Frazier.

When speaking to The Ring Magazine for their ‘Best I Faced’ feature, Foreman named the one man he fought that he considered better than Ali and it was world title challenger Ron Lyle.

“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 fought Lyle in Las Vegas in 1976. It was his first contest back after losing to Ali and he won via KO in the fifth round, but was floored twice on the way to victory making Lyle one of only three men to have put Foreman down.