The sports world lost one of its all-time greats with the passing of George Foreman, plus more from this week in boxing.
George Foreman: 1949-2025
One of boxing’s all-time great fighters and personalities, George Foreman passed away this week at the age of 76.
An Olympic gold medalist in 1968, a 76-win professional and two-time world heavyweight champion at ages 24 and 46, a minister, a Hall of Fame-level pitchman, and so much more. Foreman went from a menacing in-ring brutalizer in the 70s to a beloved, soft-bellied underdog who captured the imaginations of the sports world when he made his comeback in the late 80s into the mid-90s, and all the while he maintained the same ferocious, one-punch power, from Mexico City in ‘68 to “It happened!” in 1994.
Our community remembers George Foreman:
More from this week in boxing:
- Sebastian Fundora made quick work of Chordale Booker to retain his 154 lb titles on Saturday night, with the card also featuring a pretty terrible decision that favored young Elijah Garcia over veteran Terrell Gausha, plus a win for Jesus Ramos Jr.
- Also on Saturday, George Kambosos Jr made his move up to 140 with a win over a spirited and tough Jake Wyllie, who subbed in on late notice and gave his true best in a good fight. Kambosos is now taking aim at Richardson Hitchins and the IBF title.
- In news that probably won’t surprise anyone, Terence “Bud” Crawford reportedly has no plans to return to the 154 lb division, whatever happens when he moves up to 168 to face Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford is (1) smart about this sort of thing, and understands that trying to boil back down to 154 after doing a full camp for 168 would be arguably even more risky than moving to 168 at all, and (2) let’s be honest, Bud Crawford isn’t going to fight that many more times, and there’s a reasonable chance Canelo is going to be his last fight. He’s 37 now and has made no secret of the fact that he’s chasing the biggest money possible no matter what the public thinks of a fight.
- With that Crawford news, we know that the WBO has eliminated Crawford’s claim to their interim title at 154, and that President Gustavo Olivieri says he will recommend Xander Zayas get an order to face Sebastian Fundora next.
- Speaking of Canelo vs Crawford, Dmitry Bivol gave his thoughts on the matchup.
- Jake Paul says he wants to fight Anthony Joshua, and “knows” he will “beat his ass,” but that he would never fight David Benavidez. “I know my boundaries,” he said, adding that he would “fucking die” in the ring with Benavidez. Many have pointed out that Paul has actually fought one professional boxer who was of any remote quality and that he lost to Tommy Fury, who is several billion miles from the level of Benavidez or Joshua, and I will again add that the last time someone put Anthony Joshua in the ring with a novelty boxer, Francis Ngannou got demolished so badly that he actually had to go honor his contract with PFL.
- Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions signed undisputed 130 lb champion Alycia Baumgardner, who would be a potential opponent for the Taylor vs Serrano 3 winner or loser after that July 11 event.
- Turki Alalshikh gave us a bit more of a look into his plans in the boxing world.
- Boxing will be part of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, so the sport has gotten through another cycle without being kicked out of the Olympics. It’s been a consistent worry for years now, but as long as World Boxing can hold its ground for a while and pick up some more momentum — seems likely now that they are IOC-affiliated — boxing may get a stress breather between Olympics for a bit.
- Jai Opetaia will defend his cruiserweight title on May 13 against Claudio Squeo, and he’s not thrilled about facing Squeo instead of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, believing the only explanation is that Zurdo doesn’t want to fight him.
- Eimantas Stanionis says he’s very confident ahead of his April 12 welterweight unification with Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
- Top Rank’s May 10 card in San Diego will be headlined by Emanuel Navarrete defending his 130 lb title against Charly Suarez.
- Badou Jack will defend the WBC cruiserweight title against Ryan Rozicki on the Canelo vs Scull card on May 3. Jack hasn’t fought since February 2023 when he won that title, and at one point Norair Mikaeljan won the vacant belt against Ilunga Junior Makabu, but now Mikaeljan isn’t fighting (hasn’t since November 2023) and Jack is recognized as champ again. Whatever!
- Angelo Leo will go to Japan on May 24 to defend his featherweight title against Tomoki Kameda. Yes, Tomoki Kameda is still an active fighter! There will also be two title fights in Japan on May 28, with Yoshiki Takei defending his bantamweight belt against Yuttapong Tongdee and Eduardo Nunez facing Masanori Rikiishi for the vacant IBF belt at 130.
- The WBC has ordered a super featherweight eliminator between Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez and Mark Magsayo, which could really be a terrific fight.
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