How popular was George Foreman when he was younger/prime

After the Olympics, George turned pro, on his journey to the Championship, to when he beat Frazier, on to the Ali fight, how Popular was the guy? Was he a big name? {did everybody on the street and throughout the world know his name} How was his size and fighting ability viewed by the public? {exciting?} Boxing, throughout history, has had its "Ups and Downs"...there have been guys that were champion, but were not known as "Champ." Example: Look at the level of Dempsey, he was known by the everyday guy that walked the street, and throughout the world...the same with Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Ali, Tyson...then there seems to be the guy that is not quite up there, and of course the guy that nobody knows, even though he holds the title.

Comments (8)

EasyE

He was not popular at all, especially in Zaire. Before the fight with Ali, the boxing fans over there used to say "Ali, bomaye!" meaning "Ali, kill him". If you only saw the more recent version of Foreman you saw a changed man, someone who had been a preacher for 8 or 9 years and then returned to boxing. The young Foreman was sullen, humorless and surly. Boxing fans admired him for being something of a "monster", an extremely strong man with heavy hands and a killer instinct. I was around back then and remember him well. I saw his fights with Frazier (1 and 2), Lyle, Jose Roman, Ken Norton and Jimmy Young when they occurred. Even though he was without personal charm I rooted for him anyway. He was a big puncher and always fun to watch. Well, he was very well known, but not very well liked...

20y ago

hemichromis

he idolized sonny liston and tried to act more like him when he became champ, the young foreman was a very angry young man which is precisely why he lost against ali

20y ago

phallus

He was in the same bracket with Liston or Tyson. Heavy puncher, bad attitude, also a big guy.... he idolized sonny liston and tried to act more like him when he became champ, the young foreman was a very angry young man

20y ago

mECHsLAVE

He was extremely popular, meaning that everyone knew his name once he destroyed reigning, undisputed champ Frazier. But was he well-liked? No. He had the personality of a rug and had nothing interesting to say. It's truly amazing how he reversed him image and made that comeback. You'll probably never see anything like that in the sport of boxing again.

20y ago

yrrej

He was in the same bracket with Liston or Tyson. Heavy puncher, bad attitude, also a big guy....

20y ago

butterfly1964

he was just another sonny liston. no one really liked him that much, plus he wans't esxactly media friendly.

20y ago

hemichromis

he was very well known but noone liked him he seemed an indestructable machine m ost people prefer to root for the underdog the 90's foreman was a big teddybear!!

20y ago

mokele

not popular at all He was not popular at all, especially in Zaire. Before the fight with Ali, the boxing fans over there used to say "Ali, bomaye!" meaning "Ali, kill him". If you only saw the more recent version of Foreman you saw a changed man, someone who had been a preacher for 8 or 9 years and then returned to boxing. The young Foreman was sullen, humorless and surly. Boxing fans admired him for being something of a "monster", an extremely strong man with heavy hands and a killer instinct. I was around back then and remember him well. I saw his fights with Frazier (1 and 2), Lyle, Jose Roman, Ken Norton and Jimmy Young when they occurred. Even though he was without personal charm I rooted for him anyway. He was a big puncher and always fun to watch.

20y ago