A retired heavyweight icon has accused George Foreman of avoiding a showdown with him over three decades ago.
Foreman exploded onto a bustling heavyweight scene at the end of the sixties, shortly after he captured an Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
He established himself as a household name in no time at all and after five years as a professional he captured world honours for the first time when he knocked out Joe Frazier in their second round of their bout in 1973.
Foreman went on to face Muhammad Ali in their iconic showdown a year later, suffering the first defeat of his career to surrender his world titles to Ali in what is more commonly known as ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’.
Despite locking horns with an abundance of generational greats, ‘Big’ George never ended up crossing paths with Larry Holmes at any point during his tenure, although there were rumours that the duo were in negotiations for a bout during the late 1970s followed by the mid 1990s.
Speaking on All Access, Holmes shared details of his failed negotiations with Foreman where he accuses ‘Big’ George of avoiding a bout with him despite his best efforts.
“I keep telling them, I told George man I said ‘Let’s fight!’, he didn’t wanna fight me man. He’s a nice guy [but] he can’t carry the light around forever. The light will go out so you know he got what he wants, he done what he wants to do, he’s happy and I’m happy that he is happy.
“I wish we could have fought together so we could have got a lot of people to shut their mouths … Everybody said ‘what about George Foreman,’ it ain’t about that, George Foreman wanted no part of Larry Holmes.”
‘The Easton Assassin’ reigned as the heavyweight champion for seven years between 1978 and 1985, but after he was dethroned by Michael Spinks he would continue fighting until 2002 and would win his 75th and final bout against Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch, announcing his retirement from boxing a few months after, drawing the curtain on what was a glittering professional career.