Teddy Atlas tried to pick a fight with George Foreman at a press conference before his fighter suffered a brutal loss to the late icon.
Legendary boxing promoter Teddy Atlas and heavyweight boxing icon George Foreman‘s first encounter in 1994 wasn’t a positive one.
Foreman was counted out by many boxing fans, pundits, and fellow fighters after losses to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison in the early 1990s. But despite his struggles, Foreman was awarded a heavyweight title fight against Michael Moorer for the IBF and WBA heavyweight belts.
Ahead of the Foreman vs. Moorer fight, Foreman and Atlas got into a heated altercation at a pre-fight press conference. A verbal exchange turned physical as a fiery Atlas pushed a sitting Foreman before security and promoters intervened.
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Teddy Atlas praises ‘gentleman’ George Foreman after 1994 press conference blowup
Boxing continues to mourn the death of Foreman, 76, after his passing just days ago. While Atlas and Foreman’s first meeting wasn’t pleasant, they became friends later on in life, and Atlas reflected on their press conference incident after Foreman’s passing.
During a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Atlas explained his pre-fight altercation with Foreman.
“If I were looking for a fight with George, I wasn’t in my right mind,” Atlas said of Foreman. “But it really wasn’t about that. It was about standing up for my fighter, not letting George push around my fighter. Not letting him get into his mind, start to deteriorate him as soon as the first bell rang. We had a situation that winded up being on USA Today, all over the country, printing it and putting it up…and I knew why I was doing it, I was doing it to just let my fighter know that this guy wasn’t going to come in here and bully him and push him around.
“It was an interesting way to greet somebody, an interesting way to greet an icon,” Atlas continued. “But at the end of the day, George was such a gentleman…I had to get rid of the ghosts from the attic, and that was the fight…
“They thought we had this tension, and it wasn’t tension, it was just this one moment. But everyone let me know ‘You know what George said? George said that Teddy Atlas is pretty smart!'”
Foreman went on to knock out Atlas’s star pupil, Moorer, in the 10th round of their fight to become boxing’s oldest heavyweight champion. He went on to earn wins over Axel Schulz, Crawford Grimsley, and Lou Savarese before a controversial loss to Shannon Briggs in his retirement fight.
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The boxing world continues to mourn the death of George Foreman
Atlas, Mike Tyson, and others continue to mourn Foreman’s passing. Tyson wrote a touching tribute to Foreman in a recent social media post.
Foreman’s accomplishments and success went beyond the boxing ring. He owned several successful businesses and even became a preacher after one of his most devastating boxing defeats.
Foreman’s showdown with the legendary Muhammad Ali is a fight still talked about more than 50 years later. Ali’s win was considered one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history.
Foreman’s legacy changed boxing forever and his impact will be felt for generations. He’s survived by his 12 children.
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