Heavyweight boxing icon, George Foreman, boxed across four decades and faced a host of fellow legends in the division over the course of his career.
‘Big George’ says there is one man who stood out to him as having the best chin, despite Foreman winning by stoppage when the pair met in the ring.
The now 74-year-old is considered most devastating puncher that the sport had witnessed during the 1970’s, defeating both Joe Frazier and Ken Norton by second-round knockout in the run up to his legendary showdown with Muhammad Ali.
That night, the Texan was on the wrong side of an upset against Ali in Zaire, losing his world title in the process. Foreman would retire from the sport aged just 28-years-old after suffering a defeat to Jimmy Young in 1977.
However, ten years later, Foreman began his journey on the most famous comeback in the history of boxing and in 1994 he knocked out Michael Moorer to become the oldest ever heavyweight champion at the age of 46, a record that still stands today.
In an interview with The Ring, Foreman recalled facing journeyman, George “Scrap Iron” Johnson back in 1970, a fight that he won by seventh-round technical-knockout, on what was still a frustrating night for the two-time champion.
“I hit him so often that I damaged my hands in that fight. He had taken ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier the distance and had the best chin that I’d ever come across. They stopped the fight but I couldn’t get him out of there cleanly, I still haven’t knocked him out!”
Johnson retired in 1975 with a record of 22-28-4, after facing the likes of Sonny Liston, Ron Lyle and Jerry Quarry, as well as Foreman and Frazier, and was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.