George Foreman, the heavyweight boxing legend, has named Ron Lyle as the toughest opponent he ever faced, even tougher than Muhammad Ali.
Foreman's career in boxing spans decades. He became the oldest man to win the heavyweight world championship at 45 when he knocked out Michael Moorer in November 1994. But his first chapter in boxing was just as successful. He beat notable opponents like Ken Norton and Joe Frazier.
Most people remember Foreman's loss to Muhammad Ali in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire in 1974. But it's his fight with Ron Lyle in Las Vegas two years later that Foreman considers his toughest.
In a recent interview with The Ring Magazine for their "Best I Faced" feature, Foreman said:
"I have to say Lyle because he gave me the toughest fight of my career. He hit me so hard, knocked me down, got knocked down and picked himself up. That was the hardest fight I ever had in my life."
The Lyle fight was Foreman's first after losing to Ali. Foreman ended up winning by knockout in the fifth round, but not before Lyle floored him twice. Lyle is one of only three men who have ever knocked Foreman down.
Foreman compared fighting Lyle to his experience with Ali:
"With Muhammad Ali I could do whatever I wanted, but I got tired and he was able to knock me down. If I had been more respectful of Ali I could have coasted at stages in that fight, and preserved energy, but I couldn't coast with Ron Lyle because he would have killed me."
Foreman's career was part of what many call the golden era of boxing. This period saw legendary heavyweight fighters like Foreman, Ali, Joe Frazier, and Ken Norton stepping into the ring.
Foreman's choice of Lyle as his toughest opponent shows that sometimes, the fights that don't make the history books can be the ones that leave the biggest mark on a fighter.
