Distorted legend. Former US world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman was accused of sexual assault in the 1970s by two then-teenage women, according to lawsuits filed in Los Angeles. The lawsuits, obtained in recent days by People magazine and celebrity website TMZ, were filed by women identified as Denise S. and Gwen H.
Foreman, 73, was not identified by name but referred to as a former professional boxer who beat Joe Frazier in 1973 to become heavyweight champion, as Foreman did. Denise S. claimed to have met Foreman when she was eight years old and said he repeatedly raped her in 1976, including at a hotel in San Francisco, with assaults occurring when she was 13 -16 years old and Foreman 24.
Gwen H. said she was 15 when Foreman started assaulting her. She said her father was employed by Foreman and the boxer threatened to fire her father if she was uncooperative. The women are asking for a jury trial saying they suffered physical and mental injuries.
“I categorically deny these allegations”
Foreman denied those allegations in a statement to The New York Times. “Over the past six months, two women have tried to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family,” he said. “They falsely claim that I sexually abused them over 45 years ago in the 1970s. I categorically deny these allegations,” he said.
Foreman was Olympic heavyweight boxing champion in 1968 and then became professional heavyweight champion in 1973 by defeating Frazier. He retained the title until losing to Mohamed Ali in the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ bout in 1974 in what was then Zaire.
In 1994, at age 45, Foreman retook the heavyweight throne after knocking out Michael Moorer, becoming the oldest boxer to ever win a heavyweight title at the time. Foreman ended his career at age 48 in 1997 with a defeat against Shannon Briggs, presenting a record of 76 victories, including 68 by KO, and 5 defeats.