"Sculpting George Foreman": A Soul Era Champion in the Golden Age of Black Heavyweights

The most consistent aspect of George Foreman's life has been his willingness to change. Yet with regard to Foreman's early career, scholars have fixated only on snapshots of the flag-waving gold medalist at the 1968 Olympics, the surly heavyweight champion at the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, or the gregarious pitchman for an eponymous kitchen appliance in the 1990s. These images, however, were not as important to the history of prize fighting as his process of transition in the early 1970s. Borrowing heavily from Soul Era popular culture to reinvent his public image allowed Foreman to interject himself into the sport's greatest rivalry between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali and initiate a series of mega-matches in exotic locales that ultimately became the hallmark of this "Golden Age" for black heavyweight boxers.