Goodbye to Bob Foster

Former light heavyweight champion Bob Foster passed away at the age of 76 in his long-time home in New Mexico recently and I wanted to write a few words about the dominant 175 pounder of my youth.

I asked Showtime's Al Bernstein (my favorite boxing commentator for years) for his thoughts on Foster- "Bob Foster was one of the greatest light heavyweights who ever lived.
Great power, especially in the left hook-he is one of the top five light heavyweights of all time"

It's too bad that one of the top five light heavyweights ever (That gives me a future blog idea or even podcast) is more remembered for his heavyweight failures than his light heavy championship reign,
In fact, if you remove two losses from an ill-conceived comeback in the final two fights of his career, Bob Foster lost just once at 175, only a loss to the talented (and consensus number one contender) Mauro Mina on the road in Brazil blots that ledger.

Foster was generally avoided by the best light heavys (other than Mina) as he moved through the ranks, so he took bouts against heavyweights of world-class talent such as Doug Jones (too close to call vs Muhammad Ali), Zora Folley (World title challenger vs Ali) and Ernie Terrell (WBA champ and lost a unification bout to Ali) for money and exposure.
All beat Foster as, despite his height (6-3), his frame just didn't lend itself to the heavyweight division in a time before the existence of the cruiserweight division (175-200).
1967 saw Foster devote himself to 175 with wins over former top contender Eddie Cotton and Sonny Moore among five victories to send Foster into 1968 as the number one contender to two division (middle and light heavy) champ Dick Tiger at Madison Square Garden.
The size difference was startling as Foster was clearly the naturally larger man and crushed Tiger with one left hook in round four.
As huge of a punch as that hook was, Foster would throw another later in his career that has been a boxing staple of pictures and videos for years.

Foster would defend the title four times over the next two years with plenty of non-title bouts to keep busy before a heavyweight title shot vs Joe Frazier.
The tank-like Frazier disposed of Foster in just two rounds and Foster returned to the light heavyweight division without his WBA title.
Even in the era of just two sanctioning bodies, they did stupid things as Foster was stripped for not fighting their top contender-Vicente Rondon.
18 months and four defenses of the WBC belt later. Foster stepped into the ring with Rondon to unify the division and Foster conclusively unified in his favor with a two-round demolition of Rondon.
Now that his throne was solidified, Foster took on Mike Quarry on ABC on the same card as Muhammad Ali vs Jerry Quarry.
Remember when the networks televised great fights on free tv?
Jerry Quarry was a top contender at heavy, while Mike was more of a fringe contender at 175, but "the Quarry brothers vs the world" angle was a decent one, and putting Foster on the bill as a showcase for an Ali fight was good for buildup with an expected Foster win.
Quarry was competitive for three rounds before being dispatched with one left hook for what perhaps was the knockout of the decade as Quarry's foot uncontrollably twitched as he lay on his back on the canvas.

After a trip to England with a stoppage of Chris Finnegan in the 14th round in what was voted the fight of the year by Ring magazine, Foster would be given his fight vs Ali (Ali was not the champion at this time) and lived up to past form as Ali, not known as a huge puncher, dropped Foster eight times and finished him in round eight.
Foster would take two bouts with South Africa's Pierre Fourie by unanimous decision in 1973 before struggling to a draw with Jorge Ahumada in 1974 that many thought could have gone to the Argentine challenger.
Foster then was having issues with the sanctioning bodies as both the WBA and WBC were demanding that Foster fight their top contender (Victor Galindez and John Conteh) next or lose recognition as champion.
Being that both were excellent fighters and had a decent chance of defeating the 36-year-old Foster, yet neither would bring Foster a large payday,a frustrated champion decided to retire.
Foster would come back in two years, winning five and losing two against less than tough competition before hanging the gloves up for good.

Bob Foster would work full time as a detective with the Albuquerque police department and train fighters in his spare time during his post-boxing days.
No matter whether you rank him as the all-time best light heavy or not, Foster certainly ranks as one of the game's all-time best punchers and his highlights certainly ensure that his career will not be forgotten...