MacArthur "Mac" Foster (June 27, 1942 – July 19, 2010) was a 20th-century American
heavyweight professional boxer.
He competed from 1966 to 1976, winning 30 of his 36 professional bouts, with all his victories achieved by knockout. He stopped heavyweight contenders
Thad Spencer,
Cleveland Williams, whom he defeated twice, and
Zora Folley. Foster went the distance against
Muhammad Ali in April 1972, losing by a 15-round unanimous decision.
Early life
Foster was born in
Alexandria, Virginia,[1] a son, and the third of eleven children, of a
Mississippisharecropping family.[2] He spent his childhood years in
Fresno,
California, where his father found employment as a nurse. Foster picked grapes and cotton as a youth.
Fresno State University offered him a track and field scholarship out of Washington High School, but he declined the opportunity, choosing instead to enlist with the
United States Marines. Whilst serving with the Marines he won fourteen amateur boxing titles, and was deployed for two combat tours in the
Vietnam War.[citation needed] After a discharge from the Marines with the rank of
sergeant, Foster turned professional, becoming the third
Fresno boxer of note (
Young Corbett III was a world welterweight champion and Wayne Thornton rose through the rankings to become a number one heavyweight contender in 1970). He trained with Pat DiFuria at the Merced Street Gym.[dead link][2]
Boxing career
Standing at 6 ft 2" in height and known as "Big Mac The Knife from Fresno", Foster made his professional debut in 1966, winning his first 24 fights by
knockout, and was named
The Ring's Progress of the Year for 1969. Britain's Boxing Illustrated wrote, "He could certainly whack!"[citation needed]
Whilst being employed as a
sparring partner for
Sonny Liston, Foster was reputed to have knocked down the former world champion,[3] causing Liston two days later to work Foster over during another sparring session before handlers could intervene between the two men to stop it.[4]
Big fights
In 1969 Foster knocked out contender Thad Spencer in the first round, and twice knocked out a past his prime
Cleveland Williams.
By 1970 Foster was ranked as the world's number one heavyweight contender and seemed set for a title shot, but his 24–0 winning streak came to an end when as favourite he was stopped in six rounds by the more experienced
Jerry Quarry in June 1970. After the Quarry fight, Foster knocked out ageing and by then unranked
Zora Folley in one round.
Versus Muhammad Ali
In April 1972 Foster faced
Muhammad Ali in
Tokyo in a rare 15-round, non-title bout. Although he defied Ali's prediction of a fifth-round stoppage by lasting the distance, Foster lost a clear decision to the former champion, winning just two rounds, one round, and no rounds on the three judges' respective scorecards. Foster had never been in a professional fight longer than eight rounds before facing Ali.
Last fights
Foster followed up his loss to Ali with knockouts of journeymen Sam McGill and Charles Williams. He was then outpointed by Bob Stallings,
Joe Bugner, and Henry Clark in consecutive bouts.
Foster served as
George Foreman's sparring partner for Foreman's world title bout with
Ken Norton in 1974. He retired from boxing in 1976 after losing his fourth consecutive decision, this time to prospect Stan Ward. Foster's final record was 30–6, with all 30 of his wins coming by knockout.
Later life
After retiring, Foster volunteered his time as boxing coach for youth.[2]