The Olympic gold medal George Foreman won at the 1968 Mexico Games is up for auction with a starting price of $2,500. The two-time heavyweight champion, who passed away in 2025, stood on top of the podium in what was his 25th fight, a year before turning professional.
The medal is for sale through Lelands auction house, founded in 1985. Bidding, open until December 6, has already received three bids. So far, the price is $3,328.
The gold medal has reached this showcase after appearing in the garage of a neighbor of Foreman. According to the auction house, in the late 1970s the American boxer asked his neighbor if he could store some boxes at her home. She had no objection.
A few years ago, when the woman’s daughter went through what her mother kept in the garage, she found a wide variety of Foreman’s belongings, including a driver’s license and two passports (which were auctioned last spring) as well as several trophies and the gold medal, which is now looking for a new owner.
“Since the medal was stored in a box in a garage for decades, it was not in perfect condition, so it was cleaned to be seen in its original state,” says the auction house while noting that “it is very likely that this is George Foreman’s gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. However, we cannot be sure without a photocopy or the original plaque”.
Foreman: Olympic gold in a US-USSR duel
Foreman’s road to the Olympic title began with a first victory over Poland’s Lucjan Trela in the round of 16 by 4-1. In the quarterfinals, he overwhelmed Romania’s Ion Alexe. In the semifinals, he knocked out Italy’s Giorgio Bambini in the second round.
In the final, he faced Soviet Jona Cepulis. Foreman showed overwhelming superiority until the referee stopped the fight in the second round. The image of the Texas-born fighter on top of the ring with a small American flag in his hand went down in history.
Once as a professional, in 1973 he reached the world title in the heavyweight category after defeating Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica. He successfully defended his title against Puerto Rico’s Jose Roman and Ken Norton before facing Muhammad Ali in the famous ‘fight of the century’, the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Kinshasa (Congo). Ali took the victory.
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