Boxer George Foreman is best known not as the fierce young heavyweight fighter of his youth, but as the oldest man ever to claim the heavyweight championship. Foreman has had a boxing career in two distinct eras, the first spanning the glory years of heavyweight boxing in the late 1960s and 1970s, and the second defined by his astonishing comeback in the 1990s. The forty-plus-year-old Fore-man's comeback earned him the status of an American icon, and as he boxed and boasted about his ability to eat, he became a symbol of determination for a generation many considered over the hill.

In 1968 Foreman won an Olympic Gold medal in Mexico City. After turning professional he beat Joe Frazier to capture the world heavyweight championship. In one of the most publicized fights in history he lost his championship to Muhammad Ali in Zaire. By 1977 Foreman had...