Editing George Foreman (section)

=== Early career ===
Foreman turned professional in 1969 with a three-round [[knockout]] of [[Donald Walheim]] in New York City. He had a total of 13 fights that year, winning all of them (11 by knockout).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lotierzo |first1=Frank |title=Why We Didn't See Foreman – Holmes circa 1975–77 |url=https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/boxing-articles-and-news-2005-videos-results-rankings-and-history/1638-why-we-didnt-see-foreman-holmes-circa-1975-77 |access-date=March 24, 2025 |work=The Sweet Science |date=February 1, 2005}}</ref>

In 1970, Foreman continued his march toward the undisputed heavyweight title, winning all 12 of his bouts (11 by knockout). Among the opponents he defeated were [[Gregorio Peralta]], whom he decisioned at [[Madison Square Garden]], although Peralta showed that Foreman was vulnerable to fast counter-punching mixed with an assertive boxing style. Foreman then defeated [[George Chuvalo]] by technical knockout (TKO) in three rounds. After this win, Foreman defeated Charlie Polite in four rounds and [[Boone Kirkman]] in three. Peralta and Chuvalo were Foreman's first world-level wins. Peralta was the number-10 ranked heavyweight in the world in January 1970 per ''[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: 1969 – BoxRec |url=https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_1969 |access-date=March 22, 2025 |website=boxrec.com}}</ref> while Chuvalo was number seven in the world per their March 1971 issue.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1970 |title=The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: 1970. |access-date=February 25, 2020 |archive-date=February 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225235807/https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1970 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1971, Foreman won seven more fights, winning all of them by knockout, including a rematch with Peralta, whom he defeated by knockout in the 10th and final round in [[Oakland, California]], and a win over Leroy Caldwell, whom he knocked out in the second round. After amassing a record of 32–0 (29 KO), he was ranked as the number-one challenger by the [[World Boxing Association]] and [[World Boxing Council]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 |date=2006 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231138116 |page=275 }}</ref>