Bob Foster | |||||||||||||
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Foster c. 1972
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Statistics | |||||||||||||
Real name | Robert Lloyd Foster' | ||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | The Deputy Sheriff | ||||||||||||
Rated at |
Heavyweight Light heavyweight |
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Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||||||||||||
Reach | 79 in (201 cm) | ||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
Born |
Borger, Texas, U.S. |
December 15, 1938||||||||||||
Died | November 21, 2015 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
(aged 76)||||||||||||
Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||
Boxing record | |||||||||||||
Total fights | 65 | ||||||||||||
Wins | 56 | ||||||||||||
Wins by KO | 46 | ||||||||||||
Losses | 8 | ||||||||||||
Draws | 1 | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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Robert Lloyd "Bob" Foster (December 15, 1938 – November 21, 2015) was an American professional boxer who fought as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. Known as "The Deputy Sheriff", Foster was one of the greatest light heavyweight champions in boxing history. He won the world light heavyweight title from Dick Tiger in 1968 via fourth-round knockout, and went on to defend his crown fourteen times in total from 1968 to 1974. Foster challenged heavyweight kings Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali during his career, but was knocked out by both fighters (the fight with Ali was not for a world heavyweight title, but for the regional NABF version).
Foster retired from professional boxing in 1978, at the age of 40.
Foster started his professional career on the night of March 27, 1961, against Duke Williams, in Washington, D.C., winning by knockout in two rounds. The first 12 bouts of his career were spent campaigning in the United States' Eastern coast and in Canada. In his tenth bout, he made his first of multiple forays into the Heavyweight division, and suffered his first loss, at the hands of Doug Jones by a knockout in the eighth round.
After two more wins, he went in 1963 to Peru, where he lost to South American champion Mauro Mina by a decision in ten rounds at Lima.
Three more fights back in the States resulted in quick knockout wins for him, and then, in 1964, he made his second attempt at entering the heavyweight rankings, being knocked out in the seventh by future world Heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell. He finished the year by posting three more knockout wins at Light Heavyweight, two of them in the month of November. The night of November 11 was Foster's first fight of note as a light-heavyweight. One month after knocking out Don Quinn in the first round, he stepped up in the ring again and faced former world title challenger Henry Hank. He beat Hank by a knockout in the tenth.