Punchers from the Past: MacArthur “Mac” Foster

Name: MacArthur “Mac” Foster
Born: 27 June 1942 Alexandria, Louisiana, USA
Died: 19 July 2010
Career: 1966-1976
Record: 36 fights, 30 wins (all 30 by KO/TKO), 6 losses ( 1 by KO/TKO)
Division: Heavyweight
Stance: Orthodox
Titles: None
Major Contests
Scored wins over: Floyd Joiner, Hubert Hilton, Joe Hemphill, Roger Rischer, Thad Spencer, Cleveland Williams (Twice)*, Jack O’Halloran. Zora Folley *, Mike Boswell, Billy Joiner, Bepi Ros,
Lost to: Jerry Quary *, Muhammad Ali **, Joe Bugner*, Henry Clark, Stan Ward,
**Past/ future holder of a version of a world title
* Unsuccessful challenger for a version of a world title
Mac Foster’s Story
Foster was born into a sharecropping family in Alexandria, Louisiana and was the third of eleven children in the family. His father was an admirer of General Douglas MacArthur and Mac was names after him.

When he was just eight months old the family moved to Fresno where his father found work as a nurse and Foster was raised there and picked cotton and grapes in the fields.
He did well at school particularly in athletics where he excelled at the strength events and was offered a track and field scholarship by Fresno State University but turned it down and instead enlisted with the Marines and did two combat tours during the Vietnam War.

In 1963 when he was stationed in Japan he attended one of the weekly boxing shows for the US forces. Foster was ridiculing some of the contestants and as an offhand comment he told a Navy boxer he would beat him up tomorrow. Foster forgot about the incident but when the Navy guy phoned and asked Foster if he was going to fight him that night Foster said he had just been joking and was no fighter. That got back to one of Foster’s officers and he was ordered to join the boxing team and reportedly went on to win 14 Service titles*.

After his military discharge Foster decided to try professional boxing. He had his first fight in Las Vegas in November 1966 and it was a near disaster. He faced Jimmy Gilmore who had lost his only previous professional fight and Foster was down twice in the first round. He recovered to stop Gilmore in the fourth. Fresno was not a big fight town and only Young Corbett III** and Wayne Thornton had brought fame to Fresno in the past so there was huge interest in Foster. After a first round kayo win in Los Angeles in January 1967 in February Foster found himself topping the card in a ten round fight in Fresno. It only lasted 97 seconds as he kayoed Sam Wyatt and every fight he had after that was scheduled for ten rounds or more. Foster had six more fights in Fresno in 1967 winning all inside the distance with the longest ending in the seventh round. He had seven fights in 1968 five in Fresno, one in Seattle and two in Nevada. All eight ended inside the distance with the longest going into the fifth round. The opposition was not strong with minor tests such as Hubert Hilton and Joe Hemphill the wrong side of the hill but a reasonable level of opposition for someone with Foster’s limited experience. The Hemphill win was Foster’s fifteenth in a row by KO/TKO. In 1969 he faced better level opponents such as Roger Rischer and Thad Spencer and scored two stoppage victories over Cleveland Williams. Rischer was knocked down seven times and Spencer was kayoed in the first round. He halted Williams in five rounds in Fresno then gave Williams a return in Houston and floored Williams three times and stopped him in the third round. A second round kayo of Bob Felstein in December 1969 made it 22 consecutive wins by KO/TKO for Foster. He was named Progress of the Year for 1969 by Ring Magazine.

Now he was No 1 in the ratings and a fight for the heavyweight title in 1970 looked a sure thing. At the beginning of 1970 the title was split between Joe Frazier, recognised by the WBC and New York State Athletic Commission, and Jimmy Ellis recognised by the WBA. Frazier beat Ellis in four rounds in February to unify the WBA and WBC titles so Frazier vs. Foster looked to be on the cards. In March 1970 Foster beat Jimmy Rossiter in four rounds and in April knocked out O’Halloran again to take him to 24 consecutive inside the distance wins. The 24 inside the distance wins looked impressive but a close examination of Foster’s record raised questions over the quality of his opposition. Rischer, Spencer and Williams were all on the way down and there was not one currently rated opponent on his record. Quantity was blinding quality. He needed one genuine test to be sold as a viable challenger to Frazier. The choice was Jerry Quarry with 17 June as the date for the fight. Quarry was just 25 but had crammed in 43 fights in his five years as a professional but had been knocked out in seven rounds by George Chuvalo in December.

The clash of big punchers was close over the first five rounds with Quarry in front on two cards and Foster on one. In the sixth Quarry connected with a right uppercut that shook Foster and then a right that sent Foster stumbling across the ring and he tumbled into the ropes and half out over the second top rope. Quarry landed a right as Foster was still bent in half and more punches as Foster clawed his way off the ropes. Quarry unloaded punch after punch. Foster fired back but was still unsteady and Quarry drove him to the ropes battering Foster with punches until he slid to the floor and almost out under the bottom rope with the referee waiving the fight over.

That loss was the beginning of the end for Foster’s career. He floored a very faded Zora Folley at the end of 1970 dropping Folley six times with Folley being counted out past the bell to end the first round and retiring for good after the loss, Foster also beat Mike Boswell, Billy Joiner and travelled to Switzerland to beat Italian Bepi Ros inside the distance in 1971. In April 1972 he faced Muhammad Ali in Japan unusually in a in a fifteen round fight with no title involved. Ali had returned after his three years under suspension and had lost to Joe Frazier in a challenge for the WBC and WBA titles. Ali outclassed Foster but Foster lasted the full fifteen rounds. This fight was the first time in Foster’s career that one of his fights had gone past the eighth round. He scored two inside the distance wins in 1973, one in the ninth round and one in the tenth, but then lost to Bob Stallings, Joe Bugner and Henry Clark and after almost two years out of the ring returned in February 1976 retiring again after losing to Stan Ward.

Foster looked after his money and was a very popular figure in Fresno. After he retired he taught boxing and worked with youth groups. He and his wife Yolanda had four children and his brother Keith served as deputy police chief in Fresno. Foster died of congestive heart failure on 19 July 2010.

Liston:
Foster has a claim to fame having reportedly floored Sonny Lison during sparring. Liston was preparing for a fight against Henry Clark in 1968. Foster was offered $30 per workout and took it as his manager felt he might fight Lison sometime in the future. According to Foster and his manager Foster hit Liston with a left hook that sent Liston into the ropes almost down. Foster hit him with another right and Liston dropped to his knees on the floor. Liston had to be helped to his feet and they had to grab him to stop him pitching forward on his face and had to be helped to his corner. They sparred again the next day and it had to be stopped as Liston was looking for revenge-not sparring. True says Foster’s guys . Not says Liston’s guys.

*Amateur records are often hard to check. Notes on Foster in Box Rec says that he was National AAU light heavyweight champion in 1965 but his name does not appear on Box Recs referenced list of AAU Champions or of National Golden Gloves champions.

**William J Rothwell adopted the fighting name of Young Corbett II to honour James J Corbett who beat John L. Sullivan in 1892 to win the heavyweight title. The Young Corbett III named in the story above was Italian-born Raffaele Capabianca Giordano who settled in Fresno and became a hero there. He was recognised as the World Middleweight champion by the Californian State Athletic Commission after beating Fred Apostoli in February 1938 but that recognition disappeared after he lost to Apostoli in November
Insanely Box Rec lists 83 fighters who fought as Young Corbett including fighters from the USA, United Kingdon, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Malaysia, Curacao, Jamaica, and Canada. The list includes not just Young Corbett II and III but also IV and three Young Corbett Jrs. There are also 15 Kid Corbett’s. I wonder if any other fight name has been adopted as often.

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