Bob Foster
- Born
- 1938
- Died
- 2015
- Nationality
- USA
- Career
- 1961–1978
A tall, devastating left-hooker considered among the best light heavyweights ever.
Titles & Honours
- World Light Heavyweight Champion (1968–1974)
Career Timeline
1961–1978- Milestone
First recorded professional bout
vs Duke Williams · W KO
- Milestone
25th recorded win
vs Eddie Cotton · KO. Newspaper decisions excluded.
- Title history
Title reign begins
World Light Heavyweight Champion (1968–1974). Year from profile title history; exact title-winning bout not identified.
- Signature fight
vs Dick Tiger
W KO · Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S.. Archive selection: one of the first three wins over distinct fighters profiled here, not an expert-selected signature fight.
- Milestone
50th recorded win
vs Pierre Fourie · UD. Newspaper decisions excluded.
- Milestone
Latest recorded bout
vs Bob Hazelton · L TKO. Not necessarily the retirement date.
Derived from the current archive and profile honours. Title-reign years are not exact bout dates; title claims are not independently verified. Signature fights use existing profile selections, or clearly labelled wins over other archived fighters when no selections exist. Year-only dates retain their original precision.
Photo Archive
1 archival photographs under their original licences.
Fight-by-Fight Record
| Date | Result | Opponent | Method | Round | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961-03-27 | W | Duke Williams | KO | 2 | Capitol Arena , Washington, District of Columbia, U.S. |
| 1961-04-03 | W | Clarence Ryan | PTS | 4 | St. Nicholas Arena , New York City , New York , U.S. |
| 1961-05-08 | W | Billy Johnson | PTS | 4 | St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1961-06-22 | W | Ray Bryan | TKO | 2 | Forum , Montreal , Quebec , Canada |
| 1961-08-08 | W | Floyd McCoy | PTS | 6 | Delormier Stadium , Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| 1961-11-21 | W | Ernie Knox | TKO | 3 | Norfolk, Virginia , U.S. |
| 1961-12-04 | W | Clarence Floyd | KO | 4 | Maple Leaf Gardens , Toronto , Ontario , Canada |
| 1962-05-19 | W | Billy Tisdale | TKO | 2 | St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1962-06-27 | W | Bert Whitehurst | SD | 8 | Sunnyside Garden Arena , New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1962-10-20 | L | Doug Jones | TKO | 8 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1963-02-18 | W | Richard Benjamin | KO | 1 | Capitol Arena , Washington, D.C. , U.S. |
| 1963-04-29 | W | Curtis Bruce | KO | 4 | Capitol Arena, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1963-11-07 | L | Mauro Mina | UD | 10 | Estadio Nacional , Lima , Peru |
| 1963-12-11 | W | Willi Besmanoff | KO | 3 | Arena, Norfolk , Virginia , U.S. |
| 1964-02-25 | W | Dave Bailey | KO | 1 | Miami Beach Convention Hall , Miami Beach , Florida , U.S. |
| 1964-05-08 | W | Allen Thomas | TKO | 1 | Chicago Coliseum , Chicago , Illinois , U.S. |
| 1964-07-10 | L | Ernie Terrell | TKO | 7 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1964-11-11 | W | Don Quinn | KO | 1 | Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| 1964-11-23 | W | Norman Letcher | TKO | 1 | Kezar Pavilion , San Francisco , California , U.S. |
| 1964-12-11 | W | Henry Hank | TKO | 9 | Municipal Auditorium , Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| 1965-02-15 | W | Bobby Rascon | KO | 2 | Albuquerque Civic Auditorium , Albuquerque , New Mexico , U.S. |
| 1965-03-21 | W | Dave Russell | TKO | 6 | Norfolk Arena, Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| 1965-05-24 | W | Chuck Leslie | TKO | 3 | Municipal Auditorium , New Orleans , Louisiana , U.S. |
| 1965-07-26 | W | Henry Hank | UD | 12 | Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| 1965-12-06 | L | Zora Folley | UD | 10 | Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| 1966-12-06 | W | LeRoy Green | KO | 2 | Norfolk Arena, Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| 1967-01-16 | W | Jim Robinson | KO | 1 | Washington Coliseum , Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1967-02-27 | W | Andres Antonio Selpa | KO | 2 | Washington Coliseum, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1967-05-08 | W | Eddie Cotton | KO | 3 | Washington Coliseum, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1967-06-09 | W | Henry Matthews | TKO | 2 | Starland Arena, Roanoke, Virginia , U.S. |
| 1967-10-25 | W | Levan Roundtree | KO | 8 | Washington Coliseum, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1967-11-20 | W | Eddie Vick | UD | 10 | Providence Coliseum, Providence , Rhode Island , U.S. |
| 1967-12-05 | W | Sonny Moore | KO | 5 | Washington Coliseum, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1968-05-24 | W | Dick Tiger | KO | 4 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1968-07-29 | W | Charley Polite | TKO | 3 | Eastern States Coliseum , West Springfield , Massachusetts , U.S. |
| 1968-08-26 | W | Eddie Vick | TKO | 9 | Tingley Coliseum , Albuquerque , New Mexico , U.S. |
| 1968-09-09 | W | Roger Rouse | TKO | 5 | Washington Coliseum, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| 1969-01-22 | W | Frank DePaula | TKO | 1 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1969-05-24 | W | Andy Kendall | TKO | 4 | Eastern States Coliseum, West Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| 1969-06-19 | W | Levan Roundtree | TKO | 4 | Atlanta Municipal Auditorium , Atlanta, Georgia , U.S. |
| 1969-11-02 | W | Chuck Leslie | TKO | 5 | New Orleans Municipal Auditorium , New Orleans , Louisiana , U.S. |
| 1970-02-24 | W | Bill Hardney | TKO | 4 | Orlando Sports Stadium , Orlando , Florida , U.S. |
| 1970-03-09 | W | Roy Wallace | KO | 6 | Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory , Tampa , Florida, U.S. |
| 1970-04-04 | W | Roger Rouse | RTD | 3 | Adams Field House, Missoula , Montana , U.S. |
| 1970-06-27 | W | Mark Tessman | TKO | 10 | Baltimore Civic Center , Baltimore , Maryland , U.S. |
| 1970-11-18 | L | Joe Frazier | KO | 2 | Cobo Arena , Detroit , Michigan , U.S. |
| 1971-03-02 | W | Hal Carroll | TKO | 4 | Catholic Youth Center, Scranton , Pennsylvania , U.S. |
| 1971-04-24 | W | Ray Anderson | UD | 15 | Curtis Hixon Hall , Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| 1971-08-17 | W | Vernon McIntosh | TKO | 3 | Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| 1971-10-30 | W | Tommy Hicks | TKO | 8 | Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| 1971-12-16 | W | Brian Kelly | TKO | 3 | Fairgrounds Arena , Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , U.S. |
| 1972-04-07 | W | Vicente Rondón | KO | 2 | Miami Beach Convention Hall , Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| 1972-06-27 | W | Mike Quarry | KO | 4 | Las Vegas Convention Center , Las Vegas , Nevada , U.S. |
| 1972-09-26 | W | Chris Finnegan | KO | 14 | Empire Pool , Wembley , London , England |
| 1972-11-21 | L | Muhammad Ali | KO | 8 | Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Stateline , Nevada , U.S. |
| 1973-08-21 | W | Pierre Fourie | UD | 15 | University Arena , Albuquerque , New Mexico , U.S. |
| 1973-12-01 | W | Pierre Fourie | UD | 15 | Rand Stadium , Johannesburg , Transvaalx South Africa |
| 1974-06-17 | D | Jorge Ahumada | SD | 15 | University Arena , Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| 1975-06-28 | W | Bill Hardney | KO | 3 | Sweeney Gym, Santa Fe , New Mexico , U.S. |
| 1976-05-08 | W | Al Bolden | KO | 3 | Adams Field House, Missoula, Montana, U.S. |
| 1976-08-28 | W | Harold Carter | UD | 10 | Eagles Aerie, Missoula, Montana, U.S. |
| 1976-09-25 | W | Al Bolden | KO | 6 | Spokane Coliseum , Spokane , Washington , U.S. |
| 1977-09-02 | W | Bob Hazelton | KO | 10 | Willemstad , Curaçao , Netherlands Antilles |
| 1978-02-09 | L | Mustafa Wassaja | RTD | 5 | K.B. Hallen , Copenhagen , Denmark |
| 1978-06-02 | L | Bob Hazelton | TKO | 2 | Century II Convention Hall , Wichita , Kansas , U.S. |
Showing 65 of 65 recorded fights · last updated 2026-10-11. Imported record tables are not independently verified and may be incomplete. Early-era logs include newspaper decisions (NWS), which are not counted in the official totals above.
Record notes
Fight record last retrieved: 2026-10-11. Title histories remain subject to archival review.
Historical-era totals differ between record-keeping conventions (newspaper decisions, exhibitions).
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