Although Bob Foster is undoubtedly considered one of the greatest airy heavyweight champions of all time, he was not a household name during his prime. His reign as champion lasted from 1968 to 1974 and included 14 successful title defenses. However, Foster is best known for his two devastating defeats at the hands of heavyweight greats Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.

One reason Foster didn’t achieve fame as a champion is that there weren’t many recognizable names in the airy heavyweight era he dominated. It’s obvious that Andy Kendall, Roger Rouse, Mark Tessman and Ray Anderson aren’t exactly killer contenders.

If Foster’s career had started a little later, his peak would have been during the golden age of the airy heavyweight division, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. During those years, there were countless wars of attrition led by fighters like Victor Galindez, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Michael Spinks, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, and Marvin Johnson, to name a few.

Unfortunately for Foster, he didn’t quite make it into the era, and despite dominating the airy heavyweight division, he wasn’t a major box office draw. So it was surprising how much attention he got before his 13th birthday.t title defense against fellow countryman favorite Pierre Fourie in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The fight took place on December 1, 1973 at the Rand Stadium before a divided crowd of 40,000. It was historic because it was the first fight between black and white fighters in South Africa in almost twenty years. Although fights between black and white fighters are common today, they have been banned in South Africa since 1954 under Regulation 15 of the Boxing Control Act.

This law was part of a larger social system of apartheid, or “separateness” in Afrikaans, which according to South African History on the Internetwas a system of institutionalized racial oppression that was introduced in South Africa in 1948. Apartheid was a social system supported by the National Party government that “seriously disadvantaged the majority of the population, simply because they did not share the skin color of their rulers. Many were kept just above poverty because they were ‘non-white.’

Although segregation already existed before the National Party came to power, apartheid entrenched segregation as part of the law.

So how did Foster-Fourie II come about?

To answer that question, we have to go back four months to that monumental clash in South Africa, when Foster and Fourie first faced off in Foster’s hometown of Albuquerque.

Fourie was confident entering his first title fight, citing Foster’s age and inactivity as reasons for optimism. “Foster’s 34 for four years. He hasn’t fought in nine months. Nobody knows what that does to a man, not even himself. You can’t tell if your reflexes are gone after sparring. But he’ll find out on Tuesday. Taking a break from the fight won’t support him. I know the crowd will be against me, but I’ve fought when the crowd was against me before. But I didn’t freeze. I didn’t freeze for any fighter.”

There was some controversy at the weigh-in for the fight, with Foster claiming that Fourie told him, “Tonight’s the night, boy.” Foster took offense to the remark as racist and vowed to knock Fourie out for his verbal abuse. However, Fourie was confused when Foster thought he had called him a boy, saying that he “wouldn’t insult the champion.” Alan Toweel, Fourie’s manager and trainer, maintained that his fighter greeted the champion and said, “Tonight’s the night, Bobby,” and that Foster misunderstood the South African accent. However, Foster did not believe this explanation and was determined to finish Fourie off before the final bell.

But Foster couldn’t end Fourie’s night early, with the South African becoming only the second title contender to go the distance with Foster. However, it was a purely moral victory for Fourie, as he lost a crushing decision on all three scorecards, much to the delight of the 10,200 pro-Foster fans in attendance.

After the fight, Fourie expressed disappointment with his performance, while complimenting Foster: “I wanted to fight close, but he stifled my attack. I couldn’t get in. I want a rematch. I don’t think it’s a disgrace to lose to the champion. He’s the greatest airy heavyweight champion of all time.”

Fourie’s request for a rematch was wishful thinking, given that the fight was not evenly matched. But as is often the case in boxing, money speaks for itself. And there was money to be made in a rematch in South Africa. But to make it happen, apartheid laws in that country had to be circumvented, requiring the support of South African sports minister Piet Koornhof.

A few weeks after the first fight, Koornhof confidently declared Albuquerque Journal that a rematch would be possible in South Africa if he and his department consulted with the National Boxing Board of Control.

Promoter Maurice Toweel, brother of Fourie’s trainer Alan Toweel, was able to ingratiate himself with Koornhof and obtain a special government waiver to ease apartheid in the sport so that the fight could take place. All that remained was for Foster and his team to be announced “honorary whites” in South Africa, as ridiculous as that sounds.

Before leaving for South Africa, Foster said, “Two hundred thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money for a night’s work – and I’m not even fighting anyone. Yeah, my mother advised me against it. She’s afraid I’ll lose my title. That’s the least of my worries. I expect some harassment, but I hope it’s not as bad as I’ve heard about it. This could be a milestone for Blacks of South Africa in terms of breaking down barriers. Maybe we can break down some barriers so that Blacks can also fight. I hope so, because I’m taking my wife with me.”

Although Foster was motivated to fight for equality in South Africa for its black population, he was even more motivated by the biggest payday of his career. In a 2005 article in Albuquerque Journal Scott Fontaine, Foster said he turned down an initial offer of $150,000 and only took the fight when he was offered an additional $50,000 to sweeten the deal. So clearly money was a major factor.

Whatever the motivation, it was clear upon Foster’s arrival that his presence was highly valued by the black population of South Africa, who flocked to see him. Albuquerque boxing promoter Paul Chavez, who had organized Foster’s first fight with Fourie, was in Johannesburg as part of Foster’s team and witnessed the hysteria firsthand.

“Constable [Foster] works at the YMCA gym in Mayfair, Johannesburg. It’s packed every day—three or four hundred people fill the gym to see Bobby train. People even wait for Bobby to shower, and then greet him when he comes out. The people are fantastic—they even wait by Bobby’s car and reach out to touch him when he comes out of the gym. The officials here don’t even like it when Bobby leaves the hotel because he could start a riot in the streets. People here are crazy about him. They wait outside his hotel every day just to see him.

In addition to his regular workout routine, Foster starred in numerous ad campaigns for beer, cigarettes, and sportswear. Of those ad earnings, he donated $50,000 to a charity that helped black children pay for school. This shows that Foster was genuinely trying to support the underprivileged majority of the population.

When the time finally came for the fight, it was an anticlimactic event. Although Fourie was the more competitive, he lost on all three scorecards, albeit by a smaller margin. It was a fight in which Foster once again dominated with a left jab. As written in Albuquerque Journal“Foster didn’t look worried at all and controlled the second half of the fight, starting each round difficult with a series of left jabs and waiting for Fourie to come to him.”

Despite being in control, Foster was far from impressed with his performance: “I just didn’t have a chance to peaceful down. His problem is he could have been a great middleweight. He never hurt me. But I couldn’t move.”

Foster ultimately achieved what he set out to do when he arrived in Johannesburg: defend his title and collect a hefty cheque.

Considering the overall careers of Foster and Fourie, it’s safe and sound to say that their second fight was the most significant fight in history that either of them has ever been involved in. But can Foster be called a paragon of racial equality because he fought Fourie in South Africa?

I don’t think we could have gone that far, because money was his primary motivator. However, as South African boxing expert Ron Jackson stated in Fontaine’s 2005 article, “Fourie’s fight with Foster in Johannesburg was really a test for the integrated sport. It’s not an exaggeration to say that going back a few years would have led to the racial unrest that was predicted at the time.”

Fortunately, there were no racial incidents associated with the fight, but progress was snail-paced and it was another four years before interracial boxing was fully legalised in South Africa.

Looking back over 40 years later, Foster-Fourie II truly paved the way for equal opportunity for black boxers in South Africa. For any social progress to occur, a watershed event was needed to break the barrier.

And with black and white boxers sharing the professional prize ring, the Foster-Fourie rematch was that event. It took a popular, homegrown contender challenging a respected, long-reigning champion for the country to finally see the two races united in the ring once again.