Former boxing champion Foreman accused of sexual assault in 1970s

Los Angeles, U.S. | Xinhua | A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleges that former Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman sexually assaulted at least two women in the 1970s, loca media reported on Friday.

The two women accused Foreman of sexually abusing them when they were teenagers and below the age of consent in the 1970s, KABC-TV, the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network, reported.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, does not identify Foreman by name, but identifies the alleged abuser as a former professional heavyweight boxer who defeated Joe Frazier in 1973 to become the heavyweight champion of the world, said the report, adding that Foreman became champion after defeating Frazier on Jan. 22, 1973.

Foreman, 73, has denied the allegations in a statement to ABC News, alleging people are “trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family.”

According to the report, Foreman said in the statement that he will work with his lawyers to “fully and truthfully expose my accusers’ scheme and defend myself in court. I don’t pick fights, but I don’t run away from them either.”