Bob Foster, former light heavyweight champion, dies at 77

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Bob Foster, the former light heavyweight champion who fought Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali and went on to become a sheriff’s deputy, died Saturday. He was 77.

New Mexico state Rep. Antonio Maestas said in a statement that Foster died at Presbyterian hospital in Albuquerque with wife Rose and his family at his side.

In Las Vegas before the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez fight, they tolled a 10-count on the bell at Mandalay Bay in honor of Foster.

Standing 6-foot-3, the big-punching Foster was 56-8-1 with 46 knockouts. He won the light heavyweight title in 1968 when he stopped Dick Tiger in the fourth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden. It was the only time Tiger was knocked out in his career.

Foster was named the third-greatest light heavyweight by Ring Magazine in 1994, and was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s first class in 1990. He was the Boxing Writers Association of America fighter of the year in 1968, edging Frazier in a close vote.