GREAT FALLS — Great Falls boxing legend Todd Foster is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Montana. With the 2021 Tokyo Olympics coming up July 23, MTN Sports looked back at Foster’s impressive bouts in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
In 1988, after achieving supreme success as an amateur, Foster entered the Olympics as an under-the-radar candidate due to the lack of “buzz” surrounding his entry at Seoul, according to longtime Great Falls Tribune sports reporter Scott Mansch.
However, his performance was far from under-the-radar, as he won his first fight by knockout. His next match-up would be South Korea’s Chun Jin-Chul.
In their first match-up, Foster won by knockout because of Jin-Chul mistaking the bell from another fighting ring for their own. They replayed the match two hours later, where Foster knocked out Jin-Chul again. Foster then went to the quarterfinals, where he lost a 3-2 decision against Australia’s Grahame Cheney.
“He really became an American hero winning two bouts in Seoul, South Korea and nearly losing a three to two decision in the quarterfinals,” Mansch explained. “Todd Foster will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes ever from Great Falls. He’s on the short list of some of the athletes I knew and covered in my long career in Great Falls.”
After the 1988 Olympics, Foster turned professional and accumulated a 41-4-1 record with 34 knockouts.
To this day, Foster is still a hero among many in Great Falls by spending time coaching and training up-and-coming amateurs at Electric City Boxing Club.
