Two women have filed lawsuits in a Los Angeles court alleging that former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman sexually abused them in the 1970s.

Since the claims initially surfaced last month, Foreman, 73, has denied them, and spokespeople have pointed queries about the cases to an earlier statement by him.

On Wednesday, the women filed separate cases in Los Angeles County Superior Court under the aliases Gwen H. and Denise F.

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In the cases, Foreman is referred to as DOE 1, yet he is portrayed as the professional boxer who defeated Joe Frazier in 1973 to become the world heavyweight champion before losing the belt to Muhammad Ali in 1974.

Both women, now in their early 60s, said they first encountered Foreman when they were children because their fathers were boxing partners with him.

In her case, Denise, a Los Angeles resident, claimed that Foreman groomed her when she was 8 years old and had sex with her when she was 15 (under the legal age of consent), once in a San Francisco hotel room.

Gwen, a Nevada resident, claimed she met Foreman when she was 9 years old and that he sexually abused and raped her when she was 15 and 16 years old, including at a Beverly Hills condominium. She claimed Foreman threatened her father’s employment as a boxing adviser if she did not cooperate.

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Foreman dismissed the charges as unfounded and without merit.

“Over the past six months, two women have been trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family,” he said in a statement. “I don’t pick fights, but I don’t run away from them either.”

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The claims were filed as a result of a California law that took effect in 2020 and extended the statute of limitations, which previously barred some victims of childhood sexual abuse from launching civil lawsuits.

Both ladies want a jury trial and an undefined sum of money in damages.