Between breaking news on Kim Kardashian?s butt and Lindsay Lohan?s miscarriage, TMZ found room on its august lineup for a boxing-related item.
Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, formerly the oldest man to hold a major title, had a word for the wise for Bernard Hopkins.
Big George watched Hopkins dismantle Beibut Shumenov over the weekend and couldn?t help but be impressed. The Alien now holds the IBF and WBA light heavyweight belts and is looking to fight the hard-punching but crude WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson.
Bernard doesn?t need the money. Bernard doesn?t need the acclaim. He fights because he can fight. He fights because he keeps proving, even at 49, that he can win.
But Foreman sees diminishing returns in The Alien?s future.
?I fought all the way until I was about 50,? Foreman told TMZ. ?Around my 56th birthday, I was gonna come back. I saw a path to the heavyweight championship. My wife said, ?you?re not gonna do it.? We all need someone like that. It was the best thing that could?ve happened to me.?
What was best for George Foreman may not be best for Bernard Hopkins
?Don?t tempt fate,? warned Big George. ?Leave while you can. When the curtain closes, you don?t want to be laying on your back in the middle of the ring? I think Muhammad Ali would say the same thing. Get out and smell the roses. There?s life after boxing.?
I have a sneaking suspicious that Hopkins, however much he respects Foreman, is going to do it his way. But if George wants to encourage fighters to quit, he might want to talk to TMZ about Roy Jones.
He?ll be no more open to retiring than Hopkins, but at least that?s a cause worth fighting for.
