Perhaps no athlete in the history of sports has undergone a metamorphosis as startling as two-time heavyweight champion of the world, and first ballot Hall of Famer, George Foreman.
Teenage crime, rehabilitation, Olympic gold, Joe Frazier for breakfast, Ken Norton for lunch, five fighters in one night and a Rumble in the Jungle was only Act I. A 10-year interlude preceded Foreman?s return to the ring as the unrecognizable punching preacher, who was destined to reclaim the crown.
His 10th-round knockout of WBA and IBF titlist Michael Moorer shall forever be ranked as one of the most incredible moments in sports. ?It happened! It happened!? bellowed HBO?s Jim Lampley in astonishment, as the 45-year-old Foreman regained the title on Nov. 5, 1994, some 20 years after losing it to Muhammad Ali in Zaire.
It sounds like an old Frank Sinatra song but Foreman has been a mugger, a contender, a champion, a preacher, a legend and a king. The hard hitting Texan made a fortune as a wrecking machine and, when his fighting career was closing down, added his name to a fat reducing grill, which is estimated to have earned him over $200 million.
By contrast many of his contemporaries are no longer with us. Sonny Liston, dead for over 40 years; Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, tragic losses; Jimmy Young, Scott Le Doux, Tommy Morrison and the great Ken Norton; all taken before their time.
?Mirror, mirror on the wall, Norton was the fairest of them all,? said Foreman as he recalled his former adversary, who passed away last September. ?They said Muhammad Ali was pretty but you didn?t want to take your shirt off around Kenny Norton because he would embarrass you.
?It was a frightening thing to look across the ring at him and see all those muscles staring back. He was also a far better boxer than he showed in his fight with me, and proved it against Muhammad and Larry Holmes.
Foreman continued, ?Kenny suffered a stroke, months before he passed away, and some of us attended a WBC convention in Las Vegas, so that the proceeds could go towards his care. He didn?t need the money, but out of respect we all got in on it.
?What a guy he was. Norton was the most even tempered person you could meet and one of the most patriotic men I have ever come across.?
Meanwhile, Foreman presses onwards with his life?s work and shows no sign of slowing down. The American icon has hung up his HBO microphone, as well as his gloves, but continues to do what gives him the most pleasure in his home state.
?I?m still in Houston, Texas with my ministry,? said Foreman. ?My profession since 1977 has been a professional preacher. I?m an evangelist with the church for the Lord Jesus Christ. It?s just that my real profession couldn?t feed me and all my kids, so I had to moonlight as a boxer. I stay in Houston because my ministry is there and I still run a youth center.?
Speaking of kids, it?s only fitting that we keep everyone up to date on how many Georges now co-exist in the Foreman family.
?There were six of us but now there are eight,? said the affable ex-champion. ?Two of my sons had boys, who they named George, so we?re up to George VIII. I never forget a name and if boxing causes memory loss it doesn?t matter to me because everyone has the same name.?
RingTV.com spoke to ?Big? George (76-5, 68 knockouts) about his remarkable career and the men who made it unforgettable.
Best overall: Ron Lyle.
