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George Foreman, underrated? Does he still not get his due?
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:11 am
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:11 am
Jim Lampley said he's the story of the Century in sports...
...winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World 20 years apart...in the most young man game on the planet.
But Brady who never stopped playing in a team sport is more celebrated to win at 40.
Is it the grill? The schtick? Nobody takes his ridiculous achievement seriously?
You will never ever ever see an almost 47 year-old (and he did it in the 90s) win the Heavyweight Championship of the World, again. (Unless boxing just stops trying).
Is it because boxing is dead and we're all just NFL-centric?
The man wandered in the wilderness. Came out of retirement 20 years later and won the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Like Bird signing with the Celtics today and beating Jokic in the Finals.
...winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World 20 years apart...in the most young man game on the planet.
But Brady who never stopped playing in a team sport is more celebrated to win at 40.
Is it the grill? The schtick? Nobody takes his ridiculous achievement seriously?
You will never ever ever see an almost 47 year-old (and he did it in the 90s) win the Heavyweight Championship of the World, again. (Unless boxing just stops trying).
Is it because boxing is dead and we're all just NFL-centric?
The man wandered in the wilderness. Came out of retirement 20 years later and won the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Like Bird signing with the Celtics today and beating Jokic in the Finals.
This post was edited on 6/24/23 at 6:16 am
13
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:22 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
I think he was pretty unpopular when he was younger. The grill really helped reshape his image.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:28 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
Like Bird signing with the Celtics today and beating Jokic in the Finals.
Well, he is the only one that could. And maybe Jordan.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:54 am to EvrybodysAllAmerican
quote:
I think he was pretty unpopular when he was younger.
Well, he wasn't exactly a household name when he was going through his first part of his career. Ali and Frazier were all the rage in the heavyweight ranks and got most of the attention, but Foreman was making waves.
Much like Mike Tyson, George Foreman was simply KO'ing people on a regular basis and making a name for himself so sooner or later the top fighters of the time had to face him.
The way he KO'd Frazier in their first fight to win the Heavyweight Title ushered in the Foreman Era where most folks wondered if he'd ever be beaten. Foreman fought with a huge chip on his shoulders and was often mean and surly to those around him wanting to absolutely destroy his opponents.
Then came the Ali fight where nobody was picking Ali to win and many feared for his health going against such a brutal puncher and a man much younger than himself. Then Ali shocked the world by stopping Foreman in the 8th round by KO to win the Heavyweight Title back.
Georges confidence, his feeling of invincibility went out the window and he walked away from boxing to preach for several years and staying out of the limelight for the most part.
Then the money ran out and he couldn't keep doing what he wanted with having his youth centers and making a living preaching, so back to boxing he went.
That's when we saw a much humbler, self deprecating funny George and his legion of fans, both former ones and new ones took to the guy and wanted to see him succeed-----and he did when he KO'd Michael Moorer to once again become Heavyweight Champion.
He had a whole new legion of fans during his second run at the title and people love him to this day.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 6:59 am to bah humbug
quote:
quote: Like Bird signing with the Celtics today and beating Jokic in the Finals. Well, he is the only one that could. And maybe Jordan.
Larry Bird is 66 years old.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 7:42 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
If he was Muslim and a counter culture revolutionary instead of a Christian preacher selling grills he'd be higher than Ali in the media's eye
Posted on 6/24/23 at 8:03 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
I'll take being underrated and the money from the grill endorsement.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 9:50 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Moorer was the perfect opponent for an older Foreman. Glass Jawed and would lose focus and try to just cruise in fights. It cost him against heavy handed Foreman.
Still a heck of an accomplishment. Foreman fought much smarter in his second career.
Still a heck of an accomplishment. Foreman fought much smarter in his second career.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 10:00 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
The reason the grill sold so much was because everybody liked and knew George Foreman so it's hard to say he didn't get his due.
And that was a big deal when it happened but that was almost 30 years ago.
quote:
The man wandered in the wilderness. Came out of retirement 20 years later and won the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Like Bird signing with the Celtics today and beating Jokic in the Finals.
And that was a big deal when it happened but that was almost 30 years ago.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 10:38 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
He let Ali work him in Zaire. Had he put him down like people expected (after handily dispatching Frazier previously), he'd be considered one of the all time greats.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 11:06 am to udtiger
He quit boxing in his prime. Big George did struggle with boxers and of course, his matchup with Ali was the stuff of legends. He should have continued his career if he wanted a different legacy. A couple of fights with Larry Holmes would have been fun.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 1:08 pm to EvrybodysAllAmerican
quote:
I think he was pretty unpopular when he was younger. The grill really helped reshape his image.
He found Christ and changed as a person. He was less angry and more stable. But he always loved the USA.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 1:27 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
He absolutely destroyed Joe Frazier.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 1:44 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
Is it the grill? The schtick?
Naming all of his kids George.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 1:50 pm to gumbo2176
The Ali fight didn't cause Foreman to retire.
He retired after a loss to Jimmy Young. Foreman was so exhausted after the fight that he went to the hospital. During all this he supposedly had a vision from God. This led him to take up preaching.
His accomplishment should absolutely be held among the greatest accomplishments.
He won the title both times during the golden ages of heavyweights.
Ali, Frazier, Norton, Tyson, Holyfield. George was a king at a time of kings.
The 7th round of his fight with Holyfield was one of the best in boxing history.
He retired after a loss to Jimmy Young. Foreman was so exhausted after the fight that he went to the hospital. During all this he supposedly had a vision from God. This led him to take up preaching.
His accomplishment should absolutely be held among the greatest accomplishments.
He won the title both times during the golden ages of heavyweights.
Ali, Frazier, Norton, Tyson, Holyfield. George was a king at a time of kings.
The 7th round of his fight with Holyfield was one of the best in boxing history.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 2:39 pm to bamarep
quote:
The Ali fight didn't cause Foreman to retire.
He retired after a loss to Jimmy Young.
That fight with Ali took a lot out of George mentally. He was no longer that invincible guy who could KO opponents almost at will and he was not in a good frame of mind when he fought Jimmy Young.
If he'd fought Young prior to that loss to Ali, I'm absolutely sure he would have KO'd the guy in short order.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 2:45 pm to bamarep
quote:
He retired after a loss to Jimmy Young. Foreman was so exhausted after the fight that he went to the hospital. During all this he supposedly had a vision from God. This led him to take up preaching.
The vision from God was a hallucination caused by dehydration and lack of sodium. People often have hallucinations when they are dehydrated. Doesn't matter since he became a preacher and later heavyweight champ of the world.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 4:12 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
I lived around the block from Big George in Kingwood when he lived here. Probably early 2000’s. He lived on an entire cul de sac. We would chat a bunch since I grew up boxing Golden Gloves and George was like my idol. Great man, great Christian, and awesome role model. Ended up getting to know him even further when an MMA guy I trained with started going to his gym to work on his standup. George took him under his wing and saved my buddy from a lot of inner demons.
Big George is a class act.
Big George is a class act.
Posted on 6/24/23 at 4:32 pm to gumbo2176
quote:
If he'd fought Young prior to that loss to Ali, I'm absolutely sure he would have KO'd the guy in short order.
The only people to stop Jimmy Young was Shavers and Cooney and neither knocked him out. Nobody knocked Jimmy Young out and he fought way past his prime. Young was a crafty fighter and few people looked good against him. Not even Ali beat him convincingly.
This post was edited on 6/24/23 at 4:33 pm
Posted on 6/24/23 at 5:35 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
His fight with Ron Lyle is still my all time favorite boxing match. What a fight.
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