Foreman dead at 76, according to Instagram post

You know, though, I can't think of much else he could've done that he "missed." As many are saying, the man lived his life really fully.

 

he certainly had some unique biomechanics going on. And he was pretty clever in his second career. Favorite example was his KO of Cooney. The way he did that stroll toward Cooney, swinging his hands like he was walking, to hide the beginning of the unexpected left uppercut.

 

He was Paul Bunyan come to life.

I've told the story here before but in a previous life I interviewed a few guys who sparred/fought with George in his comeback. They all agreed that being hit by George was unlike anything else they had experienced. One talked about how gravity seemed to change, the whole ring shifted beneath your feet and you didn't know where to put down your next step. This saying applied to George like no one else... When he hit you, you stayed hit.

 

Yeah, Frazier and Ali were known to have been ill. Foreman was thought to be healthy.

 

Yep, Mr Foreman was just so damned heavy-handed.It seemed like if he just tapped
a friend on the arm as a way of greeting him the other guy's arm would be bruised for weeks !
Damn, it's sickening that so many of the icons of my youth have now passed on.
George Foreman - a great fighter and a great human-being.

 

I read the word “numbing” a few times and once “novocaine like” regarding his jab that your senses got progressively more dull each hit.

 

Foreman is now reunited with his mentors, Sonny Liston and Archie Moore in that great boxing ring in the sky, where fighters are perpetually in their prime.

 

I don't want to sound dramatic, but this is the first time my tears have fallen for someone I didn't personally know. Not even Maradona or Ali, athletes I admired, hit me this hard when they passed. But Foreman I admired him not just as an athlete, but for how he reinvented himself and for his faith. A true man in every sense of the word

 

Definitely a mans man

 

I am just beginning to process the passing of Big George Foreman, a fighter, an athlete and a man who has been part of my life since 1973. For now I am sad and shocked. Seventy six seems way too young for a myriad of reasons.

I was of the generation who watched a young Foreman destroy Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. I saw him appear on Sanford and Son and with Bob Hope on television. No one knew what to make of him as he was guarded, sullen and so devastating. One thing most had in common was we feared for Ali's life when they met in Zaire. For years the famous photo of the upset KO was taped to my bedroom wall , paper with scotch tape. My youth.

What I don't know then but would learn over time as a boxing historian of sorts was just how devastating the loss was to a emotionally fragile man child who never knew his father, who terrorized Houston's Fifth Ward for loose change to compensate growing up in dire poverty , for going to sleep many nights in a home with no electricity let alone food.

Somehow George ended up in the Job Corps instead of jail or dead and parlayed it through pure natural gifts to an Olympic gold medal despite next to no ring experience. He was a savant. Raw but a savant. In an age before PEDs and supplements he was a physical marvel, a true life adonis.

When he won the title he was had the emotionally maturity of a teenager.. Highly intelligent, a voracious reader but guarded, trusting no one. In the snake pit of professional boxing he had his reasons, won and then lost the title in a super fight, exposed to the world warts and all and the pain he felt was masked but horrific, the depression so deep he almost didn't make it back from the loss. He struggled to get his legs back the next few years but abruptly retired at 28 after losing in an underachieving effort against spoiler Jimmy Young.

For the ten years that followed George Foreman, former multimillionaire, Olympic gold medalist and heavyweight champion of the world drifted aimlessly. He preached on the streets randomly, avoided by friends who thought he lost his marbles. He fathered children and lost custody. He trickled through his money supporting a youth center for the underprivileged like himself till the well went dry. When financial ruin surfaced he decided he'd return to the ring , a challenge that once again branded him a laughing stock, a buffoon, a dreamer.

What no one understood but what the world would learn was how much this man grew, evolved and believed in himself. His first incarnation was a take on Sonny Liston. His second would be more of Muhammad Ali, likable, funny, self deprecating .... the difference was that only George knew what he had in the gas tank.

His comeback is legendary. No one believed he could do it . He managed himself, promoted himself, picked his own opponents, trained himself , marketed himself and time and again shocked the world. Along the way he developed a shrewd business sense that made him a pitchman second only to Michael Jordan and would result in a fortune close to three hundred million dollars. Yet he remained true to himself. He didn't drink, smoke, swear or act anything out of character. People laughed when they heard he named all five of his sons George but they didn't get it. He would make sure his boys would know who their father was ....

His story goes on and on ... a fascinating American tail. His loss feels raw , like loosing a family member. All I can say is that in a world not currently showing its prettiest side these days thinking of George makes me smile with pride for what the human spirit can accomplish.

R.I.P. Champion

 

In light of the Big mans passing, I’m curious about peoples personal experiences relating to him? God rest his soul, earth is a better place thanks to him having been born.

 

Amen

 

Me too
I loved reading his book.

George interacted with me on FB when I mentioned his teenage feud with ' tickety boo' and thereafter would occasionally reply.A true man of God and a incredible inspirational human being. Rest in Peace George.

 

It's nice to see so many people taking the time to pay tribute. Unlike Ali, who was somewhat kinglike, and destined to be immortal, I think George felt like your tough Uncle who lived across the street and wanted to beat your ass to drag you to church. He was beloved in a completely different way...he felt like family.

 

I grew up around a boxing fanuncle who bought all the magazines and never forget how excited he was George came back in 1987..he'd get all Foremans tapes sent to him from America and convert them to pal vhs. At 10 in 1987 seemed fantastical that a champion from 1972-74 of age 40ish could come back.
My favourite Heavyweight. Rest in Peace