What ended George Foreman's time as an HBO broadcaster?

I remember George kind of flipping out after the De La Hoya-Mosley II decision was announced. He came across (to this viewer) as suspicious and accusatory, insisting that something funny was going on.

George disappeared from the broadcasts sometime after that. I think he had also expressed on air his disrespect for broadcast teammate Larry Merchant. Was that the reason for his departure?

 

Never thought I'd see this.

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Makes a change from him being a bitter & jealous arsehole about him.

 

It’s almost as if someone can have issues/beef with someone while they’re living but also have fond feelings and respect for them and not actually want them to die.

Sheesh. Larry paying his respects here.

 

In the interview with Max Kellerman he said that it started to become a job, and he got into boxing not to have a job, so he decided to quit.

 

He was one of my favorite commentators, especially during a heavyweight fight. Funny too.

 

I believe he missed spending time with his family.

 

I remember he announced his retirement from broadcasting & there was a tribute to him in (what was intended to be) his final broadcast.

However, I remember him returning for a single broadcast out of the blue when the scheduled color commentator was unable to appear for whatever reason.

 

A nice photo but Holmes’ enthusiasm was fake. The man publicly slammed foreman for decades. Larry was a great fighter but a hateful man

 

Saw something on X/twitter that I had forgotten.

When a melee/riot broke out after one of the Bowe-Golota fights, part of the mob in the crowd tried to get at the commentary table apparently after Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant. George stood up and said ‘you don’t want to do that, son’ and protected his fellow announcers, turning some would-be hooligans back away from the ring and making sure Jim and Larry didn’t get attacked in the chaos.

Legend.

 

Mosley-De La Hoya 2 was September 03’

Foreman suggested it had to do with corruption/fixing, and pulled rank with the “you don’t know boxing, you just watch it Larry” when Merchant disagreed.

Three months later, Foreman said he was retiring to spend more time with his family

https://www.nydailynews.com/2003/12/05/george-quits-hbo-stunned/

Maybe true, maybe something happened behind the scenes, whether it be a contract dispute or the issues with Merchant.

Morales-Chavez was supposed to be his last HBO fight, they have a tribute at the end for him

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Foreman returned later for Klitschko-Peter 1. He had one of my favorite comments on the undercard, during the Cotto-Torres classic

Lampley: Torres’s corner is telling him to oversell the low blows and make an act of it. Makes sense.

Foreman: it makes sense if you don’t have a lot of dignity.

 

i will never forget his work on the bowe-golota rematch. riot spilled into the stands. live feed from h.b.o. visual goes black but you could still hear the audio. amidst the chaos, you can hear george saying to a rioter, "you don't want to do this son. you REALLY don't want to do this."
visual comes back few minutes later. lampley and kellerman, "and we want to thank george for protecting us."

 

The trio of Lampley, Merchant and Foreman were the best!

 

I'll tell you what changed it .... Bowe - Golata 1 ... Lampley for years openly made fun of George on air as an eccentric , under qualified buffoon with his outrageous statements ... the night of the riot Foreman saved his ass from the mob and Lampley , in near tears, praised Foreman's courage from the upper bleachers nd was from that point on a huge George guy ...

 

I wish one of those idiots had tried to swing on George.