Older fans, what was the reaction to Foreman’s comeback

I was still angry at George for leaving the scene after the Young fight. I wanted to see him come back and fight Holmes during his peak, mostly because they were my two favorite fighters (I still pick Holmes in 11).

I agreed in the beginning when George said he'd knock out Iron Mike in two rounds...until I saw the Qawi fight.

I didn't start believing in George's aspirations again until I saw how well he did against Holyfield. It wasn't a very close fight, but George really hurt Holy over a half dozen times. After that I was onboard, and though I doubted he could beat the Bowe of that time I was confident he could beat post-prison Tyson and pre-Steward Lewis.

 

George says in his wonderfully-titled autobiography, By George, something like: “Boxing has always had an element of ‘come see the bearded lady.’”

Which is to say boxing has circus elements. Promoters come into a town, rent an arena (or in some cases just erect a ring or a tent with a ring in it, especially in the olden days) and hype up the event to get people to come see it.

George’s early comeback fights were entirely like this. Then the cable networks (ESPN and USA) saw $$$ and got a piece of the action. Then HBO said, ‘Ya know, we can’t sell Mike Tyson-Henry Tillman but if we also put George in against a fringe contender, people will watch.’

And George’s people were smart in getting a Cooney PPV because it’s amazing how few people in the general public don’t keep up to realize that a guy like Cooney had been on the shelf or that George had been hammering journeymen. They recognized the names, two big guys who were big punchers, and put their money down. Hell, Mike Tyson was well past it when he fought Lennox Lewis but most of the public thought he was still Iron Mike.

I think George’s comeback started as a backwoods preacher who had a way to make some coin to fund his church so he did it, figuring nobody would ever notice. Then some guys like Rick “Elvis” Parker and Ron Weathers got involved and it became kind of a circus con game — come see the bearded lady/old champ.

But along the way I think George started believing and working himself into shape and at least figuring he could land the big payday title shot. And Bob Arum took over the promotional reigns and guided Foreman to prominence.

 

"Twenty-eight year old former heavyweight champions don't retire and stay retired. Foreman will be back." World Boxing (or maybe International Boxing), sometime in 1978. That quote always stuck with me. For nearly a decade it looked like they were wrong...

 

I agree that PEDs were certainly around in track and field and other sports in the 80's. I just didn't hear about it in boxing much at that time and I don't know how prevalent it would've been. Growth Hormone and PEDs certainly breathed new life into Roger Clemens after 35 but at the time of Foreman's comeback I never heard about anything that was available to extend or help the careers of older fighters like Foreman. That certainly came about in the 90's with the likes of Tommy Morrison and Jameel Mcline admitting PED usage as well as several positive tests later on.

 

It was covered in the most famous boxing based film of the era Rocky IV (1985)...

 

At first, I didn't think much of it or take it seriously. But he didn't come in angling for one shot; he beat all the usual suspects, like he was building a career instead of cashing in on one. You could see that he was more loose in the ring than he had been.
The Cooney fight is memorable to me. I saw it at a Mexican restaurant; for $15 you could watch the fights and an all you could eat buffet, drinks extra. If that fight had gone 10, I would have bankrupted the place. The waitress followed me out and tried to give back the money I left as a tip.

When he fought Holyfield, I thought Foreman would get killed. My estimation of Holyfield as a boxer dropped wildly that night and has never recovered.
Like the rest of the world, I did backflips and screamed myself hoarse when he beat Moorer. That night, I watched the first couple rounds at a friend's house but we lost the fight- there may have been some piracy going on. So we hurried up to my house and called to get the fight from the cable company. I paid full price to catch the last two rounds. Thank God.