RIP George Foreman

Yes!

We all have to do our part to compensate for the loss of one of the greatest archenemies of bovines who ever lived.

Eat a cheeseburger today GC, while watching the Gators play the Huskies. Then have another.

 

Those grills came in clutch many a night. Could cook burgers, franks and chicken breasts quick and easy.

 

Tyson was always going to be vulnerable to a tall man with a great jab. Holmes, Lewis, Foreman to some extent per Angelo Dundee.

Tyson could possibly have gone down as the greatest ever or maybe top 3 or 4 if he hadn't gotten rid of his trainer, Kevin Rooney. Young Tyson was in love with Robin Givens. Rooney tried to guide Tyson to safer pastures but Tyson rebelled and fired Rooney.

For those who think Foreman was the hardest puncher ever: close. Most experts would say the hardest punching heavyweight ever was Earnie Shavers with Big George at #2 or #3.

Edit: Deontay Wilder might have had the second hardest punch after Earnie Shavers

 

You are correct. Tyson unequivocally beat himself against Buster Douglas. I would say Tyson’s decline began with the death of his trainer Cus D’Amato (I think that was his name). After, Tyson signed with that idiot Don King and got progressively undisciplined in his training and personal life. I have no knowledge of Tyson’s team trying to dodge Foreman, but the same Tyson who beat Michael Sphinx into the mat in the first round wouldn’t have lost to anyone.

 

Around 1987 the owner of a billboard company based in g8orbill's Clermont thought about taking control of Mike Tyson and guiding his career. Her first name was Sue. I wonder if Billy C. knows her? How many billboard companies were based out of Clermont in 1987? One I bet. It seems crazy but this woman had a phenomenal ability to get what she wanted. She decided not to go for it. Before my time but I hear stuff.

 

Foreman’s defense got significantly better as he aged. If he had used more of those techniques earlier on I think he would have handled Ali. Foreman and Tyson would have come down to who had the stamina to go into the higher rounds. I would have liked to see how Ali would have attacked and defended against Tyson. That would have been great to see.

 

It would probably be more accurate to say Olympics competitions were always about politics than any type of “keep politics out of sports” fantasy.

In either case, if one wants to keep that “keep politics out of sports” silly pretense up (just looking at sports through a domestic prism)… probably shouldn’t be holding grudges against black athletes doing innocuous protests in 1968 while sitting idly by while govt does stupid things like scrubbing Jackie Robinson’s history.

 

George Foreman vs Ken Norton for the undisputed championship. March 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela. KO in round 2

 

Nice obit:

Super Sky Point to the great George Foreman. This one hurts. A kid who arrived on the national scene when he won gold in Mexico City in 1968 and waved American flags. Who became the most feared boxer of his era after destroying Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in a combined four rounds. An invincible force who was outthought and outboxed by an allegedly washed up Muhammad Ali in Zaire in 1974 and who retired three years later, exhausted after another upset loss and changed by the subsequent religious experience that prompted him to retire in his prime.

Big George left public life and went home to Texas for a decade before returning to boxing to raise money for his church. He was mocked for being fat and written off as a joke as he knocked over a slew of tomato cans. But he persevered to regain that heavyweight title he lost in that African night just over 20 years later at age 45 with a right hand that rendered an undefeated champion unconscious. “It happened! It happened!” shouted Jim Lampley as Michael Moorer laid on his back in a fog after meeting the same right hand that had separated so many other men from their senses.

He learned how to smile during his second act. Now bald and cherubic, the same folks who once feared him and teased him suddenly loved him. He became a genial teddy bear who made millions hawking that damn grill.
Goodbye to Big George, a man who achieved a dream he believed in for two decades - the dream only he thought was possible. A man whose goodness redeemed him from the darkness that prevented him from enjoying his initial fame, fortune, and acclaim. He won so much more in his middle age than that heavyweight crown he prized so much.

I never met George Foreman but I loved him. Rest in peace, champ.

 

While I agree that Tyson's biggest mistake was firing Kevin Rooney my impression was that Tyson fired Rooney because Don King convinced Tyson that he should have Black trainer rather than a white guy like Kevin Rooney. Not really sure that his relationship with Robin Givens was a major factor.

 

Maybe, never heard that. I'm just going by what one of Tyson's sparring partners said. He was with Tyson for 8 years I think.

If Tyson had kept Kevin Rooney maybe he goes down as the greatest. Rooney made Tyson spar 10 rounds/day at least 5 days/week. After Rooney left Tyson would often take every other day off. With Rooney gone Tyson quit moving his head and other skills degraded from a lack of sparring. He lost fights by not being in shape as well. Some fights he gave up (too tired). As Rooney used to say, when Tyson moved his head opponents would throw punches and miss and get frustrated and hesitate. Then Tyson would nail them.

Both Foreman and Tyson thought Holyfield was the dirtiest fighter they ever fought. Holyfield's head butts are what made Tyson bite his ear.

Tyson left Bill Cayton for Don King and his money started to disappear. Cus D'amato had a great team in place for Tyson when he died before Tyson's 12th fight. None of Tyson's other trainers were anything like Rooney, who had fought for Cus. They were lacking in knowledge. Cus was probably the smartest man in boxing and he taught Rooney well. Of course it's human nature to slack off as Tyson did.