Miscellaneous Boxing News

white is right said:
Point taken on the subjective nature of scoring in tight fights.

Donovan vs Crocker is probably the most competitive of the headline bouts of the weekend. It certainly shouldn't be the Tank Davis fight as he once again is picking on a sub division fighter. The floaties or lane dividers are still being used for the "pound for pound candidate"....
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White is Right, you might already read this, but I wanted to mention it to you. Greg Haugen has passed away at the age of 64 from cancer. He was one of my favorite fighters. Tough as nails and talk some trash too. Fought most of the top lightweights of the 80s. He won the belt 3 times. R.I.P. Greg, a true road warrior.
 
Booth said:
White is Right, you might already read this, but I wanted to mention it to you. Greg Haugen has passed away at the age of 64 from cancer. He was one of my favorite fighters. Tough as nails and talk some trash too. Fought most of the top lightweights of the 80s. He won the belt 3 times. R.I.P. Greg, a true road warrior.
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Yes it slipped my mind, I didn't even know he was sick.

He was a very underrated boxer who beat a string of decent lightweight fighters and then beat Jimmy Paul for the IBF title. He got the short end of the stick in the Paz rivalry but his win over the undefeated Camacho in their first fight was probably his signature win. Without Carlos Padilla taking a point from Camacho for unsportsmanlike conduct Haugen would have only earned a draw.

His post ring life was marred with financial problems and domestic issues. May he find peace in the after life....
 
Haugen is from Auburn, WA. The town I was born and raised in. Pretty cool. When I was a kid I want to say the population was only about 35k so I may have brushed shoulders with him without knowing. RIP
 
NWsoccerfan said:
Haugen is from Auburn, WA. The town I was born and raised in. Pretty cool. When I was a kid I want to say the population was only about 35k so I may have brushed shoulders with him without knowing. RIP
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I remember stories about Haugen fighting in open weight fights on the semi pro Toughman circuit in Alaska. He also was a decided underdog in many of his key bouts and received B side scoring treatment in the Paz trilogy and maybe the Camacho rematch even if he was the nominal champion as Camacho was primed to fight Chavez before he was upset by Haugen.

Yesterday had two debacles in the main events. in Northern Ireland Paddy Flood seemed to get the bum steer against Lewis Crocker and had two points deducted for questionable head butts and then was disqualified when he hit Crocker after the bell when Crocker was in real trouble and had already taken a count.

The disqualification was questionable as I have seen star fighters such as Mike Tyson hit fighters in a similar manner and the fight was ruled a no contest. The Irishman received no such benefit of the doubt in a bout he won every second of the bout until the bizarre end. '

In the PBC PPV main event Gervonta Davis clearly felt his hand picked opponent would fold the minute he landed power combinations on the chin of Lamont Roach. Things were so bizarre that at one point late in the fight that was about dead even Davis took a knee and retreated to his corner to get dabbed grease out of his eyes and the referee didn't give a count to Davis and bought his illegal excuse.

I have never seen that before in a boxing bout where the fighter who took a knee never was given a count. After the scorecards were read if Steve Willis did his job properly Roach would have received a split decision win and had more bargaining power in rematch negotiations.

I may report on prospects on the Northern Irish card and even the White fighters on the PBC card if I can make time over the next day or so.

https://www.boxingscene.com/the-ring-join-forces-with-tko-and-sela--205705PS updating the weekly news and it looks like the crown prince and Dana White have struck a promotional alliance to promote American based cards similar to his deals with the British promoters. The first card will be a Time Square card, details of the logistics of blocking off a public space for a live sporting event were not discussed but will have unique problems due to this fact.

https://www.boxingscene.com/wba-ord...ey-grants-oleksandr-usyk-an-exception--205711Also Kubrat Pulev has a mandatory defense of his junior world title against British Mulatto Fabio Wardley. He could be selling off his title, hopefully if it's the case he will be well compensated on a Saudi based card...
 
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This week's boxing schedule is full of local cards and ladies bouts. I am unfamiliar with most of the fighters, but sometimes the most entertaining fights come from full B-level fighters. I hate putting labels on fighters for I have the utmost respect for anyone who steps inside those ropes.

MARCH​

March 7: London (Peacock)​

  • Title fight: Natasha Jonas vs. Lauren Price, 10 rounds, for Jonas' WBC and IBF women's welterweight titles and Price's WBA welterweight women's title
  • Title fight: Caroline Dubois vs. Bo Mi Re Shin, 10 rounds, for Dubois WBC women's lightweight title
  • Karriss Artingstall vs. Raven Chapman, 10 rounds, women's featherweights
  • Chloe Watson vs. Jasmina Zapotoczna, 10 rounds, women's flyweights
  • Cindy Ngamba vs. Kirstie Bavington, 4 rounds, middleweights
  • Francesca Hennessy vs. Carla Camila Campos Gonzales, 8 rounds, women's junior featherweights

March 7: Toronto, Canada (DAZN)​

  • Lucas Bahdi vs. Ryan James Racaza, 10 rounds, lightweights
  • Sara Bailey vs. Cristina Navarro, 10 rounds, women's junior flyweights
  • Angel Barrientes vs. Alexander Castellano, 8 rounds, junior featherweights
  • Ricardo Brown vs. Colby Madison, 8 rounds, heavyweights
  • Mark Smither vs. Jaime Cuesta, 8 rounds, junior welterweights
  • Alex Bray vs. Victoriano Antonio Santillan, 6 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Tammara Thibeault vs. Sonya Dreiling, 6 rounds, women's middleweights
  • Doni Foreman vs. Pavel Ourednik, 4 rounds, heavyweights

March 7: Brighton, England​

  • Harlem Eubank vs. Tyrone McKenna, 12 rounds, welterweights
  • Michael Conlan vs. Asad Asif Khan, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Dan Toward vs. Muzamiru Kakande, 8 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Tom Welland vs. Ally B Lubanja, 6 rounds, featherweights
  • Tommy Welch vs. Vaclav Pejsar, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Harvey Dykes vs. Stefano Capone, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Matty Harris vs. Volodymyr Katsuk, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Codie Smith vs. Jose Manuel Perez, 6 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Ben Andrews vs. Navid Iran, 6 rounds, light heavyweights

March 8: Santa Fe, Argentina​

  • Title fight: Evelin Nazarena Bermudez vs. Tenkai Tsunami, 10 rounds, for Bermudez's IBF and WBO women's junior flyweight titles
  • Agustin Marini vs. Hugo David Quiroz, 10 rounds, cruiserweights
  • Gabriela Celeste Alaniz vs. Graciela Cortes Aguilar, 10 rounds, junior flyweights
  • Marco Ezequiel Garcia Ovejero vs. Dario Domingo Soto, 8 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Joaquin Esteban Diaz vs. Alexis Gabriel Camejo, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Tiago Dylan Gonzalez vs. Carlos Gabriel Perez, 4 rounds, junior flyweights

March 12: Sydney, Australia​

 
Booth said:
This week's boxing schedule is full of local cards and ladies bouts. I am unfamiliar with most of the fighters, but sometimes the most entertaining fights come from full B-level fighters. I hate putting labels on fighters for I have the utmost respect for anyone who steps inside those ropes.

MARCH​

March 7: London (Peacock)​

  • Title fight: Natasha Jonas vs. Lauren Price, 10 rounds, for Jonas' WBC and IBF women's welterweight titles and Price's WBA welterweight women's title
  • Title fight: Caroline Dubois vs. Bo Mi Re Shin, 10 rounds, for Dubois WBC women's lightweight title
  • Karriss Artingstall vs. Raven Chapman, 10 rounds, women's featherweights
  • Chloe Watson vs. Jasmina Zapotoczna, 10 rounds, women's flyweights
  • Cindy Ngamba vs. Kirstie Bavington, 4 rounds, middleweights
  • Francesca Hennessy vs. Carla Camila Campos Gonzales, 8 rounds, women's junior featherweights

March 7: Toronto, Canada (DAZN)​

  • Lucas Bahdi vs. Ryan James Racaza, 10 rounds, lightweights
  • Sara Bailey vs. Cristina Navarro, 10 rounds, women's junior flyweights
  • Angel Barrientes vs. Alexander Castellano, 8 rounds, junior featherweights
  • Ricardo Brown vs. Colby Madison, 8 rounds, heavyweights
  • Mark Smither vs. Jaime Cuesta, 8 rounds, junior welterweights
  • Alex Bray vs. Victoriano Antonio Santillan, 6 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Tammara Thibeault vs. Sonya Dreiling, 6 rounds, women's middleweights
  • Doni Foreman vs. Pavel Ourednik, 4 rounds, heavyweights

March 7: Brighton, England​

  • Harlem Eubank vs. Tyrone McKenna, 12 rounds, welterweights
  • Michael Conlan vs. Asad Asif Khan, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Dan Toward vs. Muzamiru Kakande, 8 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Tom Welland vs. Ally B Lubanja, 6 rounds, featherweights
  • Tommy Welch vs. Vaclav Pejsar, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Harvey Dykes vs. Stefano Capone, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Matty Harris vs. Volodymyr Katsuk, 6 rounds, heavyweights
  • Codie Smith vs. Jose Manuel Perez, 6 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Ben Andrews vs. Navid Iran, 6 rounds, light heavyweights

March 8: Santa Fe, Argentina​

  • Title fight: Evelin Nazarena Bermudez vs. Tenkai Tsunami, 10 rounds, for Bermudez's IBF and WBO women's junior flyweight titles
  • Agustin Marini vs. Hugo David Quiroz, 10 rounds, cruiserweights
  • Gabriela Celeste Alaniz vs. Graciela Cortes Aguilar, 10 rounds, junior flyweights
  • Marco Ezequiel Garcia Ovejero vs. Dario Domingo Soto, 8 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Joaquin Esteban Diaz vs. Alexis Gabriel Camejo, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Tiago Dylan Gonzalez vs. Carlos Gabriel Perez, 4 rounds, junior flyweights

March 12: Sydney, Australia​

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Yes it's a slow weekend with the all female card in GB being probably the weekend headliner. The DAZN card in Toronto only has one fighter I recognize and he was a B side foil who exposed a prospect on a PPV last year. I could watch the main event to see if this was a one off fluke or he was an overlooked prospect.

Note Lucas Bahdi is an Arab not a White Canadian prospect but he bares watching just off this ko...

I watched the main event of essentially a prospect card and the Arab Canadian won as he was matched tough against a durable but crude Filipino opponent. At one point Bahdi bowled over his opponent with a power punch with just the force of the blow but in general he wasn't active enough and barely used a jab.

There is a saying in boxing that you can have bombs for punches but you need a delivery system against an upgrade of opponents he will probably have delivery system issues similar to surface to air missile systems operated by the Iraqi Army under Saddam in the two wars against two American led coalitions.
 
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This week is a slow week for White fighters in North America but in a few hours the main card of the Nick Ball title defense against veteran former champion TJ. Doheny takes place with plenty of prospects fighting leading up to the main event which on paper looks like a mismatch as the veteran Irishman is fighting a division up from his natural division and is coming off violent beating against Inoue.

In the North American card as far as I could tell only a journeyman Italian national is the only White fighter on the card and he is being brought in as a cannon fodder opponent to lose to a debuting prospect.

The week started off early with an Australian card and Brock Jarvis' chin was further exposed as he was violently stopped by the veteran Keith Thurman who was having his first fight in close to 3 years.

The minute Thurman staggered Jarvis it was all but over as Thurman landed a violent 3 punch combination and dropped the Australian. The referee was in his rights to stop it there as Jarvis was on rubber legs but he allowed one more knock down and didn't issue a count.

Just about half an hour ago Nick Ball ground down the game veteran Doheny with his youth and superior strength at the weight with a mercy stoppage at the end of the 11th round.

I missed most of the bout but saw the end and by that point Ball was able to land triple uppercuts against the faded Irishman. The lack of return fire had the referee on the verge of stopping the bout. Only the heart of Doheny kept him up right and Ball is still in the Inoue game plan as supposedly in December he is the debut opponent for 126 pounds.
 
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white is right said:
This week is a slow week for White fighters in North America but in a few hours the main card of the Nick Ball title defense against veteran former champion TJ. Doheny takes place with plenty of prospects fighting leading up to the main event which on paper looks like a mismatch as the veteran Irishman is fighting a division up from his natural division and is coming off violent beating against Inoue.

In the North American card as far as I could tell only a journeyman Italian national is the only White fighter on the card and he is being brought in as a cannon fodder opponent to lose to a debuting prospect.

The week started off early with an Australian card and Brock Jarvis' chin was further exposed as he was violently stopped by the veteran Keith Thurman who was having his first fight in close to 3 years.

The minute Thurman staggered Jarvis it was all but over as Thurman landed a violent 3 punch combination and dropped the Australian. The referee was in his rights to stop it there as Jarvis was on rubber legs but he allowed one more knock down and didn't issue a count.

Just about half an hour ago Nick Ball ground down the game veteran Doheny with his youth and superior strength at the weight with a mercy stoppage at the end of the 11th round.

I missed most of the bout but saw the end and by that point Ball was able to land triple uppercuts against the faded Irishman. The lack of return fire had the referee on the verge of stopping the bout. Only the heart of Doheny kept him up right and Ball is still in the Inoue game plan as supposedly in December he is the debut opponent for 126 pounds.
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White is Right, I found this article on Joe Bugner and wanted to share it. Bugner had a lot of ability and the look of a powerful boxer. He didn't fulfill the the promise of what other people thought he could do. I thought he came along at the wrong time much like Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo, Oscar Bonavena, and Henry Cooper. I hate reading about boxers in an assisted care facility.

www.boxing247.com

Boxing Great Joe Bugner Living In A Care Home, Battling Severe Dementia - Latest Boxing News Today

Joe Bugner, who fought during the Golden Era of heavyweight boxing, the Hungarian-born warrior sharing a ring with, amongst others, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali,
www.boxing247.com www.boxing247.com
 
Booth said:
White is Right, I found this article on Joe Bugner and wanted to share it. Bugner had a lot of ability and the look of a powerful boxer. He didn't fulfill the the promise of what other people thought he could do. I thought he came along at the wrong time much like Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo, Oscar Bonavena, and Henry Cooper. I hate reading about boxers in an assisted care facility.

www.boxing247.com

Boxing Great Joe Bugner Living In A Care Home, Battling Severe Dementia - Latest Boxing News Today

Joe Bugner, who fought during the Golden Era of heavyweight boxing, the Hungarian-born warrior sharing a ring with, amongst others, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali,
www.boxing247.com www.boxing247.com
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I knew of the health issues that Bugner has I just forgot to mention it.

He was originally a track and field athlete and was the junior British record holder in the discus but this was in the strictly amateur era and Bugner said something to the effect of he didn't have a pot to p*(s in so he chose boxing over track and field. He also was an apprentice construction worker in his track and field days and probably in his early boxing days.

Bugner's problem was he wasn't a world level puncher. His powerful build didn't translate to punching power and in many of his big bouts this was a key factor on why he lost.

I remember he had a bit of renaissance in his late 30s when he was viewed as shot and beat a series of credible fighters and had a big money showdown with Frank Bruno where he was battered and stopped by the fresher Bruno. He didn't retire though and about a decade later he won a paper "World Title"(WBF) when he defeated former WBA champion Bonecrusher Smith for the belt.

He may have caused these current health issues due to that late run in his career. Hopefully for him and more his family his eventual passing will be as painless as possible.

PS on Sunday Callum Walsh won again and won in style, I couldn't find a working stream and couldn't watch this or the under card bouts, I was looking forward to this bout and the Thomas Carty fight as he was fighting a 409 pound mountain of flesh. The Carty bout was similar to early MMA fights in the semi-pro era but from what I read off the wire reports the Irish prospect blew out his knee and had to surrender to his Jabba the Hut type opponent.

With White joining forces with the Saudi government promotions, Walsh should get on a less obscure broadcaster as UFC Fight Pass isn't on the gray market cable package I have and that cable package has hundreds of streams but not that station...
 
Boxing schedule for this weekend. There are not a lot of white boxers on these cards this weekend. The main one would be George
Kambosos vs Jake Wyllie is a must-win for Kambosos. Fundora vs Booker is for the WBC junior lightweight title.

MARCH​

March 22: Las Vegas (Amazon Prime Video)​

  • Title fight: Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker, 12 rounds, for Fundora's WBC and WBO junior lightweight titles
  • Elijah Garcia vs. Terrell Gausha, 10 rounds, middleweights
  • Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr. vs. Kevin Salgado, 10 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Freudis Rojas vs. Maurice Lee, 8 rounds, welterweights
  • Alberto Mora Garcia vs. Viktor Slavinskyi, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
  • Quincey Williams vs. TBA, 6 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Joseph Brown vs. Ezequiel Duran, 6 rounds, junior middleweights
  • Justin Cardona vs. TBA, 6 rounds, lightweights
  • Jursly Vargas vs. Uhlices Avelino-Reyes, 6 rounds, lightweights
  • Alexis De la Cerda Landin vs. Sharone Carter, 6 rounds, junior featherweights
  • Brayan Gonzalez vs. TBA, 4 rounds, junior featherweights
  • Robert Guerrero vs. Sean Armas, 4 rounds, lightweights

March 22: Sydney (DAZN)​

  • George Kambosos Jr. vs. Jake Wyllie, 12 rounds, junior welterweights
  • Title fight: Skye Nicolson vs. Tiara Brown, 10 rounds, for Nicolson's WBC women's featherweight title
  • Title fight: Cherneka Johnson vs. Nina Hughes, 10 rounds, for Johnson's WBA women's bantamweight title
  • Imam Khataev vs. Durval Elias Palacio, 10 rounds, light heavyweights
  • Jayden Buan vs. Fidelis Laia, 4 rounds, junior welterweights
  • Hemi Ahio vs. Aekkaphob Auraiwan, 8 rounds, heavyweights
 
Booth said:
Here is a short video of the very short Walsh fight.

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This is the most exposure I have seen of the Irish prospect. I will say the glass is half full until proven otherwise as his power looks world class off of that knockout.

Yes this is probably the last stand of Kambosos as anything but a B side name opponent if he can't win this one. As far as I remember he was scheduled to fight an East Asian opponent who was rather obscure. So the credentials of this opponent could be suspect...

As far as I can tell the PBC card only has one White opponent who probably is the B side opponent in his mid card bout.
 
white is right said:
This is the most exposure I have seen of the Irish prospect.
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There's a lot of good talents coming up from Ireland - Paddy Donovan, Callum Walsh, Pierce O'Leary, Aaron Mckenna, Joseph Ward, Steven Cairns.

I just wish there was a big Irish promoter with a Irish TV deal, that would be a game changer.
 
George Foreman was a beast when he was young, a very powerful puncher. He mellowed into a likeable big teddy bear type as he got older and he was an unabashed capitalist, making lots of money off his name and reputation, such as the George Foreman Grill. He was also eccentric; if memory serves he had five or six sons, all named George.

I didn't read every obit, but the ones I did such as the BSPN one above, didn't mention Foreman waving the US flag in the ring after winning the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Like everything else in 1968, the Summer Olympics were very eventful and chaotic, probably best remembered for the black power fists raised by John Carlos and Tommy Smith on the medal stand after the 200 meters sprint. Foreman waving the flag in the ring following Carlos and Smith's stunt was something that made Foreman, then 19 years old, very popular in the eyes of the general public, which was then still mostly kneejerk very patriotic and reactionary and was sickened by the black power protest. Critics can say it was a calculated move by Foreman and maybe it was, but then again just about everything is political and was even then. It certainly was a huge part of Foreman's legacy, then and for the rest of his life, and to deliberately ignore it in obituaries certainly was also a calculated move by the regime's corporate media arm.

1-George Foreman.jpg
 
Don Wassall said:
George Foreman was a beast when he was young, a very powerful puncher. He mellowed into a likeable big teddy bear type as he got older and he was an unabashed capitalist, making lots of money off his name and reputation, such as the George Foreman Grill. He was also eccentric; if memory serves he had five or six sons, all named George.

I didn't read every obit, but the ones I did such as the BSPN one above, didn't mention Foreman waving the US flag in the ring after winning the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Like everything else in 1968, the Summer Olympics were very eventful and chaotic, probably best remembered for the black power fists raised by John Carlos and Tommy Smith on the medal stand after the 200 meters sprint. Foreman waving the flag in the ring following Carlos and Smith's stunt was something that made Foreman, then 19 years old, very popular in the eyes of the general public, which was then still mostly kneejerk very patriotic and reactionary and was sickened by the black power protest. Critics can say it was a calculated move by Foreman and maybe it was, but then again just about everything is political and was even then. It certainly was a huge part of Foreman's legacy, then and for the rest of his life, and to deliberately ignore it in obituaries certainly was also a calculated move by the regime's corporate media arm.

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Yes among my first memories of Foreman was reading of his flag waving and the contrast of this with Carlos and Smith and their forced removal from the Olympic village.

Foreman had two careers where he was the indestructible force who destroyed opponents with his brute force and the older boxer who seemed to slowly beat down men who could in theory be his sons. Eventually we saw with his fight with Ali he could be out thought and eventually vanquished due to fatigue. His best win IMO is probably the destruction of Frazier in their first fight where he dropped Frazier multiple times and one blow launched the 220 pound Frazier in the air.

After the Ali loss he seemed to lose confidence and fought a series of weaker or in the case of Frazier shot opponents but he never received a title shot. He eventually retired after having a similar gas tank issue against Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico and lost a points decision where he was dropped and allegedly saw god in his locker room. His trainer Gil Clancy said it was just a fainting spell due to a loss of fluids but George insisted it was a revelation.

Foreman's return was laughable in the beginning as he was a brick or two shy of 300 pounds and he fought laughably poor opposition I remember boxing magazines and the few general press that covered his fights stated he was no danger to anybody but himself when he stepped up in competition.

Eventually he did step up in competition but very calculatingly and he was much fitter and did better than anybody thought he could do against Holyfield. This thrust him into the public eye and HBO gave him a dream contract with Foreman having the ability to pick and choose his opponents carefully and he fought better opponents than his original opponents in tier two sports markets but in most cases far from the elite opponents.

He lost a fairly wide decision to Tommy Morrison for the vacant WBO belt and it looked like his career was over at the elite level but Holyfield lost his lineal title and the brain trust around Michael Moorer felt their fighter should have a high profile easy win over the aged Foreman. Foreman flipped the script late in the fight when Moorer refused to move around the ring like most Foreman opponents tried to do and stood right in front of the slow but powerful Foreman and was eventually violently dropped and stopped by a blow he didn't see.

Foreman's second reign was similar to his second career where he cautiously chose opponents who he felt were over matched but as he aged any opponent was a gamble and he probably lost a decision to German challenger Axel Shulz but the boxing industry gave Foreman the decision because he was more marketable than the unknown and rather bland German. Eventually Foreman himself lost a decision to Shannon Briggs that most observers felt he won but it seemed like HBO and the boxing industry had tired of his boxing career.

As Don stated he made multiples of what he earned in purses with endorsements. The grill that he endorsed supposedly grossed 100 million plus in fees for himself. He had a muffler commercial and did a few fast food commercials too. I don't recall any modern American boxer having this marketability.

PS For all the acclaim he received for his second career it probably fueled multiple comebacks of similar former champions and contenders who never won titles and earned little money but received brutal beatings at the hands of younger opponents. His second career arc was unique and an aberration.
 
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white is right said:
Yes among my first memories of Foreman was reading of his flag waving and the contrast of this with Carlos and Smith and their forced removal from the Olympic village.

Foreman had two careers where he was the indestructible force who destroyed opponents with his brute force and the older boxer who seemed to slowly beat down men who could in theory be his sons. Eventually we saw with his fight with Ali he could be out thought and eventually vanquished due to fatigue. His best win IMO is probably the destruction of Frazier in their first fight where he dropped Frazier multiple times and one blow launched the 220 pound Frazier in the air.

After the Ali loss he seemed to lose confidence and fought a series of weaker or in the case of Frazier shot opponents but he never received a title shot. He eventually retired after having a similar gas tank issue against Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico and lost a points decision where he was dropped and allegedly saw god in his locker room. His trainer Gil Clancy said it was just a fainting spell due to a loss of fluids but George insisted it was a revelation.

Foreman's return was laughable in the beginning as he was a brick or two shy of 300 pounds and he fought laughably poor opposition I remember boxing magazines and the few general press that covered his fights stated he was no danger to anybody but himself when he stepped up in competition.

Eventually he did step up in competition but very calculatingly and he was much fitter and did better than anybody thought he could do against Holyfield. This thrust him into the public eye and HBO gave him a dream contract with Foreman having the ability to pick and choose his opponents carefully and he fought better opponents than his original opponents in tier two sports markets but in most cases far from the elite opponents.

He lost a fairly wide decision to Tommy Morrison for the vacant WBO belt and it looked like his career was over at the elite level but Holyfield lost his lineal title and the brain trust around Michael Moorer felt their fighter should have a high profile easy win over the aged Foreman. Foreman flipped the script late in the fight when Moorer refused to move around the ring like most Foreman opponents tried to do and stood right in front of the slow but powerful Foreman and was eventually violently dropped and stopped by a blow he didn't see.

Foreman's second reign was similar to his second career where he cautiously chose opponents who he felt were over matched but as he aged any opponent was a gamble and he probably lost a decision to German challenger Axel Shulz but the boxing industry gave Foreman the decision because he was more marketable than the unknown and rather bland German. Eventually Foreman himself lost a decision to Shannon Briggs that most observers felt he won but it seemed like HBO and the boxing industry had tired of his boxing career.

As Don stated he made multiples of what he earned in purses with endorsements. The grill that he endorsed supposedly grossed 100 million plus in fees for himself. He had a muffler commercial and did a few fast food commercials too. I don't recall any modern American boxer having this marketability.

PS For all the acclaim he received for his second career it probably fueled multiple comebacks of similar former champions and contenders who never won titles and earned little money but received brutal beatings at the hands of younger opponents. His second career arc was unique and an aberration.
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Great post, maybe it's a little ironic that Caste Football can be counted on to give an accurate tribute to George Foreman.
 
There is a documentary called “Muhammad Ali” by Ken Burns which I caught on PBS a few months ago. I’m not a fan of uber-liberal Ken Burns or PBS but this is a very well done piece and covers a lot of ground about Ali’s life and career as well as those of his most famous opponents. I wasn’t alive in 60/70s but always fascinated by the HW boxing of that era and learned a good deal by watching this 4-part series.

The famous “Rumble In The Jungle“ is given its proper due with extensive details. Foreman is introduced as someone who came up the hard way and his life turned around when he eventually took up boxing. His gold medal win and waving the American flag during the ‘68 Olympics are mentioned and framed as him simply being proud to represent his country and staying away from the political stuff.

After he turned pro, he was basically the Mike Tyson of that era, simply destroying and knocking people out, leaving a trail of destruction behind. When an up-and-coming promoter named Don King approached Foreman about a fight with Ali in Zaire, he initially wanted no part of it. He saw it as a lose-lose proposition. “If I win, I beat an old man (Ali was 32 at the time and past his prime), if I lose, I lost to an old man. Plus, Ali has a big mouth”. To which King replied “ That’s right, he does have a big mouth. This is your chance to shut him up!” That, plus the then record $5million payday for each fighter was enough to seal the deal.

Ali took the fight very seriously and trained very hard for it. When he arrived in Zaire ahead of the fight for further training to get acclimated to the climate, in typical Ali fashion he started running his mouth while mixing it up with the natives and winning them over, becoming a local hero. In contrast, Foreman wanted nothing to do with any of the extra-curricular stuff and by all accounts didn’t even want to be there. When he suffered a cut during training which caused the fight to be delayed by a month, he wanted to leave Zaire. But King knew Foreman would not come back if he left, so the authorities there made sure he couldn’t go anywhere and the fight was still on.

There were legit concerns that Foreman could seriously hurt or even kill Ali, so going toe-to-toe with him would’ve been a losing strategy for Ali. After coming out swinging in the first round, Ali employed his famous rope-a-dope tactic the rest of the fight and eventually knocked a tiring Foreman out in the 8th round.

White is Right has nicely covered the rest of Foreman’s career after this fight. Things could‘ve easily gone in a different direction, much credit to Foreman for what he was able to achieve for the rest of his life.

A highlight video of the famous fight:

 
Most boxing fans wanted to see Foreman KO Ali, but while not a strong puncher Ali was quick and elusive and that did in Foreman.

The comparison of Foreman to Tyson is apt. Foreman's right hand could have the force of a sledgehammer when landed square on, but Ali was always very difficult to hit full force. I lived through that era and followed the heavyweight division and much like baseball at the time, it was the golden era for American Blacks. Ingemar Johansson of Sweden was the undisputed champion circa 1959-'60 and then after that began a long drought for Whites, similar to the way thousand yard rushers and receivers essentially disappeared by the late '70s and early '80s in football. In fact, I'd say the staying power of a lot of the negative stereotypes about White athletes can be traced to the repeated futility of White American heavyweights, who one after another were eclipsed and humiliated by Ali, Frazier and Foreman and others and then continuing through the Tyson era. Thank God for the Klitschkos and other Eastern Euros and Russians who rose up and ended the run of Blacks in boxing, not that the media ever gave them anywhere near their due.
 
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