It may seem implausible to imagine the hulking figure of George Foreman – considered one of the most ferocious punchers ever to enter the ring – being scared.
But he admits it was fear that helped him become a sporting hero.
As we mark the 40th anniversary of Foreman’s duel with Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire, and his victory over Michael Moorer – on this day 20 years ago that made him the oldest heavyweight champion aged 45 – he recalls those defining moments in his life.
“You’re a part of sports history and every year I’m having to talk about ‘the Rumble in the Jungle’, since the 10th year,” said Foreman at the Doha GOALS conference. It comes alive in me and tells me how important the event really was and how happy I am to be part of it.
pic.twitter.com/X9b0Xhc1qj “is that all you got George?” Yep Ali that was all. 40 years later I Love him.
— George Foreman (@GeorgeForeman) October 28, 2014
“Too bad I lost, but hey sour grapes…you can’t win them all. Every year I watch the fight and keep thinking I’m going to win.
“I was mostly afraid [in the ring], you know like if you corner a cat, I hit you out of fright. I was always afraid and the only time I wasn’t was when I fought Muhammad Ali and that’s when I should have been afraid.
“The one thing you need as a boxer is butterflies, you need fear, because boxing is the art of self-defence and once you lose that motion of defending yourself there’s no telling what can happen to you. I was not scared at all in that fight, no butterflies and I thought this was going to be the easiest fight of my life – and that’s the one I lost.
“So I never went into a ring again unless I was strictly scared. I was over-confident [against Ali] that’s all there is to it. I was told I was the favourite and believed everything, but I forgot to watch videos of Muhammad. No one had ever knocked him out in one or two rounds.
“I figured I’d knock him out three rounds at the most so I gave it everything I had in three or four rounds – I had nothing left. He even asked me about the sixth round, ‘is that all you’ve got George?’ And I remember thinking, ‘yep, that’s about it’. I didn’t pay much attention to him in the fight because there were always guys talking to me in the ring to survive.
“But this time Muhammad was really dedicated to staying on his feet. He had a cause and when you have a cause, you don’t just knock out a cause.
“I remember going into the ring and hitting him with some of my best shots thinking it would be over by the third round, when I really gave it to him. Then the bell went and he looked at me and said, ‘I made it’. And I thought, ‘he made it’. I’ll never forget that. I didn’t think he would make it, and even he didn’t think he would make it.
“He just beat me fair and square. He took a lot of punishment but he was accustomed to taking punishment and he beat me, that’s all there is to it.”
Just like the lasting impact of their bout, Foreman believes the football World Cup in 2022 will also help put Qatar on the sporting map and dispel many of the misconceptions that have existed since it won the bid.
“From the time of the organisation to when it’s all over, Qatar will be the most famous place in the world,” added the 65-year-old American. Qatar’s very smart, it’s a very smart move. It opened up because this country has so much to offer, a lot of things to see for the tourist and they do great business. Sporting events, the World Cup, will highlight it like nothing else.
“With Africa, that’s the reputation it had [that it was a jungle], but when we got there, there were modern hotels, what President Mobutu [Sese Seko] wanted to show the world was that there was more there than just the jungle. The president wanted to make certain his country was not known as typical African. He wanted to show the prosperity there.
“The country was wealthy and had a lot to offer. But there was no way of doing it apart from showcasing a sporting event. No sporting event was as big as the heavyweight championship of the world. I was presented with the chance to go to Africa to open up that door, to build a bridge to the whole world so everyone would know about Africa, about where this boxing match was, about Zaire in particular.
“I loved the idea, I knew how great it was and why I celebrate it to this day. The whole world is always frightened of new places. That’s why when you put on a great sporting event, they can’t resist it, they must come, that’s why sport is important.”
Foreman, who won 76 of his 81 fights with 68 knockouts, retired three years later in 1977, citing a life-and-death experience, a religious epiphany, as the reason he became a Minister.
“There I was in the dressing room when I saw blood on my hands and blood coming out of my forehead,” he recalled. “I never boxed, I never made a fist, for 10 years. I went on to become a Minister and dedicated my life to working with children, getting them off the streets and staying out of fights. I found myself, and a lot of athletes should find themselves first. I had a chance to regroup myself and made for a better athlete. I wouldn’t have changed anything.
“That was my profession until I ran out of money. I was broke and boxing was my only profession. So there I was, 45 years old, in the ring against a man young enough to be my son (Moorer) and he was putting it on me, and I was putting on him, and all I could hear was that question, ‘is that all you’ve got George?”>;
The answer was a resounding “no” as Foreman claimed the IBF and WBA titles by knocking out the 27-year-old Moorer with a short right hand to the chin.
“I couldn’t believe it”, he said.
And nor could anyone else after seeing him struggle since his return in 1987.
He eventually retired permanently at 48 following a loss to Shannon Briggs, but his reputation and standing was enhanced by his subsequent business ventures, and a past that will be forever be part of sporting folklore.
