33 years later, George Foreman reveals the truth

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/6836424

He was drugged in the loss to Ali.

Funny that God, in Foreman's corner, didn't do anything about it.

 

Well, he's more of a salesman than anything now. And from a lifetime spent around salesmen, including much of my family, I know the best way to tell if a salesmen is bullshitting you is to take a very close look and see if his lips are moving. If they are, it's probably bullshit coming out.

 

ALI BOMAYE! ALI BOMAYE!!!!!!

 

Didn't seem to hurt him in the first six rounds or so when he was pounding Ali with everything he had.

 

Well since someone started a thread about the fight, here's something I found on youtube that was really cool.

 

Must have been on the same stuff when his kids are all George, except with a roman numeral after it.

 

I agree with John.
Either Rounds 1-5 are Exhibits A-E for the defense, or that was a slow-acting potion.

 

You get the feeling that a lot of that sort of thing went on in boxing back in the day. Wasn't there some sort of scene in "Ali" that intimated Sonny Liston rubbed something on his gloves to irritate Ali's eyes during their fight?

 

My question is, why wasn't Foreman given a rematch? Did he not seek one? I just ask because championship boxing rematches have always been a matter of course when a title changes hands.

 

Great question. One of the most famous bouts of all-time, and yet no rematch.

Why?

 

After the fight in Zaire, Ali fought Frazier in the Phillipines. That was regarded by many as the greatest fight Ali was ever involved in, and it was a legend. That would have been in 1975, I believe.

The George Foreman of the 1970s wasn't the fun salesman he later became. He was a dour individual and people really didn't get excited about watching him fight. Ali-Frazier III was the moneymaker, which is why that happened.

The Foreman of the 70s kind of sulked. Ali knew how to needle other boxers, and he said something like he could whup Frazier and Foreman in the same night, etc. Well, it was Ali talking. But instead of getting serious and trying to fight a contender who would put him back in the championship picture, Foreman did this crazy stunt where he would fight five heavyweights on one night. They wouldn't license it in the US, so they went to Toronto and called it an exhibition. The thing was ridiculous - it was on ABC Wide World of Sports and it was derided as the joke that it was. Foreman lost to Jimmy Young in 1977 (I think that's who it was and it was in Puerto Rico) and that was when he said God spoke to him. His trainer that night, Gil Clancy, said it was heat prostration and not God.

Even in his younger days when he was well-built, Foreman never was in great physical condition. For one thing, he was bigger physically than most of the people he fought and he would wear down. He went 10 rounds once in his career against a Argentine heavyweight named Gregorio Peralta, and he was exhausted in the last couple rounds of that fight. He knocked people out easily and boxing came easy to him - he didn't respond well to adversity.
Anyway, Foreman was never a fool with his money and retired, coming back when he had to dip into principal - he had been getting by on the interest for nearly 10 years.

 

One other thing... I don't believe the "drug" thing at all. Every great fighter has some kind of story like that when they lose.

Also, the fight in Zaire was postponed for one month, supposedly because Foreman hurt his hand. There were people at the time who believed it was postponed because Foreman wasn't in good shape and was overweight.