Big George

by Ted Schnack

I cried when I heard George Foreman passed but soon found myself smiling. What a man. What a legacy. What a positive light he spread in his walk through this world.  He thrilled us as an athlete and awed us as a person.  Easily my favorite athlete and public person of all time. I just happened to watch the Lyle fight last night, my favorite fight of all time.   I watched it live on TV when I was a teenager jumping up and down screaming...Dad!  Come in here!   You gotta see this!

George is the GOAT and yes I know about Zaire. At that point in time George had one setting “Destroy” and it had worked incredibly well so far.  So as the saying goes “If it ain't broke don’t fix it.”  Ali on the other hand was not only playing with a high boxing skill set but much savvier in the power of mental games and game plans knowing in many regards they were more important than lefts and rights. The consensus among all was with his pride Ali could seriously get hurt and the mood in his dressing room was like a funeral until with his natural charisma he was able to rally some hope. The bell rang and George hit the “destroy” on switch with no reason not to believe that was exactly what would happen. A soft canvas and loose ropes diminishing his power and a seemingly crazy but clever ploy by Ali to lay on the sagging ropes doing his best to deflect his best shots and sap his strength leaving him exhausted, confused and vulnerable. George said later after hitting Ali to the body as hard as he had ever hit a man, he could tell it hurt him and he said. "Is that all you got George. They said you could hit hard?"  And he thought “Yeah that’s it" throwing even harder in pride and desperation draining his strength quicker. George was playing hand grenade checkers and Ali was playing a violent game of mental chess. It was incredibly risky by Ali, but it worked. George says that in the grand scheme of things losing that fight was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. 

Ali was a great man and fighter there is no doubt about that.  I know for most the argument ends here; they fought Ali won end of story.  I know that’s a hard argument to overcome.  Who the GOAT is will always be subjective opinions, but I think it comes down to more than one fight. Now there might be some furrowed brows, but it is a subject that spurs engagement and interest.  Was Marciano’s unblemished record,  The Brown Bombers long reign as champ, the Brilliance of  Ali or the super athletes that came later in Holyfield and Lennox Lewis? 

Without Zaire Foreman would be the unanimous GOAT without question.

Bear with me while I say why I still think he is.

A prime Frazier had beat a just 29-year-old and I argue still prime Ali, pounding him, hurting him numerous times and knocking him down in the final round in the “Fight of the Century” winning a clear decision.  The right side of Alis handsome face that had been absorbing Frazier's legendary hammering left hook was grossly misshapen.

George destroyed that same unbeatable, and undefeated prime Frazier to take the heavyweight crown in Kingston Jamaica.  I would argue in the annals of boxing we had never seen such a dominant and pedigreed champion like Frazier obliterated in such shocking fashion.   Six times in less than two rounds the ferocity of Foreman’s punches knocked Joe down... six times…., sometimes lifting him off his feet in a terrifying display of raw power like we had never seen before.  The first knock down so shocking Howard Cosell screamed in hysterics “Down goes Frazier! Down goes FRAIZER!!… DOWN GOES FRAIZER!!!!!.  Frazier had the heart of a bull and would go down five more times until the end yet still rose to his feet. Proud men die hard.  

 The image of a just 19-year-old George wearing this white tank top emblazoned with USA.   Splattered with the blood of his opponent, a behind the iron curtain boxer where there are no professional sports. The Soviets most seasoned professional level boxer and an advanced heavily backed government sports program with one mission; Beat the Americans. George still a teenager did then what he would go on do in his storied career. Bloody and knock out the best.  Big George, Olympic Gold medal winner, a small American flag, the kind a kid might wave at a parade in hand politely bowing to all four corners of the crowd would be one on sports most iconic and endearing photos. 

In just six short years from strapping on his first boxing glove George had won an Olympic Gold medal and now wore the Heavyweight Crown.

George was no Sugar Ray Leonard He wasn't floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. He had built his style to play into his biggest strength, punching power.   I say the greatest show of punching power we have ever seen in the ring.  His style might simply look like a search and destroy mission, and the ring was his battlefield.  There was so much more.  You don't have the incredible knockout and win record against professional fighters and Hall of Famers just because you can punch hard. 76-5 with 68 knockouts. Wow. Boxing is like a high stakes chess match, and it takes a brain to go along with the brawn.  When the conversation goes to punching power we hear Tyson, Shavers and Foreman as obvious contenders. Without question George did more with his power than anyone in the history of the sweet science. If the ultimate object of boxing is to hammer your opponent unconscious or until the referee mercifully stops the slaughter nobody, did it better or longer than Big George.  Nobody.

Both Norton and Frazier beat and gave Ali all sorts of trouble. Norton famously breaking Ali's’ jaw badly.  In their trilogy Ali admitted it was 2-1 in Norton's’ favor.  George gave the same kind of brutal annihilation and knock out to Ken Norton in Caracas Venezuela; he had Frazier also in less than two rounds. In both fights it was a slaughter.  Ali went 45 rounds with Norton and 44 with Frazier.  Foreman destroyed both in less than 4. At one point a few years later Ali who was about to be stripped of his title for not fighting Norton again contacted George saying.  “George I can’t beat Norton, he’s afraid of you knock him out again I’ll even let you use my camp”.  Ali wasn’t joking, the fight didn’t happen, but it opened a close and lifelong friendship of two men who had been bitter opponents.

The only time Ali beat Frazier was after he had been destroyed by Foreman in Kingston for the title.  You never really come back from that kind of beating, not really, and both Ali-Frazier 2-3 were closely contested fights, and I would argue Joe damaged goods.    I don't say this to diminish Ali or Joe for that matter but to make the case George is the GOAT as everyone wants it all to be decided on the outcome of Zaire.

There is an old saying in boxing.  You gotta be able to give it, you gotta be able to take it and you gotta have heart. To be the GOAT you need to rise from the ashes to victory.  Tyson never did. We need to see your heart on full display and stripped bare and in boxing there is no way to fake it. The first fighter George would face after a year layoff after Zaire feeling lost and full of doubt was the very dangerous hard-hitting Ron Lyle #5 Heavyweight in the world. George would later say Lyle possessed shocking power and  in the top three heaviest punchers he faced in 81 pro fights. The heart and raw courage George showed against the murderous punching of Ron Lyle rising to his feet twice of the three times he had been down the only other time in Zaire.  Twice he rose to his feet in less than ten seconds facing an enraged and energized punching monster.

George said when went down the second time, right after he had sent Lyle down, his face against the canvas seeing his own blood "What ya gonna do now George?” Great men face a moment in their lives and this was it. The wound of Zaire had been opened again, and another man had beaten him to the canvas in front of millions watching. This time it wasn’t the voice of Ali that echoed in his head but his own.  "Is that all you got George?  The answer in Zaire had been "yeah that's it" and I think that is what haunted George the most.   This time the answer was different, later saying he thought as he battled back to his feet "He's gonna have to kill me"

All great men are able to look into themselves to find that special thing turning a time of desperation into triumph and transcendence. We stood in wonder watching, knowing we were witnessing something rare, wonderful, pure and unknown.  The crowd roaring for blood, the lights bright and spinning, still unsteady, ears ringing, vision not crisp to face not only Lyle but his demons.   This was primal, this was raw and it was happening live and I can remember it like it was this afternoon. 

George threw himself back into danger with the clarity of I win or die.  It was the most amazing display of raw courage, fortitude and sheer will I ever see in my life and have watched the replay hundreds of times.   This was not just a boxing match of flesh, bones and fists but something primordial was on display as the battle raged in the hearts and souls of both men. Cosell had screamed "This is a wild fight utterly without boxing skills” This was no longer a boxing match.  It had gone primal.

Lyle had been a convicted killer and banished from society locked behind iron bars like an animal, learned to box in prison, paid his dues, and had something of his own to prove.  They both had been hurt badly on numerous occasions taking huge shots, Foreman down twice, Lyle once.  You knew the next one down wasn't getting up; but who?

George had Lyle reeling along the ropes from a series of crushing blows and now cornered.    They stood toe to toe; man to man stationery both throwing bombs with nary a thought for anything that looked like defense. It would be the final stand. Somebody wasn't walking away from this pit.  George’s feet planted firmly throwing a barrage of punches as Lyle threw back. Then you could feel a shift, a focused desperation, it was no longer Lyle in front of George but those demons. George’s punches still heavy had started to become shorter and less sharp and propelled by sheer will.  He was all in.  He would use the very last of what he had here.   Lyle was badly hurt, slumped forward and had stopped punching but refused to go down.  Was this the penance for the man he had killed?  

Ringside Angelo Dundee screamed "Stop it! Stop it!"  This was a battle of two great forces and couldn't be stopped on the opinion of the referee a mere mortal. It had to play out.  A man can only take so much, and the proud and capable Ron Lyle finally toppled forward as George got out of the way to let him fall to the canvas face first.    His fight would end here. The ref could have counted to 100. There were no losers in this fight, and it would always be known as Lyle’s greatest.  George had slain the Dragon of Zaire and was free at last and George declared his greatest fight.

George would knock out Frazier again this time almost as a foregone conclusion.  George then lost to Jimmy Ellis a man he should have beaten.  Broken and lost in the defeated locker room he was overcome falling to the floor as what he described as "Death all around him"    In this dark and sinister place of complete loss he was overcome once again but this time by the power and presence of Jesus Christ.   George declared "Jesus Christ has come into me!" The people in the room were sure he had lost his mind, this surely wasn't George they knew.  They tried to restrain him, calm him down, talk some sense into him.  George had been blind and now he could see and what had happened was so real, so overpowering from that moment on he was a changed man.  God sometimes needs to break you before he can fix you. That fearsome marauder who annihilated other men for sport was dead and he soon left boxing.  The man who use to mock the weakness in people for believing in God was going to become a preacher.

This likely was the ending of this story as an athlete and public figure but God had something else in mind.

What brought George back into the ring after such a long 10-year layoff and obvious retirement?   Was it squandering his fortunes on selfishness?  Did his ego need a boost?  For another shot of Glory?  To forever silence the Ghosts of Zaire? 

No to the contrary it was for his Church and Inner-City gymnasium and that was on the ropes to keep the doors open.  George hadn't spent his boxing money for sports cars and million-dollar watches. No. His money was spent on his gym and church to give young men hope and spread the love of Jesus Christ.

"The George Foreman Youth Center” was for lost young men to find a place of discipline and purpose and someone who cared.  He never forgot the chance the Job Corps gave him as a lost and troubled young man.   In the pounding bags, the tapping of skipping ropes, grunts and sweat of that brick building had become an oasis of love and for some Big George the father they never knew.  He was 100 pounds heavier than his prime fighting weight and had become a gentle giant and nothing like the stalking killer that had destroyed men in the past.  

Nobody wants to play the fool, but he thought just his name could bring enough money to save the gym and like all great athletes a chance to test himself one more time.  He was willing to sacrifice himself, look foolish, attempt the rigors of training in a young man’s sport, laugh at himself saying his best combination was the left the right and the belly bump, take the punches from young world class boxers and ridicule if it saved the gym and his House of God.

He became everyman's champion and at first it was treated as a circus act and novelty.    But then the strangest thing started happening.  He started winning.  And this time he wasn’t fighting for himself but something bigger and we all stood witness.

 Of course, the anchor in the GOAT argument is his improbable comeback to becoming the oldest Heavyweight Champ at 45.  He made legend and history knocking out a young prime 35-0 Michael Moorer and heavyweight title holder who had just defeated the great Evander Holyfield who had beaten George a few years before.  Really nobody gave George a chance.  Jim Lampley, his boxing analyst booth partner and close friend said on two occasions George had told him leading up to the fight “Late in the fight he will come to me and let me knock him out" Using the same words each time.   Was George visualizing his game plan or was something deeper and more spiritual happening. Had George had some sort of spiritual awakening, vision or dream like had happened in that dressing room after the Ellis fight. As a devout Christian artist and writer, I have had clear messages from God as clear as if He stood next to me.  Was something prophetic unfolding? The same God that had taken a mean, surly and selfish man and turned him into the George the world had grown to love, the Creator of everything, changing in the outcome of a boxing match, or having a fighter, move or not move when they should would be child’s play in the grand scheme of things. 

George was known worldwide as a true believer in Jesus Christ and was deeply a man of God.   Had every step of his life led to this moment?  The fight and Georges journey had become much more than boxing, much bigger than the heavyweight title, knowing a victory here would give many people a reason to believe in themselves, to get up and keep trying, that your never to old to dream and a man’s whose heart is true north to Jesus Christ incredible things can happen.

As George approached the ring he was singing in a loud clear voice filled with joy and as God is my witness my personal all-time favorite song "The Impossible Dream"

To dream the impossible dream ...To fight the unbeatable foe...To try when your arms are too weary....To reach the unreachable star...This is my quest to follow that star...No matter how hopeless, no matter how far....To be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause...And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest...That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.. That one man, scorned and covered with scars...Still strove with his last ounce of courage......To reach the unreachable star.

Blessings or not there was still a fight to fight.   When George took his robe off, he was wearing the same trunks he had worn in Zaire when he was knocked out by Ali. They were tattered and worn and had some years on them just like George.  One might think they might be bad luck but George knew they were part of his journey as man and not as a symbol loss but as a symbol of overcoming, transcendence and redemption.

The trap would take time to develop, let Moorer get comfortable being close and in front of you, let him get comfortable being in the ring with a legend,  don't let him feel your power, get him to relax, throw your left jab short giving s false sense of a safe range, get him in a rhythm; your rhythm, let him have success, let him think to not just win but go for the knockout.  After not throwing a single left hook the entire fight in the 10th round George threw two wide looping left hooks not to hit but to stop Moorer from moving to his right and momentarily in the perfect position to spring his trap.  A short pawing left was camouflage quickly followed by a one punch right hand knockout right on the whiskers.  "Clean as a whistle" as Cosell might have said.

George had sent many men to the canvas under the thunder of his punches and knew Moorer wasn't beating the 10 count. The George of youth that might have scowled at his downed opponent with a look of “how dare you step in the ring with me” raising his hands in self-admiration over his fallen foe.  This George became still and took a moment looking to the heavens, the bright ring lights radiating on his calm face.  When the fight was waved over George ran across the ring to his corner and down on his knees and head bowed in prayer as pandemonium erupted around him.

He had dared to dream the impossible dream.  Hall of fame ringside announcer and close friend Jim Lampley, the idea George might win so implausible was unprepared with something clever to say   and simply blurted out "It Happened!"  The impossible dream had happened, and George had reached that unreachable star.   George knew a much greater power than his punches had won this fight.     Asked after the fight where the celebration party was, George responded "No party for me I gotta get back to Houston I got a sermon to preach tomorrow."

George had showed us as Philippians 4:13 tells us "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" and George was a joyous Solider of God and had shown us the impossible was possible.

 His boxing accomplishments are undeniable, and I obviously couldn't be a bigger fan and see him as an American treasure and yes the Heavyweight GOAT.   As a boxing analyst he was bright, intelligent and engaging. George became an amazing salesman, not because he was clever in that sense but because we knew he was an honest man and we trusted him.  George was proud to be an American and voiced it often and it played into his mantra of relishing the possibilities of the future and not dwelling the on the past.  Get up, get going and make your dreams come true.  Forget about what the naysayers say believe in yourself simply do your best and amazing things can happen.  Knowing whatever the outcome is doing your best is a victory in itself.

But the thing that affected me and made me admire him most was his transformation as a human being. He went from mean and menacing and truthfully a scary guy. To a man filled with the love of God radiating kindness with the most unforgettable and sincere smile. George would be the first to tell you that transformation was because his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Writing this has me doing some soul searching of my own. Am I the person God wants me to be?    Am I the best version of me.   The true and lasting sign of greatness is not trophies or titles but a person who makes people around them want to be better by the example they set.

In the last few days, I have read many of his quotes on the nature of positivity, application, truth, honesty and hard work are incredibly wise and profound and on par with some of the best minds of history.   He personified like no other getting back on your feet and battling forward regardless of what had happened or the naysayers said and he did it with a big smile on his face and inspired millions.   The world needs more George Foreman’s, but I'm afraid George was truly one of a kind.  We all can't be George, but we can all be better, George showed us how.

Big George Heavyweight Champion of the World, Olympic Gold medalist, Holy Bible in hand in the humidity of a Houston street corner, sweat trickling down his bald head and that ever present smile professing the Glory of God and the love of Jesus Christ.  I can’t help but be sad and the world seems a little emptier without Big George. Everybody will hear the final bell and fight their last fight and see their last dawn and sunset. For George that day came, but he was ready.  I can only imagine when he walked into Heaven basking in the Glory of God, his childlike enthusiasm, that big George smile saying "Man this is great"!