George Foreman dead @ 76

[Cobra Mgr]

I would think most boxers wouldn't reach 70. He did pretty good.

[low]

Legend. RIP.

[Déjà Bru]

Damn. I was just thinking about him yesterday, too.

Short story: I have to cut down on my sodium, not because of blood pressure which has always been fine, but because I have Meniere's syndrome (it's not a disease, although it's popularly labeled as such). Meniere's is strongly associated with alcohol, caffeine, and sodium intake.

Thus, out with the goddamned (excuse my French) deli meats in which the manufacturers pour in the salt. As they do in so many other processed foods.

And in with preparing more of my own food, such as buying and cooking turkey and chicken. What better way to do so than with my trusty George Foreman grill? That baby is getting a workout these days, more than ever.

So I was just mentally thanking George Foreman for his grill yesterday. (Yes, I know he probably only slapped his name on it but I am grateful to him, still.)

RIP, George.

[Déjà Bru]

I mean, what other of your kitchen appliances has its own Wikipedia article?

Fun fact: "The Jackie Chan Grill is the same grill as the George Foreman grill, but targets the Asian market, and has been marketed by both Jackie Chan and George Foreman."

EDIT, another fun fact:

Although Foreman never confirmed exactly how much he earned from the endorsement, Salton, Inc. paid him $138 million in 1999 in order to buy out the right to use his name. Previous to that he was being paid about 40 percent of the profits on each grill sold, earning him $4.5 million a month at its peak, so it is estimated he made a total of over $200 million from the endorsement, a sum that is substantially more than he earned as a boxer.

[kq76]

Greatest celebrity endorsement ever? We have one, but we much more prefer to BBQ.

I actually thought he was older. Hopefully he was still with it in the end.

[LD84]

Rarely do we see a boxer who is two different people.

In his youth, he was a feared power puncher and maybe one of the top 5 hardest punching heavyweights in history.

He also had a temper and was a bit wild in the ring. But he could be. His power could easily end fights.

Then he retired and went away for a while and changed as a person and a boxer. He found Christianity and grew out his family.
I don’t want to say he was subdued when he came back. Or even at peace. But he seemed like was more comfortable with himself as a person.

He was much slower in the ring. So he had to be more methodical and more controlled. He had put on weight. But that maybe improved his chin.

He still possed terrifying power even if he had lost hand speed and ring control. But he could pick his spots and still deliver knockout blows when called upon.

Fascinating career and a fascinating man. We don’t get to see that too much in boxing. Two radically different types of boxer from the same person.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

He still possed terrifying power even if he had lost hand speed and ring control. But he could pick his spots and still deliver knockout blows when called upon.

According to the obit that I read, that's exactly how he won the heavyweight championship in 1994 at age 45.

[Foreman] managed to land another title shot in 1994, in Las Vegas against [Michael] Moorer, 26, who had defeated [Evander] Holyfield. Some called it undeserved and suggested that Foreman got the chance only because of his fame and the novelty of his age. “It’s not about deserving,” he said with a smile, “because I’ve got it.”

Foreman was trailing on the judges’ scorecards when he managed to land the big punch he was looking for and knocked Moorer out in the 10th round. Moorer had thrown 641 punches, to 369 by Foreman. But the last one was the one that counted.

[Ty Cobb]

What a loss. Not just a great athlete and savvy entrepreneur, but a man defined by his faith and positivity.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

According to the obit that I read, that's exactly how he won the heavyweight championship in 1994 at age 45.

The bout is out there to watch… basically Foreman was slow and plodding but covered up decently well and against Moore he had a thing going where he’d land a jab that was more for camouflage purposes than it was for punching power on its own. Then the right came in, behind it, while the jab was still in your face, obscuring your vision. He set up that little trap several times and that last time Moorer just absolutely fell for it, didn’t see the 2 until he was on the floor. It’s kind of too bad in many ways because now Moorer will always be remembered for that punch where just the fight before Teddy Atlas gave him maybe the most iconic between-rounds pep talk in boxing history (“You’re blowing it! You’re blowing it and you’re gonna cry tomorrow. You’re gonna cry tomorrow because this guy is just gonna lose to the next guy”).

Anyway, Foreman was an interesting guy. Boxing is a sport people get into the way other people join the Army: to escape rather than because of natural abilities. Foreman, like many - I’d say most top boxers - was rough around the edges but had he come up in practically any other era his first run would have been as a pretty longtime heavyweight champion. He did have incredible punching power in his first run - see the Frazier fight - but he was absolutely taken apart by Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle, like that was an all-time master class in ring psychology. He left the sport after that for 15 years and while I don’t think there was like a night-and-day switch flipped with his personality - he was neither as big of a jerk as he was portrayed in the 70s nor quite the affable character portrayed in the 90s - he was definitely more appreciative of what he’d done and where he was when he came back.