Foreman’s fabulous comeback showed burgers fit best
Far be it from me to challenge the trendy fitness gurus who insist that training on the likes of tofu and tomatoes is the way to go, but it’s simply not true.
The greatest comeback in the history of professional sports was achieved a quartercentury ago by a 45-year-old preacher who parlayed his insatiable cravings for hamburgers and junk food into a $400 million fortune.
George Foreman, who will celebrate his 69th birthday on Jan 10, founded a church and became an ordained minister in 1980 — six years after he lost the world heavyweight championship when Muhammad Ali knocked him out in their fabled ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
That loss was Foreman’s first in 41 fights. Following his second defeat, at the hands of Jimmy Young in 1977, the former Olympic gold medalist quit the ring and found religion. A decade later, with his weight hovering around 300 pounds, Big George launched his improbable comeback.
It started on March 9, 1987, when Foreman climbed into the ring at a relatively svelte 267 and scored a four-round KO over journeyman Steve Zouski. Over the next seven years, averaging a fight every two months, he registered 25 KOs in 30 straight wins, culminating with a sensational 10-round stoppage of Michael Moorer to reclaim the crown and become the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
And his favorite fuel on the comeback trail?
Junk food.
I had the singular honor of witnessing Foreman’s ferocious appetite during an interview over lunch on July 29, 1990 — two days before he demolished Canadian champion Ken Lakusta in Edmonton, Alberta.
I can still see the look on the waiter’s face at the Riviera Hotel when he took our order. While I tucked into clam chowder and a steak sandwich, Foreman washed down six cheeseburgers and a family-sized platter of fries with two strawberry milkshakes.
“Diet is a tricky thing,” he told me. “Just because somebody says that eating celery and salad is the right thing to do doesn’t necessarily mean it is right for everyone. I just eat what makes me feel good. And when I feel good, I fight good. It’s that simple.”
As his comeback gained momentum, Foreman was a frequent TV pitchman for everything from car batteries to computer games, but it was his penchant for prodigious noshing that landed his greatest triumph.
Shortly after regaining the title, the champ became a spokesman for Chicago-based Salton Inc and had a hand in designing the appliance company’s fat-reducing grill.
Foreman was paid 40 percent of the profit on each grill sold — a monthly royalty that peaked at a reported $4.5 million by 1998. The following year, after Salton paid him $138 million for exclusive worldwide rights to the George Foreman Grill, he said: “When you put your name on something it better be the best, because you only get one shot.”
After losing the lineal heavyweight title to Shannon Briggs in 1997, Foreman quit the ring for good. His career record of 76-5 (68 KOs) is one of the best ever and earned him induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003. Today he remains enormously popular as a motivational speaker and best-selling author.
Foreman served as lead analyst on HBO boxing telecasts for 13 years, and recently completed filming the second season of the NBC reality series Better Late Than Never, joining actors William Shatner and Henry Winkler and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw in unscripted excursions to foreign locales.
“I’m still having fun,” Foreman said at a recent media event to publicize the series. “That’s what enjoying life is all about.”
Along with burgers and fries, of course.