Abu Dhabi: George Foreman, the man Muhammad Ali beat in arguably the most iconic boxing match of all time, said on Friday that “a certain piece of me slipped away today” on hearing of his great friend’s death.
Speaking to Gulf News in a telephone interview, Foreman said he was happily talking to anyone who wanted to discuss Ali to honour the legend’s memory rather than mourn his demise.
Although a fading force at the age of 32 in 1974, Ali reclaimed the world heavyweight title by beating the previously unbeaten Foreman with a spectacular eighth-round knockout in Zaire, Africa, in what became known as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’.
It was the apogee of a golden period for boxing, which was embellished by the rivalry between Ali, Foreman and the late Joe Frazier — a holy trinity whose careers will forever be inextricably linked together.
“I always thought that Ali, Joe Frazier and myself we were actually just one guy, that’s what we had become,” the 67-year-old Texan, who last saw Ali at the 2015 Sports Illustrated Awards, told Gulf News. “And even as the years were passing, we became more and more of one guy. A certain piece of me slipped away today.
“Calling him ‘The Greatest’ is justified. He brought so much light to the world and woke up boxing, both for me and Joe Frazier.”
How did he hear about Ali’s death at the age of 74, which followed a respiratory disease complicated by the Parkinson’s disease he had suffered for 32 years?
“A reporter called me,” said Foreman, now a successful entrepreneur after developing a grill that has sold more than 100 million units worldwide.
“Rather than mourning, you know what I’ll do? I will be available for all media types because he really loved press and I will speak to anyone who wants to ask questions in honour of Muhammad Ali.
“It’s a big loss. It’s not like I look forward to being in a world without my friend Muhammad Ali. He was a great part of my world for years.”
Where does Ali sit in the pantheon of great sportsmen?
“When somebody says to me: ‘George, do you believe Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer?’. I say, ‘That’s making him small.’
“He was one of the greatest men I’ve ever seen in my life. Everybody that met him walked away with a greater understanding of his greatness.
“Boxing was too small for him. He was bigger than boxing, he was bigger than athletics. He made the world look a better place.
“No matter what part of the world you went to, they all knew who Muhammad Ali was. Everyone, everywhere.”
“He was a beautiful man,” Foreman, a two-time world heavyweight champion and 1968 Olympic gold medallist, continued. “Meeting Muhammad Ali was what you expect when you see a total [solar] eclipse. You gotta see it to believe it.
“He was one of those wonders of the world I am glad I had a chance to meet.”
Foreman said the greatest tragedy of Ali’s death was that he retained an insatiable lust for life, despite Parkinson’s disease rendering him a pale shadow of his vibrant former self.
“I haven’t known anybody who loved life like Muhammad Ali. He didn’t care whether he was sick, he didn’t care whether he was suffering. He just wanted to live. He loved life.”
Foreman was impressed that even when Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight title in 1967 for refusing to go to the Vietnam War — he did not fight for another three years — his inherent joie de vivre remained in tact.
“They took his title from him and stripped him of his boxing career, but he still ran away in a pink Cadillac. He would show up before events and do clown tricks and magic.
“He loved living, so I am sad. He lost something he really loved and that was his life.”
His most cherished memory of the three-time world heavyweight is when Ali attended Foreman’s 1969 fight with Cuba’s Roberto Davila.
“I was fighting at Madison Square Garden and he [Ali] came into the ring. He was introduced, ‘Muhammad Ali!’
“He went into each corner and said something to the other guy and then came to my corner and whispered, ‘Keep punching, you’re gonna be champ’. I’ll never forget that [laughs]. It made me feel so good.
“He was in a pinstripe suit. The guy was beautiful.”
