George Foreman has had many lives. He has been a gold medal winner, a two-time heavyweight champion, an ordained Christian minister and a ridiculously successful businessman. But now at the age of 58 he seems to have taken on a new role: liar.
In his recent memoir, “God in My Corner,” Foreman claims that he was drugged just before his legendary "Rumble in the Jungle" title fight against an underdog Muhammad Ali in Zaire -- now knows as the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- on Oct. 30, 1974.
Foreman, who famously lost the fight by tiring himself out and succumbing to an eighth-round knockout, says before the fight his trainer gave him something to drink that tasted like medicine.
"I almost spit it out ... [I told my trainer] 'Man, I know this water has medicine in it,'" Foreman wrote. "I climbed into the ring with that medicinal taste still lingering in my mouth. After the third round, I was as tired as if I had fought 15 rounds. What's going on here? Did someone slip a drug in my water?" he wrote.
Oh, please.
What bothers me about Foreman’s outrageous claim is the fact that he waited over 30 years to make it and likely did so as a cheap ploy to sell more books. It reminds me what Pete Rose did. For 15 years, the Hit-King vehemently denied betting on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds, but when his memoir, “My Prison Without Bars” was published in 2004 and he needed something juicy to create interest, only then did he admit to betting on baseball.
Foreman seems like a likeable guy. He has a nice smile, overcame tremendous odds to regain the heavyweight crown in 1994, and has sold more than 55 million grills. He has is wealthy, famous, and respected; which makes it even more puzzling as to why he would make such an off the wall accusation just to sell more books.
Foreman is considered one of the all-time great heavyweights, but this nonsense about being drugged -- by his own trainer no less! -- just comes off as sour grapes.
