How George Foreman changed to become World Champion at 44
George Foreman: An Inspiring Example of Personal Change
The late 60’s and early 70’s are regarded as the golden age of Heavyweight Boxing. Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman were in a class of their own.
Ali dominates the headlines – and rightly so, he remains ‘the greatest’ and defeated all the big names of the time.
But this isn’t a story about Muhammed Ali – this is a story about personal change and the key protagonist is George Foreman.
Background
George Foreman grew up in a poor neighborhood in Houston, Texas. He was raised by JD Foreman, but his biological father was a man called Leroy Moorhead.
Growing up, his older sisters used to taunt him about his background calling him a ‘Mo-head’. Initially, George didn’t know what this was – he just knew it wasn’t a good thing! In his own autobiography he admits to having a troubled childhood, dropping out of school by 15 and moving to California to start boxing.
His background wasn’t as brutal as Mike Tyson’s but his attitude of ‘it’s me against the world’ was illustrated in the way he fought.
George used to bludgeon people in the ring. His demolition of Joe Frazier in 1973 is hard to watch – he knocked him down six times before the fight was stopped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS57YsAxmhk
He was seen as an angry man but he has skills. People wouldn’t ask for his autograph and when he came into a room, they looked at the floor. He was the ultimate alpha male.
coaching and leadership development
Foreman vs. Ali
When Ali was preparing for the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ he deliberately avoided seeing Foreman hit the heavy bag, it was just too intimidating to watch.
What Ali did see was an unrivalled level of anger and aggression and he chose to use it against his opponent.
Before the fight, Ali taunted Foreman calling him an ‘Uncle Tom’. Ali was loud, funny and likeable – a master of PR.
Foreman by contrast, was angry, snarling and aggressive. He was there to do a job. He arrived in Zaire with a German shepherd, the same dog that the Belgians’ had used to control the locals when Zaire was the Belgian Congo.
It made the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, a home fixture for Ali as the home crowd chanted ‘Ali Bomaye!’ – ‘Ali kill him!’
Ali’s plan, the famous ‘rope-a-dope’, was to let Foreman punch himself to exhaustion in the African heat. Ali would take a beating whilst quietly whispering ‘is that all you’ve got?!’
There is a moment in the fight when Ali throws a jab and the sweat flies off Foreman’s head. An exhausted fighter is now fighting a fresh one – the rest is history.
Ali went on to become the greatest boxer that’s ever lived. Foreman was devastated and retired for the first time a few years later aged 28.
The Comeback
He started boxing again 10 years later but struggled to get back to his previous fitness, weighing over 300lbs.
He lost title fights to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison in the early 90’s before being chosen as an outsider to fight Michael Moorer in 1994.
But by then, he’d changed.
‘The hardest thing you can do in life is to change your character’ – George Foreman
By the time he was 40, Foreman was no longer the angry guy but still he was a coach. Anger had taken him so far, it got him a title fight with Ali – but it also cost him that fight.
During his first retirement, he found religion, was ordained as a minister and founded a youth centre. He went from being the angry guy to the happy guy.
By the time, he was making a comeback, there were TV Commercials and promotions with him smiling in them.
When he entered the ring wearing the same trunks that he wore in Zaire twenty years earlier, Moorer’s trainer suspected that this might not be the fight they expected.
Foreman took nine rounds of punishment, crossing his arms across his chest to try and protect himself. When his corner man, Angelo Dundee (Ali’s old trainer) sent him out in the tenth, he said ‘You’re behind, you’ve got to do something’…
When the moment came, an overweight Foreman snapped a right cross which caught Moorer square on the jaw. He went down and Foreman became the oldest Heavyweight Champion of the World aged 44.
He then knelt in his corner and prayed.
Foreman is a great example of someone who changed. His angry character took him to a World Championship title but it also cost him one.
He had the self awareness to look at his own behavior and challenge himself – where had being angry taken him, where had it cost him.
He made a choice to ‘be different’ and when Salton Inc. were looking for a friendly face to launch their new ‘fat-reducing grilling machines’ – Foreman was the obvious choice.
In 1999, Salton bought the rights to use his name. Prior to that, he was paid 40% of the profits on each grill that was sold. He’s never confirmed it but it is estimated that he’s earned over $200m from the deal.
Personal change is extremely hard.
Taking ownership, reflecting on your own behavior – where it’s got you, the good and the bad situations. This is hard – few people do it well.
George Foreman represents a great example of someone who went through this process achieving greater success than he ever could have imagined when he retired for the first time.
A World Title and $200m. Not a bad return on investment for becoming ‘the happy guy’.
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