George Foreman: I didn't want any part of Mike Tyson | Max on Boxing | ESPN

welcome back to max on boxing and I'm joined of course by one of the greatest fighters who ever lived the great George Foreman welcome to the show thank you happy to be with you so I will you know like a love working with Roy Jones and that was one of the great things about working at HBO and Andrew Andre Ward who I'm now working with here but I was always sad that I missed the George Foreman era HBO had a lot of fun for 13 years it turned out to be a job so I said oh I didn't want a job that's why I wouldn't do boxing so I wouldn't need a job but you and Larry Merchant put on quite a show back then Larry was some got to work with you know he's a real creative guy and he had his heroes in writing I had my heroes and boxing inside a he was always we're always entangled into what's what we really wanted to project but I love working with Larry do you think the way the business has changed right it used to be HBO was the place where all the big fights happen in to a lesser degree Showtime and now we have a million different places offering a high level content but there's no real like one place this is where how do you see the change in the boxing industry and you know as it relates to HBO going away yeah it changes necessary though it you got to change you get to Kent State of saying I left boxing remember it was Howard Cosell calling all of my fights on H ABC and when I got back I said what has happened to boxing here it is HBO always Showtime who are these people next thing you know HBO just took over so now it's fallen to someone else and something that someone's just gonna have to come out and do something great in box and that's how I work you talk about like you first was Howard Cosell and then when you get back because there was a 10 year hiatus where you had retired from the ring and there was a 20 year gap between you losing the title to Muhammad Ali and the rumble in the jungle and you knocking out Michael Moore for the lineal Championship the heavyweight championship of the world and something that blows my mind George is it's been 25 years since then 25 years can you imagine that I used to celebrate also much the rumble in the jungle 45 years then someone said oh and a few weeks is gonna be the winning back of the title 25 years all these things happening like that now I need to do something else uh-huh so I got to knock out George Foreman formula now it'll knock you out take the pain away I want to get to that in a second because bigger than the rumble in the jungle or Michael Moorer as a piece of business may have been the George Foreman grill Michael Moore boast about that dude what's he say if he had knocked me out it would have been a Michael Moore grill but so now you so now you got this pain relief formula yeah George Foreman from real time pain relief knockout formula you put it on old pains old aches and it helps in a long how long does it take about rubbing it on a little bit and you wait about 20 minutes maybe less and old pain you get a little relief and that's all you want is a little release so we can go out and hurt it again but I'm getting relief now and I'm promoting that now you Amazon that just that's for George Foreman not to grill this time although they are there but that's for the real time pain relief from is that what Foreman is that you had so much success with the grill and I'm sure it's not the only thing you ever tried to put your name on but what is the secret to selling something like the grill obviously the pitchman is a huge thing you were the heavyweight champ everyone loved George Foreman the way you'd reinvented yourself but was the was the kind of quality of the grill itself édouard of it it worked for the first time in the grill that have a flint you can actually cook on both sides so it wouldn't take long and it would the grease would slant away so people would all of a sudden look out my waistline is back and I'm eating steak that kind of thing they put a waffle iron on a tilt and I bought one good with veggies and now with this new formula from real time knockout George Foreman knockout formula it works you're saying it works it works and you know what I got 14 grandkids three great grandkids and when they coming around me and they play there have been times when they'd come around me he smelled like grandpa so this stuff does not smell so they keep coming and playing with me I like that I'm in the middle of a George Foreman infomercial and I love it it's true is true getting getting back to boxing are you following the recent heavyweight division not like it yeah and would Ruiz and AJ of cause Anthony Joshua that just turned every boxing upside down and this guy our Ruiz can really fight he's always been able to fight yeah I don't know why they took him on yeah I just don't understand that but now if Joshua gets to watch the Muhammad Ali Leon Spinks number 2 yeah he can win it why pop-up whole pop-pop-pop whole just keep hitting and holding 12 rounds your winner decision yes the stamina to do that he's gonna have to find the stamina because all you got to do is hold just don't try to punch he's too tall he's too far up in there and his chairs aren't yeah and this guy is accustomed to fighting nothing but tall guys Oh amateur and professional career he knows how to fight all gasp AJ's a big strong guy and what's it like as a puncher when you now this didn't happen too often to you but when you hit someone with a big shot the way Ruiz went down but then picked himself back up what's that do to a puncher when he sees the guy get up from the big you know and I was telling my son today you boxing is about management management the one time you've got to fight is when you get a title shot you got to fight Dan that's nothing to protect you the champion doesn't go away unless you beat him and the contender that get in the ring with you he comes to fight so you get knocked down you're so well let me get up and you don't wait for the referee to count you get up and you fight that's what it's like and you did that against like Ron Lyle for example what a fight but I mean as a puncher yourself cuz AJ hit him was such a shot to watch andy ruiz like rise from that must be disheartening for the puncher but that that's what happened when you get to be champ people say look I've come here and maybe I'll die but I'm gonna win and that's what contenders think like that you you're not gonna just knock me down and say it's all over put your hand down here I come again did you have to learn that against ollie and the rumble in the jungle like I always thought if the George Foreman from the wrong rumble in the jungle had the brain of the George Foreman who fought Michael Moore that's the greatest fighter ever if I only had a brain you know what I was knocked down watching more and dick Sadler said look if you get knocked down don't listen to the ref find us I found them and they said hold it stay they counted for you then you they tell you to get up and you get up and I did it and it was all over I waited too long to get up by their instruction the second time around what I thought run Lyle is like uh-uh I'm not listening I'm getting up and he knocked me down again but I kept getting up what you must learn if you get knocked down count one up get up off the for you at which is something that Tyson Fury did are gonna get to that in a second against Deontay Wilder talking about talking to an American Olympian who could punch and became heavyweight champion there's another guy around like that a little bit right now in fact let's get to that Deontay Wilder six-foot seven check it in only about two 17 George he's lighter than you at six seven but he can knock down the walls of a city with that right and it's like Bob Gibson all over that was a great baseball pitch yeah that is the reason they shaved off that mound because he come off that thing he if you even hit you you were more afraid of him hitting you with that ball he could pitch now Wilder he comes off the mound with that height and that right hand comes in there it's like a steaming locomotive if you better duck if you can't duck you better not get in there Tyson Fury that's why my hats off to him to rise for not only did he beat Klitschko but then to come back from all his troubles out of the ring I was shocked she got right when he got up on that shot I was shocked I said no way so that tells you there's another kind of a creature out there this guy can really fight they call him the gypsy king he's more than that this guy's calling six six seven six nine and they can fight when you look at you guys like you and Muhammad Ali who were giants back then 6 3 2 20 and now you're looking at guys who can fight maybe not quite like you guys yeah but there's so much but how you doesn't that make you a good fighter at all bigness does not it's right here this is what make you a fighter when you decide I'm getting in a ring and if there's Goliath himself I'm gonna get him it doesn't matter size has nothing to do with as you saw with Ruiz and Joshua sighs got nothing to do with it what so when you look at this heavyweight division well first of all let's talk about Deontay Wilder is power for a second I looked at when I was a kid that two biggest punchers ever were you and Earnie Shavers the size has something to do it like Rocky Marciano could punch but I would you and shavers at 220 and 210 and and and and then came Lennox Lewis who maybe wasn't pound for pound a puncher but he's 245 or something like that and could hit and now these guys like Deontay Wilder when you think of the best punchers ever and you watch Wilder what are you thinking where does he rank with that shot he's got power here you got like you and in New York I showed him how to punch mark reeling mark Breeland that's right we're trying to think of it mark brilliant has taught him the power and the strategy of throwing the right hand reckless he is and if you're in a way you going down I've seen a lot of power with Deontay Wilder more power than anyone else in the heavyweight division what about compared to guys like you Earnie Shavers Sonny Liston can he hit like that Schafer's could nobody can hit like Ernie Shafer he had a crunch punch and it was real like a welterweight he came back well and if he happened to catch you you were gonna take a stroll down memory lane trying to remember what in the world am I doing here and Ernie Shaffer was the best as far as executing the punch I suddenly listened was done he could have beat all of those guys we just mentioned he could have beaten them all but that Muhammad Ali who played with him and talked with him so but nobody's prepared for that at least oh the greatest heavyweight of all time I'm like yo Louis no Ollie is the greatest man of all time that ever box Joe Louis the greatest fighter of all time what you love so much about Louis oh man there was never a punch that he was off-balance whop whop whop and he gets you with one he was gonna hit you with four more nothing like him before us since we're all just maybe 10 - is Joe Lewis and number 10 what before I let you go they're telling me we've been talking for a 10 minutes already but I'm geeking out about that I got George Foreman here I want to talk to you about boxing when you do you pay attention to divisions other than the heavyweights right now oh yeah Canelo I love Canelo that's about the best fighter period around right now what do you like so much about this he whatever he's weakened he comes back stronger he gets better and better other than Mayweather I've never seen anyone to get better each three year three year period he's better working on his game he works on his game no better say it lomachenko have you been watching the seal or mischenko at all yeah they're really good but they'll they don't develop like Canelo like Canelo no I want to get back to you for a second the Foreman that fought Ali 40 you know 37 knockouts knocked out Kenny Norton in two rounds who beat would split two fights with Ali knocked out Joe Frazier in two rounds who'd split two fights with Ali undefeat unbeatable the guy's never gonna lose and then you have the rumble in the jungle it's the 45th anniversary coming up what did you learn in that fight that you took with you later in your career well you've heard the term rope-a-dope of course meet the dope I'll never be a dope again you use your head you got to think fighting is a thinking man's sport you got to think you must think all the time sure you got power left and right but you must think I never forgot that and then in your comeback you had we talked about the Ron Lyle fight the Jimmy young fight where you had a religious awakening you quit boxing become a preacher go preacher still a preacher go away for ten years I remember your comeback god I was a kid I was in high school at the time and you were talking about you just wanted to get a roof for the church that's why you started fighting and then it got bigger and bigger and eventually you get the title shot at Holyfield and when you say you learned to think don't be a dope how did that influence your win against Michael Moore 20 years after the rumble in the jungle well Michael Moore he believed the hype as I had with Muhammad Ali nobody ever knocked him out and I was gonna knock him out in one maybe three rounds at the most to show everybody I'm not gonna hurt him see I knocked him out I'm a humane Michael Moore chose before the fight get the punch of gloves raise gloves I said it's got really thing he can all punch me he really believed that and played right into the hand of a real puncher from way back one fight that never took place when you won the heavyweight title it was to this day in the history of sports I was I've never been affected by something like that like the impossibility of going from one of the greatest heavyweight the greatest heavyweight era ever to one of the greatest heavyweight eras ever twenty years between you went back the title that was really something that I'd never experienced in boxing right before or since now you're the heavyweight champion of the world and there was a guy named Mike Tyson around at the time who people thought well Foreman did great but you can't feed him to Mike Tyson but what happened subsequently makes me think I wonder what would have happened not a foreman for Tyson in his prime but if they would have fought then what would happen if you would have fought Mike time I called him Mike nightmare Tyson that guy was a nightmare in the ring I mean really if he missed you with his left didn't miss you with his right he'd bite you I didn't want to have anything to do with that you didn't wanna know I didn't want him you think he wanted you no way we were above one was a scared and the other was gonna handle that I didn't want any part of my time so he was scared of you and you were glad that he in man preacher why I think he was scared of you I could really punch and of course I was an expert at punching down with my manager would hold a bag and he was down there so I learned to really develop power from punches guys who were down low he was smart enough to understand that as they got taller my manager was not taller so there was a deficiency there but Tyson wood was very smart costea Matta and Tyson were smart team at the time I looked at you and I thought Forman obviously twenty years later you're a little slower than you used to be and that took a little snap off your punches I thought I didn't think you were as devastating a puncher in your second go-around as your first go-around and I thought Tyson's too fast for them but then the way history played out I look back and I go Foreman had so much character in the ring at that point I'm not so sure that that Tyson speed would have been the difference it may have been your character as amateur fighter at that point that would have been the difference there who do you think wins that fight I'm not so sure about all that or what you see was a monster it was a monster those are the kind of guys you see in a nightmare and you wonder wake up wake up wake up wake up and you wake up as they're so glad that was a dream I didn't want to have any part of Mike Tyson no way even though your your most devastating win may have been against Joe Frazier who in certain ways was like Tyson shorter bobbing weaving coming in yeah still no Mike Tyson yeah I really admired Mike Tyson he was not only he wasn't that tall that big but he could hit you quick real quick and his footwork was outstanding as well in his prime there was nothing like him if he had fought for another four years winning I would have put him number two to Joe Lewis when you have it you reinvented yourself several times unlike anyone I can think of in American sports history where you go from the brooding angry scary guy right even though you were an Olympian who was waving the American and and and you come back as the happy fat man that's also champion and then you sell the grill which a lot of kids probably warm now kids anymore knew you for more than even boxing so you understand reinventing yourself Mike Tyson was maybe even a more extreme example of you and while he hasn't had a success like the grill he has reinvented himself post prison post career as a kind of media friendly businessman who kind of philosophizes in public about stuff what do you think about Mike now where he is in his life I love him I love him because he's he's strictly positive he's got nothing to say negative about anything he's having fun with life and that's what it's really about anyway have some fun get out and say you know what if I can make you can make a million he tell you that he means it Mike Tyson is a great guy to look at look at his life what a book when he's ready to write his own book I can't wait to read it George thanks a million for showing up today is a pleasure to talk to you don't forget the real time pain relief real time pain relief out formula and it worse that's why you think it's like gorillas it works it works it doesn't smell your grandkids will still come around you up bone you they said he does smell like immediate relief immediate how am i doing can we do it yeah thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for more sports highlights and analysis be sure to download the ESPN app and for live streaming sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus

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Views: 3,514,829

Rating: 4.8600116 out of 5

Keywords: george foreman, george foreman interview, max kellerman boxing, max on boxing, max on boxing espn, george foreman mike tyson, mike tyson, tyson fury george foreman, george foreman interview espn, boxing, boxing news, george foreman vs mike tyson, espn, deontay wilder, george foreman on mike tyson, tyson, max kellerman, foreman, espn boxing, max kellerman george foreman, mike tyson george foreman, mike tyson interview, george foreman talks about mike tyson, foreman or tyson

Id: 4-incOaF0dE

Length: 19min 7sec (1147 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ordinarystrength]

Damn for a guy who fought 81 times till he was 48 years old, he is still in clearly great mental shape. I wonder what his secret was to avoid any serious long term CTE issues.

[u/bigfatpup]

Have old foreman and old tyson sat down together to talk? It would be nice to see their humble selves believe the other guy would win and be super accommodating to each other. The Tyson nowadays would be super accommodating to big George for sure

[u/[deleted]]

George Foreman is a real dude. It's funny to imagine him as the monster that walked through Frazier.

Tbh you can say about Mike Tyson, changed into a nice mellow guy.

[u/SimplyTheJester]

He also was afraid of Joe Frazier and downright destroyed that dude.

I think it is great when retired boxers can say things to boost each others legacy like this instead of still acting like they have a fight to promote.

[u/TorontoGuyinToronto]

Don't listen to George. He says that shit all the time. He's humble when he talks, but everyone knows he was one of the most confident mentally tough individual on the planet. He'd take Mike on.

[u/TwoFaceLord]

Foreman is the proper champion, still. The way he conducts himself and openly talks about his experience, career and both ups and downs is nothing but amazing

[u/guesswhodat]

How can you not love George Foreman? Didn’t he name all his kids George?

[u/Svenray]

If Foreman hadn't have got screwed over against Briggs his last fight would have been against Lewis instead.

[u/Lachy1234_]

A big problem I see for foreman is that his punches aren’t very fast and prime Tyson has very fast reflexes