When Lowell Met George Foreman

I met George Foreman once and he shocked the hell out of me. It was in 1987 but first here is some background.

Foreman had been heavyweight champ and retired for ten years. Once, years ago and before he was even champ, I had visited his local training camp along with KTVU sports director Gary Park. Foreman went through a workout and submitted to an interview by Gary, but he spoke in monosyllables, never smiled and was barely polite. I drew the conclusion he was a stupid brute, barely civilized. And that’s what I thought for more than a decade.

Then in 1987 after a retirement of ten years, he announced a comeback. He would fight Steve Zouski in Sacramento, a bout he would win by TKO. I drove to Sacramento a few days before the fight for an interview with the monosyllabic brute and frankly I was nervous, fearing Foreman would be rude and difficult.

He came out of the ring, sat in a chair next to me, flashed a gorgeous smile and said he was glad to see me.

This was George Foreman?

“I’m fat,” he said. “Let me slip into a T-shirt so I can look better.”

I let him slip.

He came back and asked after the health of Chronicle boxing writer Jack Fiske, a national treasure and a friend of mine.

Foreman was asking after Jack Fiske?

And here’s where I failed. I always taught myself to pick up on the mood of the person I was interviewing and go from there. In this case I should have asked Foreman how his personality had changed – at least to me it had – and what was the cause. But I was so surprised I asked standard boxing questions and wrote a so-so column when there was so much more to this charming, funny, warm, highly intelligent man.

I place him among my all-time top five heavyweights, and they go in this order.

Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Sonny Liston. I do not include Jack Johnson or Jack Dempsey in my ratings because I am not familiar with their work.

I admit it’s hard to compare fighters from different generations but I’m doing the best I can. Bill Walsh, who knew boxing and loved to talk boxing with me, placed Louis above Ali.

I rate Foreman as high as No. 4 because he destroyed the great Joe Frazier twice, destroyed Ken Norton, a good fighter, and destroyed Gerry Cooney among others. And after his comeback he won the heavyweight title a second time by KOing Michael Moorer. Foreman was 45 years old. His loss to Ali was shattering and for that I grade him down. Still, No. 4 ain’t bad.

RIP, Big George