George Foreman still has fond memories of that night 15 years ago tomorrow, when he stopped Michael Moorer to become boxing's oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45.But it took losses to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison to make the aging fighter to leave behind, ever-so-briefly, the commercialism brought on by the notoriety and cross-over appeal of his comeback.
Only then, as Foreman recalls in this, the third installment of a four-part series, could he focus solely on capitalizing for that legendary and historical moment.
FanHouse: Can you discuss what you feel that you accomplished in fight No. 8 in your comeback, the seventh-round knockout of former world champion, Dwight Muhammad Qawi?
Foreman: That was a big name. I knew that the pay-per-view business was there for me now. He was trying some of his old tricks. But I realized that I was more tricky than he was. I was the older guy with more tricks. I was so much smarter.
FH: If we can fast forward to comeback fight No. 19 with Everett Martin -- why was he so tough in going the distance for 10 rounds?
Foreman: There was one fighter who was a tough little kid. You know they called him 'Big Foot' Martin. No matter what I did, this kid decided that I'm going to fight, even after I dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
I told him to stay down, but he jumped right back up. When he jumped up, I finished the fight, and I said, 'Now, I'm ready for a title match. I'm back.'
FH: Can you tell us about the second-round knockout of 6-foot-6 Gerry Cooney, who was comeback fight No. 20?
Foreman: That was a fight there. It was Gil Clancy who said, after I fought Gerry Cooney, he said, 'George, where did you get that style? It's something different. You come on like waves. You never stop.'
FH: What was your mentality entering the Evander Holyfield fight at 24-0, with 23 knockouts?
Foreman: The Holyfield fight was a good one. It went 12 rounds, pretty much my fault, though. I was in good shape, but I was set on promoting that boxing match, so it was hard for me to get into it. I thought that I was the master at seeking publicity and training at the same time.
Thought I could do it all. But I learned that, for the first time -- when you're getting ready to fight a champion -- you're going to have to put something down.
FH: Is it accurate to say that, after that, you stepped up the competition, at least in terms of the names, with unbeaten Jimmy Ellis, Alex Stewart, and Pierre Coetzer?
Foreman: Yes I did. And that's when things really started to happen for me. I met with the guys for HBO, and they said, 'Look George, we can get some fights for you.' But they didn't send three tapes, they would only send one. One fighter, one tape.
I would just get into the gym and train, train, train, train, train. But I didn't have a choice. I just had to go with whatever they put out there.
FH: So what happened during the loss to Tommy Morrison in comeback No. 29?
Foreman: That was another fight that I was pretty much publicity-hungry for. I was a publicity artist. I campaigned hard to get KFC to get their label on the canvas. Then, right up to the fight, I was doing commercials for KFC.
Then I had some kind of hotel advertisement. I had more commercials, so much that my time was occupied. I'd say, 'O.K., I'm going to skip rope later.' Or 'I'll do this commercial, and then I'll run.'
And I did a publicity tour -- all the things that I said that I wouldn't do after the Holyfield fight, I ended up doing again for the Morrison fight. But at the same time, I thought it was going to be an easy fight.
FH: How so?
Foreman: To be honest with you, I really didn't give that Morrison fight much thought at all. I was going to make that title fight -- for the vacant WBO belt or whatever it was -- I was going to win it and make it something special.
But I didn't give it enough thought. And after I had lost the decision and the fight was over, I had a commitment to KFC, and then I signed with ABC to do a television show, called, 'George.'
There were movies, and commercials, that's what that fight was all about. I didn't have time to mull it over.
FH: So can we focus now on the big one -- Michael Moorer -- and how focused you were for that one?
Foreman: Well, I went home to the ranch, and I had a dream that I had actually knocked this guy out and I was the champion. I jumped up out of the dream and started calling [promoter] Bob Arum and making other phone calls.
Arum and I talked about it, and I said, 'Man, I can win this thing.'
