OT: RIP George Foreman

[Mort Gage]

Well the thing about Ali you can say is, he took the best of Frazier Foreman Shaver and Norton. Took their best punch. And won. Ali was bad.

Ali was dead at age 74 - although his health had been ruined by the time he was 38 and already suffering from symptom's of Parkinson's.
Was he "bad"?
Or just stupid?
Frazier was dead 67.
Norton dead at 70.
Foreman dead at 76.
The latter three aged far, far better than Ali did.
But all 4 died fairly young by current stands.
In America, males who are alive at 60 can expect to live another 22 or 23 years.
On average then, boxing took at least 10 years of life from them.
Enjoyed watching all of them.
But it is a brutal profession.

In '77 Ali said he was out on his feet early against Shavers. But Shavers thought Ali was conning him so he backed off. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco had enough after that fight and left. Ali kept fighting after because he had children and ex wives to support. You're right, it's brutal and why boxing fandom is largely in my past.

[ICCFIM2]

Well the thing about Ali you can say is, he took the best of Frazier Foreman Shaver and Norton. Took their best punch. And won. Ali was bad.

Ali was dead at age 74 - although his health had been ruined by the time he was 38 and already suffering from symptom's of Parkinson's.
Was he "bad"?
Or just stupid?
Frazier was dead 67.
Norton dead at 70.
Foreman dead at 76.
The latter three aged far, far better than Ali did.
But all 4 died fairly young by current stands.
In America, males who are alive at 60 can expect to live another 22 or 23 years.
On average then, boxing took at least 10 years of life from them.
Enjoyed watching all of them.
But it is a brutal profession.

In '77 Ali said he was out on his feet early against Shavers. But Shavers thought Ali was conning him so he backed off. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco had enough after that fight and left. Ali kept fighting after because he had children and ex wives to support. You're right, it's brutal and why boxing fandom is largely in my past.

I also used to be a huge boxing fan as well. But, over the years, I understood there were very few good outcomes in boxing and do not watch very often anymore. Mike Tyson shockingly was a good outcome as was Lennox Lewis in the heavyweights. Mel is correct about shortened life expectancy. Studies have also been done on NFL players and their life expectancy is shockingly short. All in all, Foreman did pretty well. Appeared to have his faculties for the most part unless they have been hiding it in recent years. I believe this closes the last chapter on the great 1970s era of heavyweight boxing except for Larry Holmes who won the title in 1978, albeit, most of his great fights were in the 1980s.

[Mort Gage]

Well the thing about Ali you can say is, he took the best of Frazier Foreman Shaver and Norton. Took their best punch. And won. Ali was bad.

Ali was dead at age 74 - although his health had been ruined by the time he was 38 and already suffering from symptom's of Parkinson's.
Was he "bad"?
Or just stupid?
Frazier was dead 67.
Norton dead at 70.
Foreman dead at 76.
The latter three aged far, far better than Ali did.
But all 4 died fairly young by current stands.
In America, males who are alive at 60 can expect to live another 22 or 23 years.
On average then, boxing took at least 10 years of life from them.
Enjoyed watching all of them.
But it is a brutal profession.

In '77 Ali said he was out on his feet early against Shavers. But Shavers thought Ali was conning him so he backed off. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco had enough after that fight and left. Ali kept fighting after because he had children and ex wives to support. You're right, it's brutal and why boxing fandom is largely in my past.

I also used to be a huge boxing fan as well. But, over the years, I understood there were very few good outcomes in boxing and do not watch very often anymore. Mike Tyson shockingly was a good outcome as was Lennox Lewis in the heavyweights. Mel is correct about shortened life expectancy. Studies have also been done on NFL players and their life expectancy is shockingly short. All in all, Foreman did pretty well. Appeared to have his faculties for the most part unless they have been hiding it in recent years. I believe this closes the last chapter on the great 1970s era of heavyweight boxing except for Larry Holmes who won the title in 1978, albeit, most of his great fights were in the 1980s.

Yeah, Larry Holmes is the last one left. He's a great interview. I was in downtown Easton, PA on business in the 90s and it was Crayola and Holmes. His namesake restaurant was sandwiches and chips, but a lot of great boxing pics on the wall.