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George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute


LondonRingRules
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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- If you mean like the Ali labeled Joe Frazier whooping the jinn out of Ali in their fight of the year after Ali called him an Uncle Tom, yep, that be big George in spades.

 

The 19 yr old kid a vast underdog in the mountainous altitude of Mexico City having to run a gauntlet of professional Russian and Cuban greats, and he knocked em around like so many bowling pins.

 

george_foreman_68olympics.jpg

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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

I just think he got a little bit too political. I remember in a tv documentary he said something like, when he started waving the flag as the fight was ending, the final one of course, "I thought to myself "we got you know!" Because he was fighting a Soviet guy. He turned it into a cold war match. Plus, he was at the same time provoking his opponent-not very sportsmanly.

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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- Boz, he was a 19 yr old kid rescued off the hard streets with about 20 AMA bouts going into the Olympics.

 

What were you doing on the world stage at 19?

 

Btw, Uncle Tom was the hero in that book, not the corrupted slur used by the black community.

Edited by LondonRingRules
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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- Boz, he was a 19 yr old kid rescued off the hard streets with about 20 AMA bouts going into the Olympics.

 

What were you doing on the world stage at 19?

 

Btw, Uncle Tom was the hero in that book, not the corrupted slur used by the black community.

I know that and I never liked or got that expression. I know this was big for him THEN, but he said that quote as a MATURE man, 40+ years.

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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- Well, in 1968 the Cold War was raging hot and heavy with the Russians and Chinese with all their and our nuke missles pointed at each other, so in context to that his comment falls more in line during the heat competition, there comes a turning point when you know you've got your man at your mercy.

 

You should watch that footage, Boz, George was quite something.

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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- Well, in 1968 the Cold War was raging hot and heavy with the Russians and Chinese with all their and our nuke missles pointed at each other, so in context to that his comment falls more in line during the heat competition, there comes a turning point when you know you've got your man at your mercy.

 

You should watch that footage, Boz, George was quite something.

Yes but in that context I can see why the blacks would find him to be "Uncle Tom". It was a time when Afro-Americans were being killed and beaten up and lynched a lot. Martin Luther was killed of course that same year. It just was a bit too much to wave that flag when you are black at that time.

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Re: George Foreman-50th year Olympic tribute

 

--- Boz, for context, Robert Kennedy was assassinated 2 months later. I woke up to the news of both on my clock radio, and I think you fail to imagine the the turmoil of that era.

 

America had witnessed the JFK assassination in 1963 as well as that of his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald live on tv, so it's understandable as a foreigner not of that era not fully understanding that sheer hostility. Gerald Ford had 2 assassination attempts in 1975, and Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa simply disappeared, probably buried in a giant landfill.

 

I don't begrudge a 19 yr old kid following his heart after such a seminal Olympic effort.

Edited by LondonRingRules
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