THERE is a morbid fascination with the end of a great boxer’s career, the last night in the ring and the inevitable defeat.
It would make a good study, a decent book and even better if the writer was present, and a personal witness to the final wonder of a great boxer finishing his career. I’m a big believer in being there, watching from ringside, grabbing a minute after midnight with the broken loser.
When George Foreman entered the ring for the 81st and last time in Atlantic City in 1997, there was a cameo from Donald Trump and Angelo Dundee. It was that type of night at the Trump Taj Mahal. Foreman, Dundee and Trump has a ring to it, not a bad list of names.
Trump was trying to make Foreman against Mike Tyson at the time – it seems he was trying to make that or other Tyson fights for most of the Nineties. He was most definitely trying to make a third fight with Evander Holyfield and Tyson at that time.
Foreman never planned on the fight with Shannon Briggs to be his last. Big George had won the IBF and WBA titles but had lost both outside the ring. It was a messy time for the heavyweights, a passing of batons, a moment of reflection in a business that was struggling.
Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe and Holyfield would do their best, but a lot of strings were being pulled, and the belts would fragment spectacularly. Hey, it was just business, no hard feelings.
On that night in Atlantic City, Foreman was still a big attraction. Briggs, who was 23 years younger at 25, played his role perfectly. At the conference, a couple of days before the fight, Briggs said he was surprised at how small Foreman was. It was a good line – on the night, Big George looked like Big George and was 33 pounds heavier. “I’m big enough, don’t worry,” Foreman had quipped. And he was.
Briggs did exactly what he had to do on the night. He was smart, too quick and young. However, he probably never did enough, but he got the verdict: 116-112 and 117-113. The final score was 114-114. Foreman appeared to have done enough.
Briggs knew exactly what he had to do in that ring with the great man. He had to jab, move, block and repeat. However, beating Foreman at any point in his two boxing careers inevitably meant that a fighter had to take a risk. That was Foreman’s ace card – he knew at some point the man in the opposite corner would have to take a risk and have a fight. When that happened, George Foreman was at home.
On that night, remember, Foreman had only lost four times: Muhammad Ali in 1974, Jimmy Young in 1977, Evander Holyfield in 1991 and Tommy Morrison in 1993. You had to be at your best to beat any version of Foreman. Briggs was a good heavyweight, but he was not a great heavyweight.
Foreman had a couple of dominant rounds and had to do a fair bit of chasing. Briggs had the right idea, but he was not really doing enough. I hoped that it would be the last Foreman fight; the old Foreman, I told myself, would have got to Briggs and done a job on him.
Briggs did exactly what he said he would do and moved and avoided any mauling, avoided standing anywhere near Foreman’s toes. Big George was 48 that night and still a force of nature. It was glorious to watch that version. I went to four of Foreman’s last five fights and that includes the show in Tokyo. I guess I was waiting for the very end of the ring giant. If he had chased Briggs for revenge, I would have been there.
Foreman probably should have left the sport in 1995 when he beat Axel Schulz at the MGM in Las Vegas; that was his moment to walk away, in my opinion. A hard night against a young guy, a tight and controversial decision and clear signs that he would lose soon, and that the man beating him would not have to be a great fighter.
That is when old men should call it a day. A win is just a bonus, and it really was a bonus that night. I was ringside for the Schulz fight, and I started my newspaper report with this line: “Today should be the second day of George Foreman’s permanent retirement.” Foreman got away with one that night. It was farcical and I feared for the icon; Briggs was three fights later.
It would have been a typical ending for a giant of the ring, a loss, a bad performance. I have seen a lot over the years and Foreman’s is prominent. Naseem Hamed, Nigel Benn, Frank Bruno, Herol Graham, Carl Froch, Dennis Andries, Sugar Ray Leonard and dozens of others. I refused to go to Ricky Hatton’s last fight and I’m glad I did. It’s a good study.
And that night at the Taj Mahal in 1997, George Foreman finally walked away. I like to think he took a final stroll through the empty hall, looking longingly at the ring, a place where he found his fame. Nice idea. I know I did that.
Live on DAZN, April 26 Eubank Jr vs. Benn. Over 30 years of rivalry and hatred all comes down to this! A bloodline born to settle the score, hatred in their blood. Eubank Jr vs. Benn, live on DAZN April 26.
