MANILA, Philippines - George Foreman, an Olympic gold medalist at age 19 and history’s oldest heavyweight champion at 45, said there’s no boxer better than Manny Pacquiao these days.
Foreman, now 61 and enjoying life to the fullest, was on the online edition of Boxing on the Ropes, and talked about the lack of excitement in the heavyweight division.
“I don’t like the champions, I don’t like their styles, and I don’t even like the contenders who challenge them. Nothing is going on in the heavyweight division,” he said.
Then he turned to Pacquiao, who’s half his age, as the life of boxing today.
“All the life is in the lighter weight divisions. This Pacquiao is the star of the day. Pacquiao is the best fighter out there,” said Foreman, who figured in some of history’s greatest ring battles.
He knocked out Joe Frazier in Jamaica on Jan. 22, 1973, just 12 days after he turned 24, to win his first heavyweight crown. But he lost the crown to Muhammad Ali in October the following year in what was celebrated as “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire.
Twenty years after, at age 45, he stunned the world by beating Michael Moorer for the WBA and heavyweight boxing titles, becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
Then he either gave up or was stripped of both titles, and fought his last fight on Nov. 22, 1997, losing a majority decision to Shannon Briggs. By this time, he was making more money with his famous George Foreman Grill, a fat-reducing grilling machine that sold over 100 million units worldwide.
But that wasn’t on the menu when he spoke to Boxing on the Ropes. He also talked about Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying he likes the undefeated American, but seem to like Pacquiao better.
“I like Mayweather as well, Floyd Mayweather, but that’s about the size of it. There are so many others who are equally as good out there but the cream of the crop is that Pacquiao. I just love him.
“He works out, he trains, and he doesn’t say a whole lot so after his fighting career is over he’ll be known for what he accomplished and not what he said,” Foreman said of the fighting congressman from the Philippines.
The gold medalist during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico knows of the aborted superfight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, but said it’s actually a fight the 31-year-old Pacquiao doesn’t even need.
“Well it’s one of those fights that I hope never happens because Pacquiao doesn’t need Mayweather in his life,” he said of Pacquiao, now all set to face Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 in Texas.
“I think Pacquiao had a nice name. Mayweather started to slander him, say things like he was taking drugs. When you start running into people like that, it’s best that you stay away from them. It’s not even necessary to even have them in your life.”
And if and when the fight happens?
“I think that Pacquiao wins because he’s got the momentum, he has a real trainer, and he’s willing to take the fight. He’d probably beat Mayweather, probably. Not to say Mayweather isn’t a wonderful fighter. He is the best fighter I’ve ever seen in my life, but he can’t beat Pacquiao,” said Foreman.
Clearly, this great heavyweight is for Pacquiao.