The cartoon showed Janiro rising to heaven because he had just passed away, and obviously he was part of Bill Gallo's golden age of boxing memories.
I had the same reaction Bill Gallo had when I saw that the former two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman had passed away this past Friday in Houston Texas. Foreman was born in the same year as myself, 1949.
George of course stamped his presence in the world when he won the a gold medal in boxing at the 1968 Olympics as a heavyweight for the United States. The continuance into a pro career was seen as inevitable, as it was when Joe Frazier and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) won gold medals in their respective Olympic appearances.
George was I believe the first to wave a small American flag after his victory over the Russian Ionas Chepulis with a second-round knockout in Mexico City. Waving flags, and being draped in flags is now a long-standing tradition on for podium winners of all nations in many sports in international competition. It's to be expected.
George's flag waving came just days after the USA track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos had raised clenched fists in a Black power salute during the playing of the national anthem to protest the country's treatment of Black people.
George's gesture was a welcome sight for many Americans. George was unapologetic about it. "I was just glad to be an American," Foreman said afterward. "Some people have tried to make something of it, calling me an Uncle Tom, but I'm not. I just believe people should live together in peace."
George's stamina was always a bit suspect, and that shortcoming was no more on display than when Ali made Foreman tire himself out by leaning back into the ropes in a title fight in Zaire, Africa in 1974, absorbing harmless punches, leaving Foreman arm weary, then knocking him out in the eighth round. It was a stunning upset.
My wife and I were on vacation in Toronto at the time and watched the fight on a closed circuit feed at Maple Leaf Gardens—the old Maple Leaf Gardens on Cabbage Street. It was the first time my wife ever really saw Ali, and she was impressed at how handsome he was.
During that vacation we saw three events at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Foreman-Ali fight, an NHL hockey game between the Maple Leafs and the Chicago Black Hawks, and a WHA hockey game with the hometown Toronto Toros playing someone. I only remember the result of one event. The fight.
I loved Maple Leaf Gardens. The lobby was filled with photos of famous Canadian athletes. Bill Carothers, the pharmacist track and field star, Bruce Kidd the long-distance runner, and many others.
The New York Times obituary writer, Victor Mather, gives George a complete sendoff. He correctly evokes what the 1970s was to many boxing fans of that era. "With his fellow heavyweights Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, Foreman embodied a golden era when boxing was still a natural force in America. The three great champions thrilled fans with one classic bout after another. Foreman was the last living member of the trio."
The 1970s and 1980s were my golden era of being a boxing fan. I had three $20, last row Blue Seat tickets to the Ali-Frazier 1971 fight at Madison Square Garden, tickets I got by writing to MSG and getting them in the mail. My father and a friend from work attended the fight that no one could get a ticket to.
One Foreman bout, if not a style classic, and not with either Ali or Frazier, was Foreman's 1974 slugfest with Ron Lyle, a muscled heavyweight that saw each fighter get knocked to the canvas so many times that you thought that they were going to knock each other out simultaneously and the referee would count both of them out at the same time. Foreman won with a fifth round knockout, because a knockout was the only way that fight was going to end.
After improbably regaining the heavyweight crown at 45 years-old form Michael Moorer with a 10th-round knockout in 1994, Foremen had a few more fights, but was ducking opponents that the boxing associations were mandating he take to defend the title.
He defended his title against Lou Savarese in 1997, earning a split decision in 12 rounds. It was his next to last fight. His final fight was to Shannon Briggs in 1997, losing a unanimous decision. He announced his 2nd retirement from boxing now at 48, and remained retired. Foreman finished with a 76-5 record, with 68 KOs.
But not out of sight. Foremen became maybe the most well known spokesperson ever when he took on the human face behind Salton's George Foreman Grill, a portable, electric grill that sold millions. We even bought one. However, I don't think we ever used it. It wound up in the appliance graveyard for us, eventually being given to a friend who lived in a furnished room.
The obit closes with what might be a key to achieving any marketing success. George said his willingness to make personal appearances was, "bigger than any endorsements. I don't care who you are, they want to touch you: they want to know you. Then, they buy you."
George Foreman will be missed.
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