IBO Boxing Honesty and Integrity
Turn on any radio station and you will hear the voice; the deep southern drawl asking to help you be an inventor. Walk into any big box store and you will surely see a grill with his name ready to be sold. Maybe that’s what a current generation knows George Foreman for. Even younger boxing fans nay just know him for his TV work around some of the greatest fights in recent memory.
However there is so much more, and that’s what plays out in the new documentary FOREMAN, which debuts on EPIX Wednesday night. The film, with great archival footage takes us through the history of boxing’s last real heavyweight heyday, from the 1970’s through the 90’s, and gives us the tale of one of the great rises and then comebacks in fighting history, which included George Foreman becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history, 20 years after he lost the title to Muhammad Ali.
From the tough city streets to the family issues to the money wins and losses, FOREMAN really doesn’t pull any punches, and paints a great picture not just of boxing, but of a man who went from surly misunderstood champion to one of the mist remarkable brand builders in the late 20th and early 21st Century.
The film is directed by Chris Perkel (Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives) and executive produced by Gary Cohen (Catching Hell, Requiem for the Big East) with George Foreman Jr. producing as well.
It is a worthwhile watch not just for boxing fans, but for students of history and even sports business. A well done and worthwhile two hours, the latest in a series of issue centered documentaries by EPIX, with another on Danica Patrick slated for later this year.