ATLANTIC CITY -- The only time George Foreman doesn't talk about food is when he's eating. Then, he launches into a series of age quips as the eyes of those assigned to listen glaze over.
It's a fairly interesting spiel Big George brought back to the fight game four years ago, but it has long since worn out.
Still, old habits die hard. "I got the heart of a guy in his 20s," he says. "When other fighters were getting hit, I was resting and eating." (Rim shot.)
If one waits long enough, however, Foreman will slip and allow a little boxing to creep into his monologue. What makes this timely is, in fact, the 43-year-old ex-champion climbs into the Convention Hall ring tomorrow night to challenge Evander Holyfield for his undisputed heavyweight crown.
"Imagine it," says Foreman, giving a pretty good imitation of a guy scarcely able to believe it himself.
"But I said all along this isn't a comeback," he continues. "It's a new career, a resurrection. That's why I took my time and worked my way up like any other kid starting out."
As opposed to a Sugar Ray Leonard, say, who un-retired several times for lucrative fights (against Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran), Foreman says, "I didn't start out looking for a quick title shot. I knew this was going to take some time."
And that meant a series of $25,000 fights, which grew to six figures and, at least once, a million dollar purse. There are those who say George fought a bunch of nobodies since returning from a 10-year hiatus. And he quickly defuses the charge with, "Aw, they're only saying that because it's true."
But Foreman had no intention of proving he could beat this guy or that guy or that he could fight. He had proven that years ago by winning in the Olympics, then storming to the heavyweight crown as a pro. The names of most of the stiffs he punched around meant nothing; he just wanted to get back in the job of fighting.
"Of course I'm not the same as I was in the '70s," he says. "Thank heaven. That was a bad dude. I'm an old man and I've got to fight like an old man."
Translated, that means George won't be jumping around, bobbing and weaving, doubling up on the jab and looking to win points with swift combinations. There's no deep, dark and secret method to Foreman's style. "I knock guys out, that's all," he says.
Even in the heyday of his youth, Foreman wasn't what you'd call a stylist. He was big, menacing and plodding, and his hands, never really fast, swung in wide arcs like wrecking balls.
