Tag: Zaire

George Foreman offers to work with Deontay Wilder

George Foreman knows a thing or two about hitting hard; he also knows something about coming back from a devastating knockout loss.

Heavyweight great George Foreman has a suggestion for how Deontay Wilder can improve his fight game: Come train with me.

“Big George,” one of the most devastating punchers in boxing history, put out an open invitation to fellow hard-hitter Wilder shortly after the latter’s surprising seventh-round knockout loss against Tyson Fury last Saturday in Las Vegas. Fury dominated Wilder from the opening bell, dismantling the Tuscaloosan behind an uncharacteristically aggressive style.

“Maybe it’s Time for Deontay Wilder, to come spend a 2-4 weeks with me” Foreman wrote on Twitter. “Happy for Fury; but see a need for Wilder.”

In his heyday, Foreman, much like Wilder today, had one of the great wrecking-ball right hands. Also like Wilder, Foreman suffered a devastating loss when he went up against Muhammad Ali in 1974 in the so-called “Rumble in the Jungle.” Ali, a heavy underdog, knocked Foreman out in the eighth round. Foreman would mount an incredible comeback, albeit more than a decade later, when he became the oldest heavyweight titleholder in heavyweight history at 45.

Given the similarities, Foreman thinks he can offer a helping hand to Wilder.

Foreman’s comment arrives after Wilder voiced a highly unconvincing mea culpa. He blamed his performance on the weight of his ringwalk costume and threw co-trainer Mark Breland under the bus for throwing in the towel, which prompted referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight.

“I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional,” Wilder told Yahoo Sports! “… I told my team to never, ever, no matter what it may look like, to never throw the towel in with me because I’m a special kind. I still had five rounds left. No matter what it looked like, I was still in the fight.”

If Wilder moves on from Breland, who has been with him from Day 1 in the professional ranks, he’ll probably hire someone else to work with head trainer Jay Deas as he prepares to a likely third fight with Fury.

Foreman? Crazier things have happened.

Anthony Joshua exploring possibility of fight in Congo

Anthony Joshua became interested in fighting in Africa after visiting Nigeria, the homeland of his ancestors.

The Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad Ali’s stoppage of George Foreman in 1974, in what was then Zaire has taken on almost mythic proportions. It was the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary, “When We Were Kings.” It’s remembered by authors, filmmakers and promoters wanting to make a buck.

It begs for a sequel, and one might be in the works.

There is interest in redoing a version of the legendary event, this time involving Anthony Joshua, according to Joshua manager Freddie Cunningham.

Cunningham told Sky Sports that Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn “is exploring an option” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the former Zaire.

“There has been an approach,’’ Cunningham said.

Joshua, a U.K. heavyweight champion of Nigerian descent, became interested in fighting in Africa after visiting Nigeria about a year ago. He traveled for his last two fights – an upset loss to Andy Ruiz on June 1 at New York’s Madison Square Garden and a rematch victory on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua’s immediate plan, however, is for a title defense in the U.K., perhaps against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham’s soccer stadium.

“For the next fight, Africa is not the right time,’’ Cunningham said. “But, at some point, he 100 percent wants it.

“It went so well in Saudi that they will want to be kept in the loop. And there are always options in the U.K. Tottenham’s stadium is great and local to where AJ grew up.”