“He has been something special.” In five words George Foreman summed up the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali.
“Muhammad Ali made you love him,” Foreman, 67, told BBC Five Live. “If you dislike him you wanted more than anything to see him again so you could dislike him again.
“Beauty is how you would describe him. Muhammad Ali was what I call beautiful.
“The man was the greatest. Forget about boxing, he was one of the greatest men to appear on television, to appear in the media.
“He was the greatest.”
Foreman was beaten by Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. It took place in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and to the astonishment of those watching Ali adopted a ‘rope-a-dope’ strategy and sapped the unbeaten Foreman’s strength. Ali then pounced in the eighth round, putting Foreman on the canvas and the fight was stopped by the referee.
Ali had regained the world heavyweight title.
“Little did I know I would be facing something greater than a boxer,” said Foreman when asked to remember that night in Africa.
“He stood the test. He took everything I had and gave back worse. I loved the man. I wanted to beat him and knock him out but I loved the man.
“He called me Frankenstein’s monster. He was only saying that because it was true. I was a monster, I was a monster.”
When asked about Ali’s fight with Parkinson’s disease, Foreman said more research had to be done to find a cure.
“Muhammad Ali fought the best he could,” he added.