ANDREW RM SMITH No Way But To Fight: George Foreman and the business of boxing. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Andrew RM Smith tells the story of George Foreman’s career in and out of the ring and reveals the workings of the business of boxing.
George Foreman is a two-time heavyweight boxing champion. The first occasion was in 1973 when he knocked out Joe Frazier, aged 24. The second was his KO of the 26-year-old Michael Moorer in 1994, when he was 45. His most famous fight, of course, was his loss in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ to Muhammad Ali in 1974. In 2015, Andrew RM Smith completed a PhD at Purdue University entitled ‘No Way But To Fight: George Foreman and the African American Century’, which has now become this book.
Smith’s major achievement is situating Foreman’s life in boxing within the broader social, economic and political dimensions of America and other parts of the boxing globe.
Foreman rose from poverty and a burgeoning criminal career into the ranks of the one per cent due to what Smith describes as ‘an ability to fight, a willingness to adapt and a proclivity to sell’. The key to Foreman’s success was his intellectual toughness. From his earliest days he displayed independence. Smith refers to his ‘intrinsic cynicism’ and not wanting ‘to be owned’. Foreman cautiously felt his way along life’s pathway, learning how to take command of and exploit situations to his advantage. Smith says:
This book is the first to follow all the iterations of George Foreman… charting his tacks and jibes as he navigated the realpolitik of the prize ring around the world while staying afloat in the crosscurrents of the ‘American Century’ and making it in the sordid business of boxing.
Early in No Way But To Fight Smith refers to boxing as ‘the last of the unregulated, free-enterprise sports’ and its ‘twin peaks of barnstorming and ballyhoo’. Anyone – whether a boxer, manager or promoter – can gain entry to boxing as long as you can land punches or have the finance to train, manage, promote and/or stage a fight. Smith observes that:
… in the deregulated world of boxing, even the biggest bouts could be bought, sold, or usurped; in the fight game there was always a chance for an upset.
Contrast this situation with baseball, a regulated league where the barriers to entry are high; potential newcomers can only gain entry with the agreement of the league and member clubs. Baseball also had a so-called ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ precluding the participation of African Americans that only ended with the employment of Jackie Robinson in 1947. Boxing broke the colour bar way back in 1908 when Jack Johnson chased Tommy Burns around the world for a fight in Sydney.
The real money is made in championship bouts. The trick for contenders is to take on lots of fights against palookas on barnstorming tours and talk up their greatness and how they deserve a shot at the title. Palookas have to be offered an appropriate fee to compensate them for their pummelling. A contender needs to ensure that other contenders are avoided to prevent a loss, being badly hurt and falling in the pecking order. Knowing how to overcome these pitfalls and determining who to fight and when requires a high degree of skill and planning, all of which can be destroyed by a haymaker from a nonentity who upsets the pecking order with one punch. There is also the problem of having signed up to a bout with a fighter of lesser stature when the chance to fight with a higher status fighter for a higher prize fortuitously presents itself. Taking up the latter may be forestalled by legal challenges from the former, putting potential big paydays on hold, or eliminating them altogether.
George Foreman was born into poverty and spent most of his childhood being hungry. In his mid-teens he picked up a few jobs and spent his nights fighting and serving an apprenticeship as a mugger. He took advantage of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty of the mid-1960s and joined the Job Corps, where he picked up a skill in electrical assembly. More importantly, Foreman decided he wanted to be a fighter, and found himself a trainer. Upon graduating from Job Corps, like other African Americans, it was difficult for him to find a job. Foreman was persuaded to train to represent America at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games. He qualified and duly won a gold medal. As his arms were raised in victory, he waved a small American flag. While he sympathised with Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who were kicked out of the Olympics for their iconic Black Power salutes, he had nothing to do with the revolt of the black athletes of this era.
Foreman turned professional and was schooled in the ‘science’ of barnstorming and ballyhoo by manager Dick Sadler. Once his contract with Sadler expired, Foreman decided to manage himself and was assiduous with his bookkeeping to ensure he wouldn’t experience the taxation and financial problems experienced by Joe Louis. Foreman won his title against Joe Frazier and then lost it to Muhammad Ali. Back on the barnstorming trail he was beaten for a second time by Jimmy Young in 1977.
He decided to retire, aged 28, had a religious epiphany and became a born-again Christian minister. Running out of money due to the need to pay alimony and child support – he married five times and had 12 children – he came out of retirement, aged 38. He again managed himself and won the heavyweight championship for a second time in 1994. He lost the title in late 1997 to Shannon Briggs, aged 48.
During his comeback Foreman altered his image, worked as a boxing broadcaster, appeared on variety and entertainment programs and endorsed an increasing number of products. The most important was a grill, which was marketed as ‘The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Machine’. The sales, and his royalties, were so extensive that the company offered to buy out his name for $137.5 million to stop paying kickbacks.
Foreman is one of the few heavyweight boxing champions who prospered from his relationship with boxing. In his first stanza of fighting he only suffered two losses, and they were more from exhaustion and bad tactics rather than been continually bashed in epics such as the mean-spirited fights of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. He had a ten-year layoff and in his second coming was a smarter boxer; he knew how to pace himself. The champion he most closely resembles is the German Max Schmeling, who lived to his late 90s and was a successful businessman.
Smith has combined extensive interviews with George Foreman and a scouring of boxing media and other records of these times. He has a superb understanding of what happens both inside and outside the ring, and of the larger-than-life characters who strut boxing’s parade. He is also a master wordsmith, enlivening his analysis with wonderful turns of phrase. No Way But To Fight: George Foreman and the business of boxing provides a masterful warts and all account of the life and career of George Foreman, and the dark arts of the world of boxing.
Andrew RM Smith No Way But To Fight: George Foreman and the business of boxing University of Texas Press 2020 HB 400pp $58.99.
Braham Dabscheck is a Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Law School at Melbourne University who writes on industrial relations and sport. He recently completed a history of the Rugby League Players’ Association.
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