EXPERIENCE TAUGHT FOREMAN THAT PEOPLE BUY YOU , NOT YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE .
the guys in the day room [ at Job Corps ] said , ‘ George , you ’ re always picking on people , bullying people . If you ’ re so tough , why don ’ t you become a boxer ?’”
He moved to California , met a boxing coach for the first time , and started learning how to box at the gym . After a couple weeks , the coach matched him up with a light heavyweight . “ The guy was so skinny , and I told every friend I had to please come down and watch me ,” Foreman said . Expecting to win , he was instead humiliated and decided to quit boxing . “ The kids at the gym just laughed me out ,” Foreman said . A few weeks later , the trainer ran into Foreman on the street , asking him where he ’ d been . Not wanting to admit the real reason , he made up an excuse that he didn ’ t have shoes to box in . After the trainer gave him a pair of boxing shoes , Foreman had no more excuses and returned to the boxing gym .
Only 20 months after his first boxing match , Foreman won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City . He caused controversy among African American civil rights activists after winning when he waved an American flag around the ring . The activists saw this as a way of appeasing the oppressive , white-run society . Foreman told Ebony ’ s Hans Massaquoi , “ I was so proud that I had won . I wanted the world to know that I was from America .”
Hurt by the reaction , Foreman adopted a surly , tough-guy image and became known for his mean facial expressions , which made him unpopular and rejected by the public . Foreman fought his way through the ranks , and in January 1973 , he became the heavyweight champion of the world when he knocked out the undefeated Smokin ’ Joe Frazier in two rounds . In 1974 , he experienced his most humiliating and famous fight . After a 19-month reign in which he was undefeated ( with a career record of 40 and 0 ), he lost to Muhammad Ali in the eighth round of the fight known as the “ Rumble in the Jungle .”