HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Not many individuals can say they have been within the ring with George Foreman, however Brent Bowers can.
For 5 years, he served because the boxing legend and Houston native’s sparring associate.
It is a union that happened purely by probability. In 1986, Bowers was working at a League Metropolis boxing membership.
“One of many referees got here and advised me that George Foreman’s brother was in search of a sparring associate,” Bowers mentioned.
Bowers jumped on the alternative. At the moment, Foreman was already an Olympic gold medalist and had reigned for a 12 months as boxing’s heavyweight champion.
Foreman misplaced that title throughout a well-known 1974 match with Muhammad Ali, and his boxing profession gave the impression to be over when Bowers met him.
“Individuals thought I used to be nuts. Man, you gonna spar that previous man? You already know, when he bought bruises throughout him. I mentioned, ‘Properly, he is gonna be the heavyweight champ of the world sooner or later.’ They simply laughed and laughed at me,” Bowers recalled.
The naysayers have been proved flawed when Foreman reclaimed the heavyweight champion title on the age of 45 throughout a 1994 matchup with Michael Moorer.
“To me, George is the best fighter of all time due to him coming again at that age and by no means went down,” Bowers mentioned.
At the moment, Bowers was now not sparring with Foreman, however the two remained shut till Foreman’s demise on Friday.
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“Family and friends advised me, they mentioned, ‘Brent, you would not just like the George Foreman earlier than. He was a imply man. Thought extra of a canine than he did a human being,'” Bowers mentioned.
However Bowers mentioned faith modified Foreman. Throughout his hiatus from boxing, he grew to become an ordained minister and started preaching on the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in East Aldine in 1980.
It was on the church that Bowers says he final noticed Foreman two months in the past, delivering his Sunday sermon as standard.
Foreman was 76 years previous.
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