The man who who created arguably the greatest grill in the world admits that he hated boxing! George Foreman, who is known as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers to ever, admits that the only reason he fought was because of the paychecks. The grills may have come 30 years late, but took him in to a new career path.
While Mike Tyson was at the top of the sport and earning over a million dollars a fight, Foreman admits to making around 5,000$ a fight.
“I didn’t like boxing. I never liked boxing. I hated it. I hated that I had to hit to make my living,” he told SI. “I had to come back into boxing because I stopped earning.”
While ending his career as one of the greatest boxers to ever grace the sport, Foreman says that he earned around 2,000$ his last fight but didn’t mind because, “you just keep on earning.”
“At this time, guys like Tyson were making millions. And I’m making $2,000. But I was a sure bet to bring people in. And the purses kept going up. And finally I was offered $12.5 million to fight Evander Holyfield in 1991. I lost that fight, but here I had $12.5 million. Back in business.”
Foreman went pro in 1967, but retired twice during his career, until 1997 when he finally retired at the age of 48 with a career record of 76-5 with 68 knockouts. He also became the oldest man to win the heavyweight tittle at the age of 45, with a knockout of Michael Moorer at age 45.
In 1999 Foreman was reportedly paid 137 million by Salton inc. to use his name on their grill. Talk about career change!
