You can't talk about Ali without talking about me

FOREMAN WAS A MAJOR PART OF HEAVYWEIGHT FOLKLORE

- GERRY CALLAN

FEW men, in any category or career, have altered their persona or popularity quite as well or as successfully as George Foreman.

His first coming, in a career that lasted from winning Olympic gold in 1968 until retiring in 1977, was surly and boastful.

His second, from his return in 1987 until his death at 76, was a loveable blend of humility, compassion and humour.

I had the pleasure of meeting Big George five or six times and found him to be not just a two-time boxing champion, but an undisputed champion as a person with an unbelievable sense of humour - mostly against himself!

A self-confessed mugger, street brawler and wine guzzler at 15, he felt his life drifting until he saw one of his sporting heroes, American football legend and civil rights activist Jim Brown on a TV ad for the Job Corps.

It was a programme to educate and train 16-to-24-year-olds from less privileged backgrounds that was conceived by Bobby Kennedy and implemented by Lyndon Johnson shortly after JFK's assassination.

"If you have dropped out of school and want a second chance in life, then the Job Corps is for you," said Brown.

George was instantly hooked.

Enlisting for training to become a carpenter and a bricklayer, he was transferred first to Oregon and then on to Pleasanton near San Francisco.

There he met Job Corps counsellor Charles 'Doc' Broaddus, who also happened to be a boxing coach.

Broaddus, a former pro whod also play a role in the amateur careers of Sugar Ray Leonard and Leon and Michael Spinks, encouraged Foreman to take up the sport.

In 1965, Foreman listened to a radio broadcast of Muhammad Ali's stoppage of Floyd Patterson in Las Vegas.

For a second time, he was hooked.