The Skinny Kid George Foreman Refused to Fight!
The Skinny Kid George Foreman Refused to Fight!
Keith McKnight arrived at the boxing gym a tall (6-foot-6), skinny (165 pounds) 17-year-old. I introduced him to boxing, and trained him for eight years. I was his coach and trainer throughout his amateur days, and later shared those duties with several other trainers during his pro career. As an amateur, Keith compiled a 32-7 record and won numerous regional tournaments, including the Golden Gloves. When he turned pro, he grew to 220 pounds.
Keith is a very popular, good-natured young man. He loved to play practical jokes on others and he loved to laugh. Almost every day, he had a new joke to tell everyone.
McKnight would become one of the most graceful boxers you would ever see. He had tremendous God-given, athletic ability. He was blessed with height, speed and great coordination. He had quick hands and was very mobile and elusive. His only physical problem was that he was thin. Critics said he did not hit hard enough, that he lacked courage and he wasn’t physically strong enough to compete as a premier heavyweight. Plus, he was white, and good, white heavyweight fighters were rare. Ever since the days of the great Jack Johnson, the first black man to win the world heavyweight title, people have been searching for the next "Great White Hope."
I remember watching Muhammad Ali in his prime on television and thinking he was thin. But, when I saw him in person for the first time, I was surprised at the thickness of his body. Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson were short heavyweights, but had very thick, muscular bodies. In person, "Big" George Foreman looked as huge and round as a big oak tree. Foreman was big even by pro football standards. McKnight was taller than most heavyweights – even Foreman and Ali – but he didn’t possess a thick torso.
Despite the critics, McKnight amassed a very impressive pro record of 33 wins and only one defeat, and 22 of his triumphs were by knockout. He was so quick and elusive that Foreman, the former heavyweight champion, refused to fight him.
Foreman’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc., had a fight for Foreman on cable television giant HBO. Sean Gibbons, one of Top Rank’s matchmakers, called me in 1997 and said, "We’ve got an HBO date for Big George in April. I need you to send some video of McKnight’s fights for Foreman to look at. We might be able to get your guy a date on HBO with the champ."
Obviously, we were quite excited about this potential opportunity because a win against the legendary, former two-time world champion would put McKnight in the driver’s seat. Boxers dream of these opportunities. A fight on HBO against Foreman could have paid McKnight more than $200,000. I hurriedly put some highlights together and sent the video the next day. After Foreman reviewed the tape, he turned McKnight down as his opponent. Instead, Foreman chose the stronger, less mobile Lou Savarese as his opponent instead of McKnight. While on a speaking engagement in Nashville, Foreman told Nashville Banner sportswriter Randy Weiler that he didn’t want to face the skillful McKnight because he was too quick and elusive.
"I don’t want to fight somebody I’ve got to chase around that ring," Foreman said. "Somebody’s gonna get their jaw hurt fighting that boy."
In addition to being a great champion, Foreman had a wonderful sense of humor. When asked once whether he worried about brain damage, he said, "Not really. Anybody going into boxing already has brain damage." Maybe there is some truth to that statement, but George Foreman was one of the shrewdest businessmen in the history of the sport.