Posts tagged GeorgeForeman at FanHouse

Former heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman is well known for having five sons named George and a daughter named Georgetta. But get a load of this: In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Rampage Jackson says all of his kids are named Rampage:

According to Jackson, sons D'Angelo, Raja and Elijah all have the middle name Rampage. Unfortunately, his wife wouldn't allow daughter Naname to have the middle name Rampage, so he just calls her Paige.

A couple of interesting notes from the interview: Jackson was wearing an Affliction T-shirt even though the Affliction clothing line has been banned from UFC events because Affliction is trying to start up its own MMA promotion. I assume UFC President Dana White isn't thrilled about seeing one of his biggest stars giving some free advertising to a competitor.

Also, Jackson denied rumors that he'll be playing 'B.A.' Baracus, the Mr. T character, in an upcoming A-Team movie.

When Oscar De La Hoya purchased a piece of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo last week, the news didn't get much attention because, well, the MLS never gets much attention.

But it pointed to one quietly simple fact about De La Hoya, a champion in six weight classes: As fine a boxer as he is, his savvy as businessman is on a whole other level. This is the smartest businessman in sports.

Many elite competitors understand that it's the athletes who do the work but the owners who make the money. But De La Hoya is the one who has used his business acumen to control the means of production after years being used by it.

While professional athletes in the 21st century make the kind of money that their predecessors (not to mention you and I) could only dream about, they do not run their own show. As noted economist Chris Rock explained, "Shaq is rich. The white man who signs his check is wealthy."

De La Hoya is wealthy: Next month this extraordinary pugilist will make millions on a boxing match without ever stepping into the ring.

FanHouse's Ryan Wilson noted today that letters were written to Judge Henry Hudson on behalf of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick by, among others, George Foreman.

But let's dig into some of the details of Foreman's letter, which can be read as a PDF on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site. Specifically, check out the way Foreman opens his letter:

Dear Judge Hudson:

I'm a fulltime minister at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston, Texas, former two-time Heavyweight Champion of the world, and known all over the world as the king of the grills because of the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine.

Seriously, George? You feel the need to tell the judge about your grill?

The rest of the brief letter is actually an interesting account of Foreman's youth, and although I doubt it had any bearing on Hudson's sentencing decision, it's worth reading for boxing fans who are interested in Foreman's early life. But I just think maybe Foreman didn't need to make a plug for his grill there. Seems like not quite the right time for it. Sorry, No Photos

For U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, actions speak louder than words, I guess. Prior to his sentencing on Monday, Michael Vick, from the inside of a jail cell, wrote the judge a five-page letter asking for leniency:

"Your Honor, I am not the bad person or the beast I've been made out to be. I have been talked about and ridiculed on a day to day basis by people who really don't know Michael Vick the human being," Vick wrote.

"This has been painful because my son watches the news and can understand what's going on with his father," he wrote, adding that his daughter asked him on a regular basis when he would be home to play games with her, "but I have no answer."

Ron Mexico sure sounds contrite when you read his words, but given Hudson's history of not cutting soon-to-be inmates any slack on their sentences, this can't come as a surprise. In addition to Vick's plea, Hudson also received letters from Hank Aaron and George Foreman (no word on if the letter came attached to the new S525). Hey, maybe all the last-second support persuaded Hudson to only make it a 23-month sentence.

Vick also wrote that he takes "full responsibility" for his actions, and is "ashamed" that his "actions hurt animals and allowed animals to be hurt and killed." Well, in taking full responsibility, Mr. Mexico will have to spend nearly two years in the can. It's awful to think that he'll be away from his three kids for that long, but nobody forced him to kill those puppies.

You always have to be skeptical of the dollar figures thrown around in the reports of athletes' endorsement contracts. But whether the news that Tiger Woods has signed a licensing deal with Gatorade that could be worth $100 million gets the dollar figure exactly right or not, Darren Rovell explains at his sports business blog that this is a huge deal.

Rovell says Gatorade usually pays no more than $1 million a year to the athletes who endorse it, but that the arrangement with Woods is actually a licensing arrangement, not an endorsement. What's the difference? It means that Woods will get a percentage of the sales of the Gatorade Tiger Woods Thirst Quencher, the new drink that the company will launch in March.

Deals like this are rare -- the only other one I can think of is the George Foreman Grill, which earned Foreman somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 million. But with the way so many weekend golfers want to imitate everything Tiger does, I could see this drink becoming incredibly popular and generating nine-figure paydays for both Woods and Gatorade.

Former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman is not one of those boxing guys who attack UFC and make themselves look like horse-and-buggy manufacturers insisting that the motorcar is a passing fad. In fact, Foreman had this to say in an interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports:

"I love the UFC. I love it," Foreman said. "If they had had that back when I was coming up, in 1966, it would have been my sport. Man, I love it. And you know what? Nobody would have pulled the rope-a-dope on me."

Foreman thinks highly of the 44-year-old UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who's defending his title a week from today at UFC 74. But Couture would have to hold his belt for a couple more years to match Foreman's longevity.

Hat tip: UFC Mania.

George Foreman conducted an interview with ESPN's Brian Kenny this evening, and although he didn't back down from his claims that he was drugged in his loss to Muhammad Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle, he also said the sabotage is not the reason Ali beat him.

When Kenny told Foreman that Foreman's claims of his water bottle being spiked were tantamount to saying one of the greatest sporting events in history was fixed, Foreman replied, "No, it wasn't fixed. I got beat fair and square."

Foreman's claims are completely nonsensical. At one point in the interview with Kenny he said, "It was years before I got my health back together after that fight." So how did he win all four of his fights over the next two years?

Foreman also of the water he was given just before the fight, "Maybe it's just a phantom drink of water, maybe it didn't happen at all, but I tasted medicine."

Maybe it didn't happen at all? Yeah, I think that's the most likely explanation.