Age ain’t nothing but a number

Mike Owuor

I bet few of those who have clocked four decades or more and swear by the maxim ‘life begins at 40’ are suicidal enough to step into the boxing ring for a heavyweight bout.

No wonder the recent unsuccessful attempt by American boxer Evander Holyfield to claim a fifth heavyweight title, after coming out of retirement, attracted a lot of attention. Granted, he was one of professional boxing’s finest in days gone by, but at the age of 46 he was obviously past his prime. I mean, what did a man who had seen it all, including having his ears bitten by ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson in 1997, have to prove?

Good account

In the end Holyfield gave a good account of himself, although his giant Russian opponent, Nikolai Valuev, narrowly triumphed. Before the fight I listened to George Foreman, another boxing great, in an interview on Sports World, a BBC World Service radio programme. ‘Big George’, famous for the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle fight against Muhammad Ali in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), criticised Holyfield’s decision. However, he appreciated there was the strong urge to "keep coming back for one more fight" among retired professional boxers who do not know when to walk away and hung up their gloves.

"It is like falling for a beautiful girl who does not love you, yet you keep on going back to her..," he said, adding that it took the intervention of his wife to banish such thoughts when he wanted to return to the ring at the age of 55.

After scouring the Internet, I could not help seeing the paradox in Foreman’s comments, given his history. According to wikipedia.com, at the age of 45 the father of 10 knocked out 26-year-old Michael Moorer to become the oldest man to ever win a major heavyweight title. The 1994 fight also set a record as the longest gap taken to reclaim a title: 20 years. Foreman had lost the belt to Ali in the famous 1974 fight (where the Zairean public urged Ali to boma ye — kill him!). He then went into semi-retirement and preaching in 1977 after losing another fight.

But in 1988, at the age of 38, he announced his comeback, although "he looked badly out of shape", writes wikipedia.com. After a number of wins, mostly against nondescript opponents, he faced Holyfield, the undisputed heavyweight champion, a few years later, declaring: "40 is not a death sentence".

The champion was 28, Foreman was 42, and the fight came to be known as ‘The Battle of Ages’. The younger boxer won after 12 rounds.

Final retirement

Foreman, who turned professional in 1969, was to announce his ‘final retirement’ in 1998 at the age of 48 after losing a fight. But a year later, he agreed to fight Larry Holmes in ‘The Birthday Bash’, so named because of the two boxers’ upcoming birthdays. But they did not bash each other after all, following a disagreement in the negotiations. However, in 2004, well into his mid-50s, Foreman announced a comeback. This was not to be as his wife reportedly stopped him. Today, apart from writing and endorsing products, Foreman is an entrepreneur, preacher and happy family man, according to biggeorge.com.

Another interesting boxing story is that of Archie ‘The Old Mongoose’ Moore, who was born in 1913 (or 1916 according to some websites) and started a professional boxing career in 1938. Coming in and out of retirement at will until 1963, the light heavyweight American has one of the longest professional boxing careers, knocking out 145 opponents: The highest number by any boxer. He died in 1998.

In the meantime, after his recent fight, Holyfield said his goal was still to be the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion. Well, don’t they say age ain’t nothing but a number? And in a heavyweight boxing scene that lacks colourful and skilled characters like Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, Foreman, Ali, ‘Iron’ Mike or Lennox Lewis, we should probably encourage Holyfield and company to come back.

 

 

 

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