Foreman getting a hell of a beating

George Foreman is a big fellow and, were this a fair fight, he certainly wouldn't need any help from me; but fairness demands an examination of some dirty laundry which has been rather carelessly scattered about here and there over the past few months.

The federal case against the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and its disgraced president, Robert Lee, went to the jury a week ago. Lee, and his son Robert Jr (38), are the nominal defendants in the prosecution, which charges that, over a period of 15 years, the pair extorted some $338,000 from boxers, managers and promoters in exchange for ratings and other considerations. After five days of deliberations, no verdict has been forthcoming.

While Foreman was not a defendant in the case, news organisations covering the trial sometimes acted as if he were. Wire service accounts routinely reported that the preponderance of the alleged bribe money revolved around Foreman's 1995 title fight against the German Axel Schultz, though not an iota of evidence or testimony directly linked Foreman to any of the payments.

This spring, with the Newark trial in progress, the former heavyweight champion was also the victim of a one-two sucker-punch combination delivered in the pages of the Boston Globe. The column included the following passage: "Promoter Bob Arum, among those who will testify to having paid such bribes, told federal investigators he paid $100,000 to get unrated Axel Schultz approved as an opponent for George Foreman.

"During an HBO-sponsored symposium on the future of boxing, Foreman denied that a bribe was paid. Anyone who knows how cheap Foreman is wouldn't doubt it, but Arum admitted the money was for that purpose."

Now, first of all, we should point out that we attended the HBO symposium in New York and the above-quoted author did not. In any case, the question put to Foreman that day concerned the specifics of the sworn affidavit Arum filed with federal prosecutors last November, in which the promoter admitted to having paid $100,000 in bribes to Lee, and further acknowledged that he was prepared to pay $100,000 more. The relevant paragraph in the document reads:

"As a result of learning that Foreman had paid $250,000 for the IBF to sanction the Foreman-Schulz bout, I paid Lee only $100,000. I later called Hoffman (Arum had already stipulated to having utilised rogue boxing manager Stan Hoffman as his "bagman" for the delivery of the IBF swag) and told him to tell Lee that I refused to pay any more money."

Here's what really happened: following a panel discussion on the state of the sport, Foreman was asked by New York Post columnist Wallace Matthews to comment on his role, as alleged in the affidavit.

"Anybody who knows me knows I've never paid a bribe to anybody," said Big George. Foreman did not "deny that a bribe was paid". He is and was in no position to dispute what Arum may or may not have done, but he did roundly deny that he himself had paid one.

Foreman has acknowledged, both to me and to the feds, paying a $250,000 consultant's fee to promoter Butch Lewis around this time. Lewis, who was supposed to have some juice with the World Boxing Association (WBA), was deputised to lobby his WBA cronies to keep them from lifting Foreman's title. It didn't work. The WBA stripped him anyway, but Foreman not only kept a copy of the cancelled check but reported it, as well as its purpose, on his income tax return - hardly the modus operandus of a man engaged in underhanded activity.

For all its myriad ramifications, the government case against Lee, pere et fils, essentially hinged on the testimony of two men - Doug Beavers (naturally rechristened "Bug Deavers"), the IBF ratings chairman-turned-government rat, and Arum, whose lasting legacy may be his oft-quoted line: "Yesterday I was lying; today I'm telling the truth."

Since Beavers would, himself, have been on trial had he not agreed to wear a wire, his credibility came under considerable attack from the defence as it was. Moreover, had Foreman publicly refuted Arum's allegation about his own role, it might have dramatically undermined the prosecution's case against Lee.

Put it this way: As a matter of simple arithmetic, if the feds actually believed that Foreman had paid $250,000 on top of Arum's $100,000, then Lee & Co would have been charged with accepting considerably more than the $338,000 worth of bribes specified in the indictments.

South African promoter Cedric Kushner acknowledged on the witness stand that, after Foreman's narrow escape with Schulz, he had funnelled another $100,000 to the IBF to mandate a rematch - money Lee presumably kept, even though said rematch never occurred.

"In this business," said Kushner, "I don't think you can expect refunds." Be that as it may, the other snide comment - "anyone who knows how cheap Foreman is" - was even more below the belt.

A little over a year ago, Foreman, at his own expense, accompanied me on a trip to Ireland, where we spent some time in the Limerick parish of Fr Joe Young. Working in the forsaken area known as Southill, Fr Young has managed to instill a spirit of hope by implementing a number of youth-oriented programs.

At the end of our visit, as documented by Tom Humphries in these pages last year, Foreman called Fr Young to his hotel room, where he wrote out three separate checks, for $20,000 apiece, to be used for the priest's boxing club, his soccer team, and his marching band.

And this past April, Foreman, who had graciously accepted my invitation to be the guest speaker at the Eamonn Coghlan-Neil Cusack Marathon Golf Classic at South Shore Country Club, flew, at his own expense, to Boston.

The former heavyweight champion attended that evening's dinner, awarded the prizes, helped out with the auction, and was, in a large measure, responsible for the fact that the $46,000 raised for Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin this year was the largest donation in the five-year history of our event.

How much was Foreman compensated? Not a dime. We should all be so "cheap".