Former World Champion Wanted Exhibition Bout

Exhibition boxing bouts are becoming more popular of late, with cross-discipline fights and celebrity wannabes able to draw substantial pay-per-view numbers for broadcasters.

Logan Paul’s clash with Floyd Mayweather may not have stood up to scrutiny as a contest if a belt were at stake, and it has divided the boxing world. Many have been quick to slate the short bout, which had no winner, but one big fan was former World Champion George Foreman. He went as far as to say he was not only impressed with the fight but he was even excited by it.

That is in sharp contrast to his opinions of the Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr fight last year, before which he claimed the fighters were in a dangerous spot and boxing was not something to be played with. Foreman knows a little about comebacks at a certain age, too: a Bwin feature on evergreen sporting legends shows how he is still the oldest fighter to win a world title. In 1994, he shocked the world by beating 26-year-old Michael Moorer for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles, despite being 45. However, it appears his opinions on the Tyson fight might go against his ethos after it was shown he wanted to have an exhibition fight of his own back in 2017.

Not long after Mayweather faced Conor McGregor in what was probably the highest-profile exhibition bout ever, Foreman used social media to challenge film star Steven Seagal. As reported by CBS at the time, Foreman didn’t have any particular beef with the Under Siege star; he seemingly just wanted to get on the bandwagon in the wake of Mayweather and McGregor. George Foreman, who made a comeback after a ten-year absence, wanted to go one better and make a third after two decades.

How would Foreman have fared? It is hard to tell, but Seagal is certainly no slouch when it comes to combat, whereas Foreman was 68 at the time. His last fight came as a 48-year-old against Shannon Briggs, a bout he lost by a majority decision despite landing more punches. Seagal would be a different prospect though, as he is known as a fighter throughout the world.

In films such as Hard to Kill, Out For Justice and Under Siege, he plays a hard-hitting martial arts expert battling for law and order, something for which he was a perfect fit. Seagal traveled to Japan in the early seventies to study martial arts and is a seventh dan in Aikido. He has also taken credit for several UFC stars successes, including Anderson Silva’s 2011 knockout of Vitor Belfort. Seagal claimed not only had he taught Silva the move; he invented it.

Would that have been enough to defeat Foreman? Indeed, the two disciplines are very different, and Foreman might have had to wait for his chance as several high-profile stars might have wished to face off against Seagal first. He has earned the ire of plenty of high-profile people, including Ronda Rousey, who is reported by Grunge as calling him a liar. Even Charlize Theron has blasted him publicly. If he were to volunteer for an exhibition match, the queue of people wanting to land punches would have been quite long.

Whilst high-profile stars might want to face off against Seagal, it is unlikely Foreman will get his chance now, which is a shame. Boxing is all about settling scores and developing the hype. Seagal against Foreman could be just the sort of exhibition match that even hardcore boxing fans could get behind with the proper marketing.