Order of Man - GEORGE FOREMAN ｜ Making the Most of Second Chances

00:00:00.140 Failures, setbacks, F-ups, and mess-ups are all part of life. It's just the human condition,

00:00:05.220 but when most people fail, they choose to stay there. But in failure, there's a redemption story

00:00:10.260 in the works. If is a big if, if you're willing to make it happen. My guest today is intimately

00:00:16.200 familiar with failing and getting back in the fight, both literally and figuratively.

00:00:21.000 His name is George Foreman, and everyone is likely familiar with him from being heavyweight

00:00:25.080 champion of the world twice to his infamous George Foreman grill. You may not know the

00:00:30.480 rest of his story though. Today, George and I talk about the comeback story, his near-death

00:00:35.160 experience, and how it changed him serving in your community and giving others hope and

00:00:39.720 ultimately making the most of second chances. You're a man of action. You live life to the

00:00:44.820 fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path. When life knocks you down, you

00:00:49.880 get back up one more time, every time. You are not easily deterred, defeated, rugged, resilient,

00:00:56.800 strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day,

00:01:03.140 and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:01:07.200 Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler. I'm the host and the founder of the

00:01:11.200 Order Man podcast and movement. I had a real treat last week. I was able to sit down and have a

00:01:16.000 conversation with the one and only George Foreman. So I'm excited to bring that one to you. This is

00:01:21.540 a big highlight of me. I'm often asked which are my favorite interviews. And although I do strive to

00:01:26.820 learn as much as I possibly can from every single one of our guests, every once in a while, there's

00:01:31.760 a real treat because of the nostalgia or the importance or significance or inspiration that one

00:01:39.340 person has had on your life, especially as a young boy growing up. And for me, that's Mr. George

00:01:44.600 Foreman. So unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time with him because he's busy. He's got a lot

00:01:50.440 going on. He's got his new movie coming out. So I took as much time as I possibly could. And hopefully

00:01:54.640 we packed as many good questions. And of course, his insight into that timeframe. Guys, if you're

00:01:59.520 new to the podcast, this is a movement to help you become a better man. All of us, myself included,

00:02:04.300 are on a path and a mission to do just that. Some are further along the path and others in different

00:02:08.620 areas of life, but we're all here to serve each other. We're all here to grow. We're all here to

00:02:13.200 serve in our communities and our families and our businesses. And hopefully the information we give

00:02:16.780 you does just that. So we're going to get to it with George here in just a minute. Just, if you

00:02:21.960 would, please just leave a rating and review. It's my only ask today, leave a rating and review on your

00:02:26.580 preferred podcast player that will help other people see it. That will help other men learn from what

00:02:32.220 we're doing here. And hopefully that will serve more men and more people in the world right now.

00:02:37.000 So guys, let me introduce you to George Foreman. It almost seems silly that I would need to introduce

00:02:41.980 him, but that's my own bias, my own frame. So let me introduce him. Obviously he's become a

00:02:48.100 household name, not only for his performance in the ring, but what he has done outside of it

00:02:52.500 in his community and business ventures. As a struggling, often in trouble youth, George picked

00:02:59.380 up boxing to improve his street fighting skills of all things. That's, he just wanted to be a better

00:03:04.160 street fighter, but he quickly made a name for himself as an Olympic gold medalist and two-time

00:03:09.960 heavyweight boxing champion of the world in 73. And again, in 94. And if you do the math,

00:03:15.560 you know that the disparity in time between his first and second title is unheard of in boxing,

00:03:21.800 let alone any other sport. George has a new film releasing on the 28th of April called Big George

00:03:29.060 Foreman, which tells his life as a young man, struggling to learn how to be a man and to become

00:03:34.720 one of the most well-known people in the world to losing it all. And of course, building it back up

00:03:40.860 again. Enjoy this one guys. George, what an honor to talk with you. Glad you could join me on the

00:03:46.560 podcast today. Thank you for having me. I know that a lot of the guys listening are intrigued by

00:03:54.800 your life and by your story. One of the things that's most important to me is the whole concept

00:04:00.480 of the comeback story and second chances because, man, we all screw up and fail and mess up from

00:04:07.060 time to time. And I'm really intrigued and want to hear what you have to say about second chances

00:04:10.560 and making a comeback story. Yeah, I had a crazy life. I did everything that I could dream of doing,

00:04:18.120 but I never found contentment. I was never satisfied with my life. And I went through and became

00:04:24.180 heavyweight champ of the world, picked up a little vengeance that I wanted to pay people back.

00:04:30.480 Never knowing that I would be delivered from all of that when I found God.

00:04:35.380 Yeah. Do you think that's what was missing in your life? Because I think by all accounts,

00:04:39.660 when people look at somebody like yourself, they would say that you have everything,

00:04:44.660 the world at your fingertips. But you say you were left empty in spite of all your external success.

00:04:51.880 There were days that I'd get depressed because I couldn't find anything else to buy.

00:04:57.360 I had it all. I could buy anything. The only thing I just couldn't find anything is to buy.

00:05:03.900 So I thought that would make me happy. And for a lot of reasons, I tried to be happy,

00:05:09.840 but it just wasn't there. But I kept fighting, especially to regain my title. They gave me another

00:05:16.940 something to accomplish. But other than that, I couldn't find contentment until I found God.

00:05:22.560 Yeah. Was it you talked about and you have shared about a near death experience? Is that is that the

00:05:29.140 moment of revelation for you when you came close to death that you were shown a different path,

00:05:35.140 shown a different way, if you will? I don't want to put words in your mouth, but what was that

00:05:38.000 experience like? Yeah, because you keep winning boxing matches and you win and you keep and you get

00:05:44.180 even more angry because you keep winning and you're expecting to get that. Wow, I made it and it never

00:05:51.020 happened. But in Puerto Rico back in the 70s, I was dead in a dressing room fighting for my life,

00:05:59.420 but I lost a match fighting. I heard a voice say, you believe, I mean, you got everything you believe

00:06:05.160 in God. Why are you scared to die? When you're fighting for your life, you realize nothing is more

00:06:10.240 important in your life. I lost a battle. I was dead in a split second and alive over my head under my

00:06:17.620 feet was nothing. Death was bad and the smell of death. I still have it to this day. And I got angry

00:06:25.300 because there wasn't any hope anywhere. I said, I don't care if this is death. I still believe there

00:06:30.100 is a God, not religion. And I was delivered from this nothingness back alive in a dressing room.

00:06:36.460 My heart beating, blood flowing through my veins. Then I saw blood on my forehead eventually and

00:06:43.840 on my hand. And I started screaming, Jesus Christ is coming alive in me. Something I joked about. It

00:06:50.780 was a big joke. I'm telling you, I didn't think anything like that was real. And I jumped off the

00:06:56.340 table screaming, Jesus Christ is coming alive in me. Went into the shower, washing myself. Hallelujah. I'm

00:07:02.600 cleaning. I'm born again. I know I wasn't saying those things, but I couldn't stop. I remember

00:07:08.980 trying to fight the eight guys to get out. I said, I got to go tell the world. I heard them telling me,

00:07:14.100 holding me down. I said, George, you don't have any clothes on. I fought that night to keep my life.

00:07:21.480 Then I fought to go and tell the whole world what had happened to me.

00:07:25.060 What was the reception of the people closest to you? Because I'm sure they never saw that side of you.

00:07:31.520 And then all of a sudden a switch flipped and they see this completely different side. Did they have

00:07:36.420 a hard time with that? Did they believe it was true? Did they believe it was a gimmick? What was

00:07:40.100 their response to that? Friends and family thought I'd lost my mind. My mom even told me once they had

00:07:47.480 come to her, some family members as well, and said, we need to put George away. He'd lost his mind.

00:07:52.520 He gives everything away. I mean, what has become of it? And my mother told me, she asked him,

00:07:58.340 can he still drive? They said, yes. She said, he's still got a good mind. That's the only thing that

00:08:05.000 kept me from being put away is that I could still drive in my mom's eye. My friends just couldn't

00:08:10.680 take it because they loved the real George from the boxer. They didn't see him. They wanted to see

00:08:16.740 him disappear in the way I had taken him away from them. I had taken away a good hero, a guy that they

00:08:23.020 could pull for 10 years. I didn't even box, not even make a fist. Was it hard for you? I mean,

00:08:30.700 you had such, so much of your identity wrapped up in being an Olympic gold medalist, you know,

00:08:37.080 heavyweight champion. Everybody's, you know, rooting for you on your team. And yet then you,

00:08:42.860 you have that whole side of you taken away. What was that like in trying to redefine who you were

00:08:50.020 if you weren't this great boxer that everybody knew? That's true. I had to have the best home,

00:08:56.800 Rolls Royce, Cadillacs, all of the best cars. Then all of a sudden one day I realized that I just

00:09:04.740 wanted to be alive. And, and, uh, I remember once, uh, driving to maybe a pickup or something and I

00:09:11.440 needed a battery charge and this guy gave me a charge. And, uh, I said, how much do I owe you? He

00:09:17.140 said, get out of here. Biggin. I cut off my hair. My beloved mustache was gone. He didn't care about

00:09:23.480 who I was. I didn't even care. And for the first time I didn't care either. I realized that people

00:09:30.480 cared about you. If you care about yourself, the world is a good place with full of good people

00:09:36.060 that made it worth living for a second chance to be a boxer.

00:09:41.140 So what brought you back then to the ring? I mean, it sounds like you found new hope,

00:09:47.400 new optimism, a new outlook on life. You're serving, uh, youth in your community. You're

00:09:52.020 doing great work. So what brought you back to that former life?

00:09:55.760 Well, I was really not too far from Atlanta, Georgia, speaking at a church for three days.

00:10:01.740 And the minister said if I would come down and speak to help me support my youth center,

00:10:05.960 he'd get, had everybody donate and for three days. And then afterwards he took an offering

00:10:12.280 and the people put their money in. He said, let's have George. We can give him more than this.

00:10:17.120 And for the first time, I was ashamed that I was there asking people for money. I've been

00:10:22.000 champ of the world. I've been rich. And now I'm trying to take someone's money. I said, then

00:10:27.300 I'll never ask anyone for anything ever again. I'm going to be heavyweight champion of the world

00:10:33.060 again. Easy to say, but 315 pounds, it wasn't that easy at all. I couldn't even fit my leg in

00:10:41.880 my boxing trunks, but I had that chance to really, I had to go back. I was about to use the, lose the

00:10:50.400 youth center. I, and my only profession I had was boxing. I wish I had been a golfer, but I had to

00:10:58.200 go back to boxing. Did, uh, how much weight did you have to cut then? I did. I eventually I was 315

00:11:05.840 pounds. I'd gotten down to almost 228, 228 pounds, just training. But, uh, I realized, look, if you're

00:11:13.660 going to be champ of the world, you got to enjoy it this time. So I went back to my cheeseburgers and

00:11:18.840 everything. I became champ of the world. But if you check my DNA, it would be cheeseburger. That's

00:11:25.640 all. I ate whatever I wanted. And I was happy because of it. What, what's, uh, what's your

00:11:31.760 favorite cheeseburger? What's your go-to burger? Oh, there are so many. I like so many cheeseburgers.

00:11:37.720 I've never met a burger. I didn't love. Uh, that's great. So, okay. So look, it sounds like you went

00:11:44.660 back for the money, which, you know, I think most of us probably would say, Oh, you know,

00:11:49.180 is that a, is that a great motive? But it seems like it was, it was what was behind the money,

00:11:54.200 which is to support the youth center and support what you were doing outside of the ring. Is that

00:11:58.280 right? And if that is, were there other motivating factors that drove you to become the best in the

00:12:04.440 world again? Yeah. I had to go out and raise money for my youth center. That's what got me back.

00:12:10.080 And that's when I realized they're going to close this thing down. People would drop their children

00:12:15.200 off to the George former youth center. And it was like, you got to be there. I once, one kid, I,

00:12:21.560 he was such a troublemaker. I took him back and I said, look, this kid can't come back over. He's

00:12:28.240 just too bad acting. His parents brought him back to me and said, look, and brought a little switch or

00:12:33.900 stick. They say, use this on him, but he can't come back home. There's no place for him. You got to

00:12:39.720 keep him. And that's when I realized I had to keep that youth center alive because people were

00:12:45.480 dependent on me to raise their kids really. And, uh, so that's why I fought to keep that youth center

00:12:51.200 open. How did you help that specific young man? How did you get him in line? And, and was that

00:12:57.020 something he was able to do? And I, I'm not sure if, you know, you followed his progress much

00:13:01.900 throughout the rest of his life, but is, is there something that you did that, that helped him on his

00:13:06.200 own path? Yeah. Those kids would come in and I'd be there for them. If I tell you, they liked my

00:13:12.660 boxing. No, they just liked the idea that I would be there for them and they would come in and I didn't

00:13:19.660 care about them becoming a boxer. I spend time listening to them, talking with them. They did all

00:13:25.680 the talking. Of course, they thought they were a better fighter. Look, watch me do this. And they

00:13:31.200 would show up in the ring and you look up 10 years go by and they were men, men that I could

00:13:37.240 be proud of. I didn't teach them anything about boxing as much as they learn how to be men.

00:13:44.060 Yeah. That's powerful. The girls would come there and become better boxers too. I used to tell some

00:13:49.760 of my daughters, they'd be practicing with my sons and boys come out of the room crying. I said,

00:13:56.020 you just can't be beating up my boys. I have daughters that could box.

00:14:00.820 I, uh, I train a little bit of martial arts and there's some women that, uh, that I've trained

00:14:05.180 with that, uh, I would rank up there right up there with any man I've ever trained with.

00:14:10.160 Yeah. You'd be surprised. Determination comes from all different parts of life. And I should

00:14:16.180 have realized that because my mom was determined never to give up on me. I should have known there

00:14:21.200 was fight there because I'd given up on myself. She didn't. Do you feel like it was her that got

00:14:27.460 you through some of the hard times when, when you were a youth, when you were a young man trying to

00:14:31.060 figure out your way? I mean, a lot of, a lot of young boys are, and they really don't have places

00:14:35.100 to turn. Well, I was really in a lot of trouble out in the streets, mugging. But one day I just

00:14:41.740 looked out and I just was tired of disappointing my mom. And I joined the job course so that I could

00:14:47.560 make her proud of me. I went in, uh, reading. I didn't know anything. I didn't go to school.

00:14:52.800 So I learned to read better. And then I took a challenge in the job course center to become a

00:14:57.960 boxer. The kid said, thank you so tough. Why don't you become a boxer? And I hid it from my mom a long

00:15:05.080 time. She didn't know I was a boxer. She didn't want me being, uh, becoming a boxer, even in sports,

00:15:10.240 because I had a quick temper. And that brought things to the point where I was in the Olympics. My mom

00:15:16.760 heard about me and being on television. She wouldn't watch me box. And, uh, actually my mom

00:15:22.540 became proud of me. I turned that corner in life. So she didn't know that you were boxing until you

00:15:28.060 became competitive. Yeah, that's amazing. So she didn't know until you became competitive. Is that

00:15:33.380 right? My mom really didn't realize I was a boxer. And then, uh, during the Olympics, uh, they had a

00:15:40.560 wide world of sports and they said, George Foreman, everybody knew me in town as monk

00:15:46.540 and George Foreman is fighting. She knew that was her son. She couldn't believe it. Everybody was

00:15:51.860 really for me. Yeah. She just couldn't believe it. That's when she realized I was a boxer.

00:15:58.340 Then everyone would come around and say, look, we have take this money and make him turn pro with us.

00:16:03.880 Let him, let us be our manager. My mom used to laugh. She said, first of all, I don't even want

00:16:09.380 him to box. And secondly, I can't tell that boy what to do. Everybody was pulling, trying to get a

00:16:16.000 management contract with me. What's the, uh, what's the story behind the nickname? You said monk. Is that

00:16:21.320 right? Yeah. My, my sister would call me monkey, that little monkey. And it was a joke and everybody

00:16:29.080 on the street called me monk. Cause I would fight boy. Could I fight on the streets? I didn't win

00:16:35.080 many of them, but I could sure fight. Is that, is that why you started to box? I mean, you, you had

00:16:40.160 that challenge from the job core, but if I remember correctly, I think I read or saw something that

00:16:45.340 you wanted to improve your street fighting skills. Yeah. I went, took up boxing because I re I was in

00:16:52.040 the job core for about two years and I was pretty good on the streets. So I decided I'm going to learn

00:16:59.380 how to box. Then everybody will see my trophies and everything. And I wouldn't have to fight. I'd

00:17:04.700 scared him. I just, here he comes. I never thought I'd really become a boxer. I just wanted to learn how

00:17:10.060 to be a better street fighter. You talk a little bit about anger. You've even, you've even brought it

00:17:15.840 up a couple of times in this conversation. Uh, how, how did you use that anger towards productive

00:17:20.660 outcomes? There's a lot of men and young men who have a lot of anger about their situation in life.

00:17:26.020 And yet they use it to get the better of them rather than harness it for good outcomes. Like

00:17:30.480 you seem to. Well, originally I use that anger. A lot of people made me angry. A lot of things

00:17:36.940 didn't go right with my life even made me more angry. And I use it. I mean, I'd get out there and

00:17:43.180 knock guys out. It gotten to be to the point where, uh, uh, you see the best of me in the ring.

00:17:50.660 I was worse outside the ring. And that was the reason I walked away from boxing because

00:17:56.380 after I found God, I wasn't angry with anyone else. Again, I used to hit that punching bag

00:18:01.960 and it would become Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali beating them and beating them. Then one day

00:18:07.420 it just turned into a rags and leather. And I didn't, that's why I walked away from boxing.

00:18:14.440 Didn't have any rage, any anger anymore.

00:18:17.180 How do you think that happened? I mean, it, it's, it's almost one of those things where

00:18:22.920 it feels like too good to be true. And you know, how do you, how does that happen that

00:18:27.180 way? Like, how do you feel like your faith has made that switch in you to dissipate the

00:18:32.620 anger that you've had for, for a lot of your life?

00:18:34.980 Yeah. And the angry I was, and then I met Sonny Liston who was once champ of the world and

00:18:41.600 he made an art out of being angry. He never would smile real quick at everybody. I said,

00:18:47.820 ah, that's the way to be. I imitated that personality for a long time. I was going to be not only the

00:18:55.220 heavyweight champ of the world, but the most angry person in the world as well. But like I said,

00:19:01.020 I had to find another way to box 10 years out teaching kids to leave anger alone, put a smile

00:19:08.060 on your face, selling a product that I eventually had to use myself. And, uh, I got faith in God

00:19:14.560 that I could do it and then behaving like I wanted my children to behave.

00:19:19.940 Yeah. It seems like family is a big draw for you. Tell me a little bit about the movie. Um,

00:19:24.180 obviously there's been a lot of documentaries, a lot of stories, a lot of, uh, information about

00:19:29.000 your life. So why the movie now? And how do you see this being different than what else is already

00:19:35.200 out there? Well, for years I was going out, didn't want to be a movie. I was just trying to make a

00:19:40.260 life. Then as years go by, people approach me, this one for this, let's do this movie, movie for that.

00:19:47.100 Finally, the people at Affirm and Sony movies put together a good script and we fought about a lot

00:19:54.260 of things in the movie, how to do this, portray me this, but, uh, they put it in film and I was

00:19:59.660 happy about it. I knew it was the right time to tell a story because a lot of us who go down so far,

00:20:06.300 we don't realize that we can get back up and even go further in life. That movie, my life would tell

00:20:13.040 that story you leave out. It's not about George Foreman. It's about you who watched the movie.

00:20:18.880 Look what he did. I can do better. That kind of thing. Yeah, that's crucial. Cause it's, it's easy,

00:20:25.440 especially when you're in the midst of challenging times to think that it's not going to get better,

00:20:29.500 you know, but you can look to somebody like yourself and other people who, who have gone through

00:20:33.640 some tremendously difficult times. And yet, like you said, get up, keep fighting and get themselves

00:20:40.420 back in the fight in the game. Yeah. So many years I existed. And can you believe waking up

00:20:46.420 in the morning without hope? And it didn't even matter because who else had hope? And I didn't

00:20:52.060 know about faith that to believe in God, to give me anything, but I made it. Then finally in life,

00:20:58.440 I found hope because I found faith in God. And that's something everybody should find because it's

00:21:05.700 a different world. And when you got hope and faith, all things are possible.

00:21:12.400 How, uh, how strange is it to see yourself on the big screen? Is that a weird kind of an

00:21:16.880 interesting phenomenon or, or what is that like? Phenomenon is exactly what it is. I looked at it

00:21:23.960 and then I realized for the first time, my life has been a miracle. How in the world do you come from

00:21:29.600 nothing without any hope and without even any food and, uh, and the company to accomplish so many

00:21:37.080 things? And I tell you the truth. It's all about the people who were interested in me. There have

00:21:43.100 been a more than a few people never give it to never give up on me. Forrest Whitaker in the movie

00:21:48.260 played Doc Broadus. He was the first person I can remember who believed in me. I didn't believe in

00:21:54.380 that I could be a boxer. He kept telling me, you can be champ. You can be an Olympic gold medalist.

00:21:59.160 And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to take me out to eat after this.

00:22:04.720 He made me believe. He made me believe in me. And he was truthful.

00:22:10.380 That's amazing. Well, tell the, uh, the listeners and the viewers where to watch the film,

00:22:15.500 where to learn more and, uh, see what your life is all about. And hopefully it inspires them.

00:22:20.160 Yeah. The movie will be out on, uh, April the 28th. It'll open a movie theaters all over the country

00:22:26.300 and parts of all over the world, really. And, uh, it's a good movie to see because like I said

00:22:33.540 earlier, it has a happy ending, but boy, the beginnings were rough. And that's the way it is

00:22:40.440 with most of us. It doesn't matter who you are. It's a rough beginning, but it can turn out good

00:22:46.980 if you want it to be. Thanks George. We'll sync everything up. I want to let you know,

00:22:51.040 I appreciate you of course, watching you fight and watching your life has been an inspiration.

00:22:55.920 It served me. I know it's going to serve other men. I really appreciate you carving out some time.

00:22:59.760 I know you're a busy man and I'm grateful. I had the chance to talk with you.

00:23:03.260 And thank you so much.

00:23:06.160 All right, gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with the one and only,

00:23:09.220 I say that every week, but this is truly the one and only George Foreman.

00:23:12.760 Very exciting for me. Really cool to be able to sit down with him sharp as a tack. Um, what

00:23:18.700 gracious, like what a tremendous opportunity that we had. And I thank him and his team for

00:23:24.740 getting it set up for us. Uh, guys just want to let you know, he's got the movie coming out,

00:23:29.580 big George Foreman. Um, I've, I've watched parts of it. I have not admittedly watched all of it just

00:23:34.320 yet, but they sent me some additional information on the movie. Powerful, powerful story. And I think

00:23:39.920 that, that idea of redemption and growth and setbacks and second chances is one that all of us

00:23:46.900 can definitely incorporate into our lives. That will help us when we struggle and mess up and fall

00:23:53.880 and all of us do. So go check out the movie, big George Foreman connect with George, uh, on the gram,

00:24:00.180 leave a rating review, take a screenshot, let people know you listen to this conversation.

00:24:03.920 This is how we do it grassroots. So if you can help spread the word, promote what we're doing

00:24:10.360 here, boost the visibility. I think we can help more men. That's the goal here. So I appreciate

00:24:14.480 you tuning in. Uh, we'll be back tomorrow until then go out there, take action. Let's become a man.

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Order of Man - April 25, 2023

GEORGE FOREMAN ｜ Making the Most of Second Chances

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