DALLAS — A spiritual epiphany follows George Foreman. It is an experience he can never forget, he says, because it has been responsible for transforming his life.
In 1977, after losing a 12-round decision to Jimmy Young, Foreman went back to his dressing room. He kept pacing back and forth, trying to cool down from the fight. But he kept having thoughts of death. His trainers, doctor and others in his dressing room watched him pace for a time and suddenly pass out.
His handlers would later tell him to tell the reporters it was heat exhaustion.
The former heavyweight champion said this week: "I smelled death. I was in the darkest place I had ever been in my life. It was a deep, dump yard of nothing. Multiply all the sorrows you have ever felt in your life and it won't come close to what I was feeling.
"I was trying to bargain my way out. Only poor people called on God. But I had money. I was famous. Then God said 'I don't want your money. I want you.' "
From the moment when he awoke in a hospital room more than 20 years ago, Foreman, 55, has focused on what he said is his calling — to be an evangelist. He started the nondenominational Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston, where he preaches nearly every Sunday. He also began sharing his testimony across the country and around the world. "I stopped being embarrassed by what happened and saw it as a gift I needed to share."
His latest project is a two-disc CD of inspirational music and messages. "Inspirations" includes 11 songs that Foreman wrote, and he reads selections from some of his favorite sermons. Lee Greenwood sings "How Great Thou Art." Donnie McClurkin directs the New York Restoration Choir on "Joyful, Joyful." Tenor Ramon Vargas sings "It was Jesus Who Died for Me."
Foreman said that at one time he had no respect for religion and made fun of religious people. "I had no use for church," said Foreman, who was raised in a rough Houston neighborhood.
By 1987, a decade after he left, Foreman was broke and returned to boxing. But he said there was a difference.
After the religious experience, "The anger was gone. I was no longer going to throw punches out of anger. I had taught the young people in my youth center that they did not have to go through life with all this rage in them — not like I had. With God, I know I would be a champion once more. And it happened."