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Legendary boxer George Foreman and esteemed boxing writer Colin Hart died within the space of a few hours of each other - Getty Images/Martin Rose
How ironically sad that legendary boxer George Foreman and Colin Hart, who for 50 years or so had been the pre-eminent writer on the sport for The Sun, should have died within hours of each other.
Of course, on their respective journeys they met a good few times. The first was in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 1974 before Foreman’s world title fight with Ken Norton. Hart and a handful of other British journalists went to Foreman’s hotel to get some pre-fight quotes. Hart chain-smoked at the time and the world champion called out to him, “hey, you put that out!” Being a cheeky character, Colin said “say please”. George was not happy.
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Colin Hart spent five decades as the pre-eminent boxing writer for The Sun - Getty Images/Jeff Spicer
At that stage Foreman was considered unbeatable. He had shocked the boxing world by knocking out Joe Frazier in two rounds with his fearsome punching but when he eventually signed up to meet the great Muhammad Ali, most people thought that Ali was over the hill and that Foreman would win easily. There was one dissenting voice. Hart thought that in the oppressive heat of Kinshasa in the heart of Africa, Foreman would succumb to the conditions and punch himself out. He tipped Ali to win, thus creating banner headlines for himself and his newspaper.
After that defeat Foreman’s confidence was shattered. A few years later he decided to give up boxing and became a minister of the church. However, he did come back to the ring and was good enough to win a version of the world title again. In fact he became the oldest heavyweight champion at 46 years and 169 days. By this time his family had grown dramatically. He had five sons, all of whom he named George – don’t ask me why! He also had no fewer than seven daughters.
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Foreman made at least $100m from his eponymous grill - Getty Images /Anthony Harvey
Then an incredible piece of luck came his way. He was persuaded, against his own judgment at the time, to put his name to a new cooking aid which became the George Foreman Grill. This brought him more money than he ever earned in the ring, at least $100 million.
When he came to London a few years ago, I had the pleasure of doing a one-to-one interview with George. He presented me with one of his grill machines as a gift, which we still use. I pointed out to him that it was a radio interview and not television. “That’s OK,” he said. “I’ll squeak a mention of it now and again.” And he did, what a salesman!
The departures of George and Colin seem like the end of an era for boxing as a high-profile sport.
Lord Hart of Harrow, friend, colleague and great mentor
Colin Hart was a gold mine of information with a near-photographic memory for detail and stories after six decades travelling the globe. He passed away on March 22 after a short illness, just shy of his 90th birthday – he was a friend, colleague and mentor. Hart, with a shock of white hair signalling his arrival, and a smile and steely gaze, could ad lib or hit his typewriter on a number of sports, from boxing and athletics to football, motor racing and even show jumping. He covered eight Olympic Games, four eras of boxing, with The Sun newspaper carrying his byline for 55 years.
Hart – whom I always called Lord Hart of Harrow, though he loved West Ham and was originally from London’s East End – was a friend, colleague, and a great mentor. He read five newspapers a day and had opinions on politics and society that would have stirred thought in leader columns, but it was in boxing that Hart was best known.
He covered fights from the East End of London to Madison Square Garden; from Las Vegas to Kinshasa for the “Rumble in the Jungle” and on to Manila, in the golden age of the heavyweights. He met, and wrote about, all the post-war greats, in Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Sir Henry Cooper, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, as well as the modern stars Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. He attended seven of the nine fights between Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Durán and Thomas Hearns, “The Four Kings”. He was close with Leonard, Ali and Foreman.
Indeed, Hart’s first US ringside reporting assignment was “The Fight of the Century” – Ali versus Frazier in 1971 in New York.
Apart from his writing prowess, Hart’s knowledge, experience and voice was employed on BBC radio and television, ITV, Sky Sports, BT Sport, TalkSport radio, and the Showtime network in the United States.
Hart had begun his journalistic career with the East London News Agency at the age of 17 and after two years of National Service, in Cyprus in a Royal Air Force Signals Unit in Akrotiri, he returned to journalism in 1958 as a crime reporter and night news editor with the Daily Herald. In 1962, Hart moved into sports reporting, and in 1964 he joined The Sun. He kept to the old ways to the end, never had a mobile phone, and had an incredible memory for telling, and for discerning the very best articles. His “Voice of Boxing” column until his passing was always razor sharp and had pithiness, panache and, of course, punch.
Famously, and bizarrely given that Foreman passed on the same day, they fell out in Caracas, Venezuela, ahead of Foreman’s title fight with Ken Norton in 1974. Hart loved to tell the story of visiting Foreman poolside in Venezuela. “I chain-smoked at the time, and he said to me ‘hey you, put that out!’
“Now, I’m an old-fashioned East Ender, as in I don’t take any nonsense, so I said ‘say please’.”
Unfortunately, Foreman growled at Hart, and Bill Caplan, Foreman’s long-time publicist, dived in to save Hart from being slapped. Later, Hart and Foreman became the best of friends. Hart is survived by his wife Cindy, two daughters and four grandchildren. Hart has always generously passed on the mores of journalism to countless others coming through, myself included, and the fact that he continued writing and reporting to the last bears out what he had always said “that being ringside is one of the great jobs in journalism”. Colin was right, and his was a life lived to the full.
Cindy, whom he met in Naples where their romance began almost 60 years ago, sent out a message to friends on Saturday evening. “Sad day. Colin died today around 4:00. All close family members were at his bedside. He died so very peacefully. How good is that! X.” Colin Hart. RIP.
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