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It was a rare instance for George Foreman, a fighter known for his no-doubt knockouts, being left in suspense by a boxing official.
No matter how much Foreman pleaded with him, Ron Lipton refused to divulge to him if he had won.
See, this was an imaginary bout between Foreman and Sonny Liston, part of a segment that Lipton wrote for The Ring magazine’s “Mythical Matches,” featuring hypothetical meetings of greats who never squared off.
Liston, 17 years his senior, served for Foreman as a role model and influenced his boxing style. The two had only ever met in the ring during sparring sessions when Foreman was an amateur, but there always was great reverence.
Lipton, a Poughkeepsie resident and former referee, considered those two the hardest punchers in the sport’s history, hence the make-believe matchup. Foreman agreed that it was a worthy showdown and said such a bout would’ve been epic.
'Ray of sunshine': Ron Lipton grateful for NY Boxing Hall of Fame induction
'Another level': Poughkeepsie's Miguel Matias aspires to 'contend' as pro boxer
But, he anxiously kept asking the author, “Who won the fight?” Lipton couldn’t reveal it, insisting that he read the article and be as surprised at the conclusion as the typical reader.
Not long after that phone call, Lipton tweeted at Foreman a link to the writeup online. The boxing legend replied on April 5, 2022: “I was honored to read; you did a great job for Sonny and I. Grateful always.”
News of Foreman’s passing two weeks ago saddened the boxing world and devastated Lipton, a lifelong boxing aficionado whose friendship with Foreman dated back to 1969.
“It ripped my heart out,” said Lipton, who got word of that death shortly after returning home from the funeral of another close friend and former colleague in the East Orange Police Department. “George was a sweet, wonderful man and one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. He always had a big Kodiak (bear) hug for me and my son when we saw each other.”
Foreman, a former Olympic gold medalist and two-time heavyweight world champion who went on to become a famous pitchman and a beloved ambassador to the sport, died on March 21. The Texas native was 76.
“He could break the toughest fighters like a breadstick,” the 78-year-old Lipton said of Foreman’s prowess in the ring. “He was a bulldozer. He had the skeletal mechanics of a T-Rex, with legs like a Redwood tree. You could stand him next to a group of NFL linemen and, with his presence, it’d still seem like he was the biggest, scariest guy in the room. Danger radiated off him.”
Warmth and charisma, too. That was the side of “Big George” that Lipton had long known, but most of the world was introduced to after his retirement from boxing. Well, that is, before Foreman returned and famously reclaimed the heavyweight title as a 45-year-old in 1994.
Before becoming a police detective and a referee, Lipton was an accomplished amateur boxer who was a sparring partner for Muhamad Ali and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. His friendship with them helped forge several other connections within that industry. Lipton was inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020.
While sifting through a collection of old photographs, Lipton came across one that immediately brought him back to the moment and brought a smile to his face.
He and Foreman met in the bowels of Madison Square Garden a day before before the Dec. 15, 1995 event they both worked. It was the return of professional boxing to the Garden after an almost three-year hiatus and Lipton refereed the lightweight championship match between Oscar De La Hoya and Jesse James Leija. Foreman was a ringside analyst for HBO.
“We were talking about Sonny, and I was telling him some jokes,” Lipton said of the conversation. “I told him that the feeling I got being in his presence reminded me of what it was like standing next to Sonny. That made him smile.”
Seconds later his son, Brett Lipton, snapped a candid picture of the two that now holds for his dad even more sentimental value.
Lipton, with his love of boxing history, has a 50-gigabyte memory, readily recalling dates and details.
He first met Foreman shortly after the star’s professional debut, a win over Don Waldheim in June 1969. Lipton was in attendance and chatted afterward with his buddy Angelo Dundee, Ali’s legendary trainer. He asked to be introduced as Foreman exited his dressing room.
“I told him it was an amazing performance, and we shook hands, and it went from there,” Lipton said. “George knew (Angelo) and I knew his trainers. We had a lot of mutual friends, so it wasn’t difficult to connect.”
It was when Foreman famously dominated Joe Frazier in a 1973 match, Lipton said, that he realized the 24-year-old was destined to become an all-time great.
“Frazier was one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever, and Foreman was like a Cape buffalo going through cobweb,” Lipton said, describing the second-round technical knockout.
Liston’s sudden death in 1970 crushed Foreman, ripping from him a mentor and denying the sports world the possibility of ever seeing those two compete. But Lipton, through Rubin Carter, had gotten to know Liston well a decade earlier. He often regaled Foreman with old stories about his idol, many of them comical, which is how they became close.
So, who better to draw up that fantasy fight between the power-punching Hall of Famers?
Lipton, in 4,000-word sequence breakdown, described vividly how it might’ve gone. With those fierce competitors battered and bloodied after the fourth round, Lipton wrote, a doctor would determine that neither was in condition to continue, and the fight would be declared a draw. Liston would then offer to Foreman some words of encouragement and advice.
A fitting ending. One that Foreman appreciated.
Stephen Haynes: [email protected]; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Poughkeepsie's Ron Lipton remembers George Foreman as legend and pal
Continue reading...
No matter how much Foreman pleaded with him, Ron Lipton refused to divulge to him if he had won.
See, this was an imaginary bout between Foreman and Sonny Liston, part of a segment that Lipton wrote for The Ring magazine’s “Mythical Matches,” featuring hypothetical meetings of greats who never squared off.
You must be registered for see images attach
Liston, 17 years his senior, served for Foreman as a role model and influenced his boxing style. The two had only ever met in the ring during sparring sessions when Foreman was an amateur, but there always was great reverence.
Lipton, a Poughkeepsie resident and former referee, considered those two the hardest punchers in the sport’s history, hence the make-believe matchup. Foreman agreed that it was a worthy showdown and said such a bout would’ve been epic.
'Ray of sunshine': Ron Lipton grateful for NY Boxing Hall of Fame induction
'Another level': Poughkeepsie's Miguel Matias aspires to 'contend' as pro boxer
But, he anxiously kept asking the author, “Who won the fight?” Lipton couldn’t reveal it, insisting that he read the article and be as surprised at the conclusion as the typical reader.
You must be registered for see images attach
Not long after that phone call, Lipton tweeted at Foreman a link to the writeup online. The boxing legend replied on April 5, 2022: “I was honored to read; you did a great job for Sonny and I. Grateful always.”
News of Foreman’s passing two weeks ago saddened the boxing world and devastated Lipton, a lifelong boxing aficionado whose friendship with Foreman dated back to 1969.
“It ripped my heart out,” said Lipton, who got word of that death shortly after returning home from the funeral of another close friend and former colleague in the East Orange Police Department. “George was a sweet, wonderful man and one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. He always had a big Kodiak (bear) hug for me and my son when we saw each other.”
You must be registered for see images
Foreman, a former Olympic gold medalist and two-time heavyweight world champion who went on to become a famous pitchman and a beloved ambassador to the sport, died on March 21. The Texas native was 76.
“He could break the toughest fighters like a breadstick,” the 78-year-old Lipton said of Foreman’s prowess in the ring. “He was a bulldozer. He had the skeletal mechanics of a T-Rex, with legs like a Redwood tree. You could stand him next to a group of NFL linemen and, with his presence, it’d still seem like he was the biggest, scariest guy in the room. Danger radiated off him.”
Warmth and charisma, too. That was the side of “Big George” that Lipton had long known, but most of the world was introduced to after his retirement from boxing. Well, that is, before Foreman returned and famously reclaimed the heavyweight title as a 45-year-old in 1994.
Before becoming a police detective and a referee, Lipton was an accomplished amateur boxer who was a sparring partner for Muhamad Ali and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. His friendship with them helped forge several other connections within that industry. Lipton was inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020.
While sifting through a collection of old photographs, Lipton came across one that immediately brought him back to the moment and brought a smile to his face.
He and Foreman met in the bowels of Madison Square Garden a day before before the Dec. 15, 1995 event they both worked. It was the return of professional boxing to the Garden after an almost three-year hiatus and Lipton refereed the lightweight championship match between Oscar De La Hoya and Jesse James Leija. Foreman was a ringside analyst for HBO.
You must be registered for see images attach
“We were talking about Sonny, and I was telling him some jokes,” Lipton said of the conversation. “I told him that the feeling I got being in his presence reminded me of what it was like standing next to Sonny. That made him smile.”
Seconds later his son, Brett Lipton, snapped a candid picture of the two that now holds for his dad even more sentimental value.
Lipton, with his love of boxing history, has a 50-gigabyte memory, readily recalling dates and details.
You must be registered for see images
He first met Foreman shortly after the star’s professional debut, a win over Don Waldheim in June 1969. Lipton was in attendance and chatted afterward with his buddy Angelo Dundee, Ali’s legendary trainer. He asked to be introduced as Foreman exited his dressing room.
“I told him it was an amazing performance, and we shook hands, and it went from there,” Lipton said. “George knew (Angelo) and I knew his trainers. We had a lot of mutual friends, so it wasn’t difficult to connect.”
It was when Foreman famously dominated Joe Frazier in a 1973 match, Lipton said, that he realized the 24-year-old was destined to become an all-time great.
“Frazier was one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever, and Foreman was like a Cape buffalo going through cobweb,” Lipton said, describing the second-round technical knockout.
Liston’s sudden death in 1970 crushed Foreman, ripping from him a mentor and denying the sports world the possibility of ever seeing those two compete. But Lipton, through Rubin Carter, had gotten to know Liston well a decade earlier. He often regaled Foreman with old stories about his idol, many of them comical, which is how they became close.
So, who better to draw up that fantasy fight between the power-punching Hall of Famers?
Lipton, in 4,000-word sequence breakdown, described vividly how it might’ve gone. With those fierce competitors battered and bloodied after the fourth round, Lipton wrote, a doctor would determine that neither was in condition to continue, and the fight would be declared a draw. Liston would then offer to Foreman some words of encouragement and advice.
A fitting ending. One that Foreman appreciated.
Stephen Haynes: [email protected]; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Poughkeepsie's Ron Lipton remembers George Foreman as legend and pal
Continue reading...
