‘Remember, I was telling you about the people who had been a part of our lives who are no longer around.’
Manny Pacquiao (left) gets his hand raised by heavyweight great George Foreman during the runup to his 2013 showdown with Brandon Rios in Macau.
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The voice on the other line was deep and sullen.
“George Foreman…dead at 76,” he said late Saturday morning, reading the breaking news on his smartphone.
“That is why it is important that we leave a legacy in this world because of life’s uncertainties.”
It was Manny Pacquiao speaking and in a lengthy chat around midnight the previous day, he had raised the issue of immortality, his statements sounding like a prelude to Foreman’s passing.
“Remember, I was telling you about the people who had been a part of our lives who are no longer around,” Pacquiao said, rattling off the names of individuals — big and small — who have all gone ahead.
While Pacquiao wasn’t born yet when Foreman terrorized the heavyweight ranks, they have met quite a few times abroad, mostly in the US when the 1968 Mexico City Olympics gold medalist was doing ringside commentary for HBO.
Foreman, known for The Rumble in the Jungle with Muhammad Ali in 1975, his demolition of Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in the 1970s and his epic one-punch knockout of Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion at almost 46 years of age in 1994, raised the hands of Pacquiao during a promotional tour for the fight with Brandon Rios in Macau in 2013.
“Sad to hear about his passing,” Pacquiao said, noting the times Foreman “attended some of my fights.”
“He was not just a pastor and an outstanding boxer but a great human being,” he said.
