GEORGE FOREMAN, MIKE TYSON, AND DONALD TRUMP

You’re probably asking yourself what these three names have in common. What is the connection? In the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo, I guess I “got some ‘splainin’ to do.”

When Big George Foreman was the heavyweight champion back in the early 1970’s everyone thought he was invincible. He won the title from Smokin’ Joe Frazier by knocking him out in the second round. He hit him so hard he literally lifted him off his feet. It was the fight where Howard Cosell screamed hysterically, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!

Foreman pulverized Ken Norton in three rounds. One magazine had a picture of the 6’4” fighter’s hand compared to a picture of the 7’ Wilt Chamberlain’s hand. Wilt’s hand looked like a child’s by comparison.
Big George was unsmiling and ferocious. He threw punches like he was swinging an ax or a sledgehammer. Opponents were so frightened they were paralyzed, and nobody lasted more than a couple of rounds with him.

Then came the “rumble in the jungle” fight between George and Muhammad Ali. Everyone thought Ali would get killed because Frazier had beaten him, and Norton went 12 rounds and earned a draw in a fight many people thought he won.

Ali, however, leaned against the ropes and played “rope-a-dope” while Foreman battered him furiously and punched himself out. When George was exhausted, Ali knocked him out and humiliated him.

After that no one was afraid of George. He lost a few fights and retired, became a preacher in Houston, and returned ten years later with a lovable personality and won the title back at the age of 45.

Mike Tyson used to knock his opponents out in one round. If you weren’t in your seat when the opening bell rang you’d miss the fight. Like Foreman’s opponents, the people who got in the ring with Mike usually fell down after the first flurry of punches.

Then a journeyman fighter named Buster Douglas, who was about a 100-1 shot in betting odds, surprised the world by knocking the undefeated Tyson out in the 10th round. I always thought a tall fighter with a good left jab could beat Tyson, and Buster closed his eyes with jabs and put him down for the count.

After that Tyson was never the same. He had lost his mystique. It’s obvious there’s a great deal of psychology in boxing, and a sure path to victory is being in your opponent’s head.

Until last Monday night in Iowa Donald Trump was invincible and undefeated. No matter what he said or how unconventional his actions he kept rising in the polls. It appeared that he couldn’t lose. The Donald said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters,

OK?”
But he came in second in the Iowa caucuses. He didn’t get knocked out, but he clearly lost a decision. His aura of invincibility is gone.

The conventional wisdom was that if he’d won in Iowa he would have run the table and been unstoppable in getting the nomination. Now the big prize is no longer a sure thing.

It’s a boxing analogy, and we’ll soon find out if Mr. Trump recovers, wins big in New Hampshire next Tuesday, and continues on his merry way, or if he’ll go the way of Tyson and Foreman and drift into obscurity.

Unlike George Foreman, he’s too old to make a comeback ten years from now. In another decade he’ll be even older than Bernie Sanders (insert smiley face here).

TOP 10 GEORGE FOREMAN BEST KNOCKOUTS

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