Rahman dealt boxing slap in face, says Foreman

George Foreman said on Thursday that Hasim Rahman dealt boxing "a slap in the face" when he dumped his promoter Cedric Kushner shortly after winning the world heavyweight title by knocking out Lennox Lewis.

Referring to the fact that Kushner stuck by Rahman after the Baltimore fighter had been knocked out by David Tua earlier in his career, Foreman embarked on one of his verbal rambles.

"When a guy picks you up from the canvas after you've been knocked out and everyone's saying your career is over, and he sticks with you, and then you get to be heavyweight champ of the world (Kushner's) happy he's crying, and he reads in the paper the next day you've dropped him -- that's a horrible story," he told Reuters.

"That should be rated triple X," added the 52-year-old former world heavyweight champion, who was in New York to promote the American Dietetic Association's efforts to raise awareness for the need to handle food safely.

Rahman recently signed with promoter Don King, who plans to have the champion defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles against Brian Neilsen of Denmark in China in August.

The same card is set to feature World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion John Ruiz defending against former title-holder Evander Holyfield.

But the King card and Rahman's deal with King will be the subject of a court trial on June 11.

VALID CONTRACT

Briton Lewis contends Rahman must fight him first, and Kushner insists he still has a valid contract with Rahman.

There has been talk of Lewis meeting former champion Mike Tyson, and that is a match Foreman is rooting for. "Make the Lewis-Tyson fight," he said.

"Lewis has a lot to prove. He would die first before losing again," said Foreman, who added that under no circumstances would he fight Lewis "because he's too big and too strong".

Lewis has been criticised for not training seriously enough to fight Rahman in South Africa, and Foreman had his views on why Lewis would put his titles at risk like that.

"Arrogance. You get complacent. You're satisfied. 'I'm the top guy. They're feeding me these guys.' You forget that every guy you fight it takes only one shot. (Lewis) has been there before (knocked out) so he should know more than anyone.

"You accept the fight, thinking this is an easy fight, easy money. Great, I'll take the fight in Africa, wherever.'

"You can't get to town and decide I'm gonna train hard to get ready. You just can't do it.

"There has to be a fear factor to make the fight and that fear has to follow you all the way to the fight, and you can't pick it up 10 days before the fight. You just can't do it."

By Foreman's theory, fear is an important ally.

A fighter must have a "fear of losing, fear of getting hurt and the fear of being nothing again, because when you're the heavyweight champ of the world you think 'I'm the king of men here'.

"And you think, 'If I lose, I'm gonna be a vagabond and I'm the least of men'. So you got that fear that propels you to train like a dog. You lose just an inch of it, and you're not the man, the same guy again."