Tosh Show - My Favorite George Foreman - George Foreman III

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Daniel talks about family, prize fighting, and selling indoor grills with George Foreman III.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about creating a billion-dollar startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. a stranger who may be their only chance for survival. I'm talking about the murder and disappearance in small town New Hampshire.

What do you think? This is Consumed, an all-new supernatural audio thriller inspired by the novel by Aaron Manke. I did not wake up this morning prepared to deal with forces beyond my understanding. Please, I call that breakfast. Listen to Consumed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show, ears edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best

news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews, and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind. Listen to The Daily Show, ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Are you ever taking a full-on punch from your dad back in the day? Like, oh, yes. One time when I was like six or seven, we were fighting. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Six or seven? I was hoping you were in the ring at 20. All right, never mind. Tosh Show. Tosh Show. Tosh Show for show. Is this thing on? Hey, it's me, Daniel Tosh.

Welcome to Tosh Show. Hit the music. All right. Eddie, how you doing? I'm doing good. How are you? Not great. Oh no. Yeah. Yesterday I was doing laundry for my daughter and she probably has about 10 pair of socks. Not too many. That's not a ridiculous amount. I don't think I could find a single matching pair. And the problem is her socks are so tiny, uh, cause she's so young that they go inside the crack in the machine. And then you feel like they weren't cleaned. So I just throw them back in the middle. Anyway, that's not the point. So the point was, I was like,

oh, I'm just going to order new socks. Now, where do I go to get socks for my daughter? I go to thegap, babygap.com and I see the socks and then I look at the title. Now, I'm going to put this up on the screen. Look at this title, Eddie. Yeah. That's called Toddler Lettuce Trim Sock.

You have any problem with that? Yeah, it doesn't read right. You're telling me that nobody over at Baby Gap knows what the term lettuce trim is. Either that's a disgruntled employee Like ha ha ha This will be funny A little easter egg for people I'll name these toddler socks After a woman's

Disgusting Beefy vagina That needs to get cleaned up Or They didn't know I thought it was common knowledge I thought everyone was common knowledge. I thought everyone on this planet knows what a lettuce trim is.

Does everyone here know what a lettuce trim is? I do. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So everyone in this room knows what a lettuce trim is. Nobody over at Baby Gap knows what a lettuce trim is. knows what a lettuce trim is. And then I was like,

oh, well, should I get my son this cute scarf called the rusty trombone? Wow. That I made up. Anyway, my daughter's got mismatched socks on currently. You know what this show needs, Eddie? What?

To take us to the next level. An intern. Oh, yeah. I was told that we received our first intern submission, that someone took the initiative to write to us on the contact page of my website. Go ahead, Eddie. Tell me what they said. Hey, guys.

I love the pod. I'd like to intern that I mentioned for free. I'm a University of Minnesotanesota soon to be graduate and will do anything for the show besides bjs let me know lucas ah you see how he put that in right at the very end yeah i'll do anything for the show and then accept fellatio well that's that's i don't even think you need to put that in there no but i mean i mean, it's probably better to have it in print. Like, I said I wasn't going to, and you're like, are you sure? He's like, I have the email still. All right, well, you outsmarted us, Lucas.

As much as I appreciate him reaching out to us, I think it would be short-sighted of the show to just give it to him. I think we should open this up, you know, to a wider net. Feel free to send us any submissions of why you should intern on this show. And I'm sure that's going to open tons of doors for you, especially if you're hot. Oh, if you're a smoke show, if you're hot. Oh, if you're a smoke show, good chance we'll take your application very seriously. I want someone with some real world experience, an older person, 60 minimum, you know, where they don't necessarily need the work. They don't want to work full-time, but they're responsible. They probably could use a lettuce trim. So if you're interested in applying for our prestigious internship that will not pay,

will not give you college credit, and you have to sign a strict NDA. Check the link below. All right, let's get to today's guest. I'm very excited about this guy. He's a friend of mine. Our children are friends. That's very important to me because when we have play dates, I get excited to see him. I enjoy him and our kids play well together and I need that to continue. I need to stay in his family's good graces so that his daughter will always protect my son from any bullies. Enjoy. I'm Jason Flom, and you're Maggie Freeling. Hey, Jason.

Every day we learn about another person who shouldn't be in prison. 58 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. So glad you're home. If you want to be part of this work, listen to Wrongful Conviction. The podcast where we hand the mic to innocent people to hear their stories. How do you send someone innocent to prison? Listen to new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling and Jason Flom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I am the ferryman. In the shadows of the afterlife, the ferryman of souls guides America's most influential spirits to their eternal rest. You've been looking for me, yeah? Where are you taking me? Are you death? This road is not on any map. I'm looking for me, yeah? Where are you taking me? Are you death? This road is not on any map.

How much for a ticket? All I ask for in payment is a tail. These are the tails that shaped the nation. I don't know who got to Kennedy first. The devastation those first bombs caused. Then I told them they were drinking cyanide. Featuring the voices of Wes Studi. At least 4,000 people died on the trail.

Martin Starr. President Nixon called me the most dangerous man in America. Scott Hayes. Next thing I know, I'm standing over the bodies of Baker and Morton. My pistol smoking in my hand. And Tristan Mack Wilds. I've never been to hell, but I know intimately the hymns of the damned. Starring Dan Fogler as the ferryman.

This is The Passage. Listen to The Passage now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Pasha!

My guest today, the undisputed heavyweight champion of this room please welcome the one and only george foreman the third let's get ready to podcast i'm going to start off with some simple stuff for you now i understand that you have 22 brothers and 14 moms supposedly Supposedly. Is there a chance that your dad is Mormon? Close. Close. We kind of grew up in a cult. I think Mormons remind me of a cult. Yep, they do, and they are.

All right, no, no, you don't, you don't. How many brothers do you have? I have five brothers and then five sisters. Do you think your dad forgot that he already had named his other kids George because of the dangers of boxing? If you ask him, he always says, like, if you get hit by Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield, see how many names you'll remember. So he was preparing for memory loss.

Fair enough. What was it like growing up on both sides of the tracks? It was interesting. It was interesting. So my mom and my dad, they got divorced when I was young, around two. But, you know, always wanted—my mom wanted my dad to be in my life. We moved to South Carolina for a little bit, and we moved back when I was six. Your mom wasn't rich.

No. At all. No. And your dad, obviously, was extremely rich. Yes. All right. Right around then, he started getting rich again. He actually was, like, fully bankrupt right around around 86-ish and then went back to boxing.

And by like 91, once again, he was back to making a lot of money. But yeah, my dad would pick me up for church four times a week. And so I would live- Whoa, why four? That's too many times for church. No, not- Just Sundays. No, no. Wednesday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night. Oh, I forgot about Sunday night. Yeah, we used to have to do Sunday night too. Yeah, you know about that. But yeah, like that was like, I forgot about Sunday night. Yeah, we used to have to do Sunday night too. Yeah, you know about that. But yeah, like that was like, I didn't wear Jordans and all that.

But then I go to my dad's house and, you know, he'd have like 20 to 30 cars. We can't count them, 20 to 30 dogs. But eventually when I was like 11, my dad said, enough of this. I'm sending you to boarding school so you can live like us, which I appreciate it. But my mom, she gave me other qualities, which were great.

I mean, that's a weird back and forth. It is. Like one week, we'd hop in a private jet, like go here, there, come back, hop off the jet, and I'd go back and, like, you know, hope the power was on. Did you always, like, say, Mom, I love you so much, but can I spend Christmas at Dad's? We actually had that conversation once, and she won. But I was happy to stay with my mom.

I really was. Why don't I get to call you Monk? You can call me Monk. You've never told me to call you Monk. Oh, well, no, you can call me whatever you want to call me. Who picked Monk? My aunt. So my dad's name is Monkey, and there's a lot there. Yeah, I'm never going to say

that. Just so we're all clear. You can, but this is a story. No, I'm not. No, well, you know, as we all know, that was a derogatory term. But my dad had a different father than the rest of his brothers and sisters. And they knew, but he didn't know. His mom knew. And they kept it a secret. And so my dad's from a little town in Marshall, Texas. And he grew up on, he was born like on a sharecropping farm, basically. His mother and father were sharecroppers, which is code for slaves.

And long story short, my grandma had an affair with a guy about your height, about your complexion, from Texarkana. And he worked on the railroad. He had a good job. And they had George. So my grandfather was about the color of this mug right here. And so my, sorry, my J.D. Foreman, who should have been my grandfather, they were both very dark. And when my dad came out, he was really light complected like you. And so typically like with dark skin people, when the baby comes out around the edges

of the ear are dark and they looked at the baby and they're like, we don't see that. So they waited a few weeks and the baby was still light complected. And so they started gossiping around the town and she was so embarrassed and he was so embarrassed. She got out of there. And then all of a sudden years went by. My brother kept getting taller. I mean, my father kept getting taller and taller than his brothers and sisters and he never got dark. And so they all knew it. They didn't tell him until he was 27. So as a youngster, they teased him a lot and they called him all types of names. Monkey was, it was kind of a term they used to tease. And it was at first it was hurtful but it became his name so much that in the streets he was known as monkey so anyway my aunt was like

we can't have two monkeys in this household so i'm gonna call him monk and i'm gonna call your dad monkey when i was born he was like all right i'm gonna name him george the third but i'm also gonna give him my name monk monkey and then my aunt shortened it. So here we are. Okay. So you can call me Monk. I'm not, I'm never, guess what? I dare you. Never calling you Monk. Calling you George forever. So this is how we know each other. Our children play together a lot. And one time I was at a playground and your wife, who, by the way, your wife, a wonderful person, always late. Okay? I don't have a question for this.

I just want to get that on the air. Always late. She has no concept, zero concept of time. Holy cow. For the record, George's wife, Sarah, is white. And when I was listening to this back, I realized that I didn't bring that up. And then when implying that she's always late, I'm like, oh no, that sounds like I'm perpetuating a racist stereotype about black people, which I wasn't. And I see color, you know, and even though technically white is the absence of color. Um, but I wasn't implying that. So now I want you to know that she was white and that was

why I was comfortable saying that, or I would be comfortable saying it. Now, had she been Cuban, that's a different thing, because I lived in Miami for a bit, and Cuban time is something that we always say, implying that Cubans are always a half hour to an hour late, but I assume that's also racist, so maybe I shouldn't bring that up. The real thing about his wife, to be honest with you,

forget the fact that she's always late, she swears like a sailor. She was talking to this other parent, this guy, and I was not in the conversation. I happened to just be kind of overhearing as I was walking by. And he goes, oh, which daughter is yours? And I walked by right at that moment.

And I go, oh, the one that looks like George Foreman. And I kept walking. And he goes, oh, the one that looks like George Foreman. And I kept walking and he goes, oh, is she black? And then she, you know, because she's great at kind of awkward conversations was like, well, yes, yes, she is. And it was just, oh, it was great. It was the greatest moment. It was funny though. I heard there was a moment where he was looking around trying to figure it out, you know? Oh, he had no idea what it was he was he was so he was so mortified that he said well what is she black i was like oh this is good i just made an awkward conversation we also we also became friends your daughter is uh is is very

strong physically she's tall like gonna be an athlete i'm gonna tell you a story about your daughter that you might not know. She made my son cry. Yeah, but you, I don't want you, it's not, your instinct is wrong of why she did. She was talking to him and she was like, you know, my dad is stronger than your dad. And I told my son, And I told my son, that's true. I go, he's a lot stronger than me. It's okay. And he got so upset and he was crying.

And I go, it's okay. You don't have a strong dad. But then I said, but I can dive better than her dad. True. Because you came, you were in Tahoe once. We were jumping off some rocks, some cliffs, and I watched you dive, and it was poor. It wasn't great.

It was a cannonball. And I say, you know what? That's actually a better trait than being stronger. If you're going to watch the Olympics, what event are you going to watch? Are you going to watch a lifting competition? No. It barely gets coverage.

But diving, that's NBC. That's prime time diving. So I was telling my son that diving is actually, that's a better trait. You're a badass in the water. You are. By the way, I will take, your daughter has swim class at my house once a week. And literally last week I watched her do two full laps, long ways, just killed it.

Now, she used to not even want to get her face wet or anything like that. And this is one of the moments in my life that I think I'm the most – top three proudest moments. Your daughter couldn't swim at the time and hated being in the water. And I got her in the water and took her wake surfing with you on the back of the boat, just like waiting to murder me if something went wrong. Wow. I've never done anything with myself like that, with my daughter like that before. And I will never do anything like that with my daughter after, just with. Um, because I was sitting there and I was like, looking at,

looking at it. And my wife was like, what do you think? And I was like, you know what? Sure. Because number one, I know you. And I was like, he would die if anything happened. Number two, I was like, this would be a pretty good lawsuit. Like I could just see this and I've never sued anybody, but I've been sued. So I know what a good lawsuit is. And I was like, this one will be awesome. In hindsight, I was like, that was really, really, really brave of me. Your dad was obviously a strict father. Yes. So, I mean, some of that is filtered onto you.

You've got some conservative roots for sure. Now, one of the other fathers at pickup, I've heard this through the grapevine, but it's such a good story that it makes me laugh. He asked if you would be interested, because he's a producer and starring in some gay porn. And I was like, this is the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I laughed so hard. I was like, this little guy went up to George and asked him, hey, would you be interested?

You know, totally professional. Wasn't giving you drinks or anything like that. Now, what went through your brain? Were you like, oh, we got to leave? We can't live in a place like this where I'm being asked this at school pickup? I was like, number one, like, where do you get the nerve to ask me like that? And then he followed up and I said, I don't know if I, you know, I was like, I don't know if I could do that. And he was like, well, you'll never make it in Hollywood if you don't.

The funniest thing about that guy, by the way, was that he was like, you know, like going on and on about how he's like a movie producer and so on and so forth. And I met him a couple of times and then finally like pulled me to the side and he was like, I made my money in porn. Cause he had all these stories about like how he lives in Malibu, you know, everybody like has their story, which is fascinating.

But he was hiding that one. Then he said, I'd like to cast you. So when does the movie come out? I didn't know this for a long time. I used to date Kim Kardashian. I forgot. How did you know that?

Did Sarah tell you that? I don't disclose my sources. I have no idea. That's true. Was this pre-Ray J, post-Ray J? In the midst of the breakup. Oh, wow. All right, so I'll just go through facts.

By the way, I'm not one of these people that wants to hear another man kiss and tell. I think that's tacky. But if you want to talk about eating ass, I'm all ears. It's actually a pretty funny story. So there's no, like, really kiss or tell because I was like, I actually, like, really liked her. She's like super. Well, sure. I would really like her too.

Super polite. There was nothing on the internet about her. like really liked her she's like sure i would really like her too super polite there was no nothing on the internet about her like she was a stylist and would manage like wardrobes for people she was working for paris hilton and um i was just like the perfect gentleman and i was like i want to meet your family i want to meet bruce at the time now it's caitlin either both are great still her dad yep and um i want to meet your mom, met her sisters. They were small at the time. And I remember, like, taking Kylie and the other one and just being like, can you please get them off me? I didn't know they were going to be big stars.

You would have left them on you. I would have been much nicer. They were just bad kids at the time. And I was just, like, always, like, respectful. And this went on for, like, five or six months. And finally, she texts me one day and she goes, are you a virgin? Because I was being such a gentleman. And so, and of course, I was like, no, I was like, I'm just, this is how you're supposed to treat women, you know?

And so, and then shortly thereafter, about a month later, the news hit. And of course, like I've been telling my brothers and my best friends about like, I'm dating this girl. She's cool. Like, I think this could be the one of the ones, you know, whatever, like she's special. And, um, the news comes out and they're all texting me like, ha ha. And they're sending me videos. And of course, like I went through that, um, which is completely fine. That's a tough thing to go through though. No, no, you were smack dab in the middle of it. Holy cow.

But I made it my business to double down on our, our friendship. Right. Because at that point we had, I think we had like a week or right before that we had kind of like broken up. It was my fault. And cause I was being a little bit of a punk long story short, I was like,

you know what? At a time where everybody's backing away, we're going to have a real friendship. And we've maintained that friendship since then. Once you saw how good it was. No, no, no, no. No, it was unfair. Like, really.

I mean, it was unfair because it's like, it was her boyfriend. That was beautiful. I had no issue with it. She's got some hustle. They're doing the same thing everybody does at home. Except for you and her. And now everybody just got to see it.

Can you imagine if anybody had a camera on what we do at home? Oh, man. That'd be the worst two-and-a-half-minute video ever. I thought it was just unfair. So I'm glad she played it the way she did. Do you think about how much better, I mean, different your life would be if you would have married Kim Kardashian? I didn't mean to say better. Nah, I mean, unfortunately, I tell you, I'm dyslexic like that.

I don't really think like that. I always think maybe, you know, we had different journeys, and it is what it is. She's now two doors down for me, though, which is weird. Yeah, you're real good friends with her mom, Chris. That's great and weird. Once again, I always wanted to get to know a lady's parents because I feel like when you marry them, you're marrying their parents.

You know what? I wish I would have talked to you before I got married. My wife would get very paranoid. I would add to it. If she was going to feed you, she'd be like, oh, we got to get more food. There's not enough. And I would be like, whatever you're doing,

like triple it, triple it. A normal day. And by the way, I've also seen your comically silly cereal bowl that you like to eat cereal out of sometimes, which is- Love cereal, man. That's my vice. I mean, by the way, I've also seen your comically silly cereal bowl that you like to eat cereal out of. Yep. Which is. Love cereal, man. That's my vice.

I mean, by the way, those boxes have gotten so much like the bags in are so small. Yeah. Are you eating like. A bag at a time. A whole box of cereal. Easy. Easy. Yeah. I'll pressure that.

That's really funny. What's yours? My biggest vice? No, no. Heroin. Heroin. Heroin. Heroin. It's yours? My biggest vice? No, no. Heroin. Heroin. Heroin. It's always been my vice.

I love food, but then I get sick. I get sick and my stomach just flushes everything out. Oh, you might have a gluten allergy. Yeah, and I don't care enough to figure it out. I'd rather just go sit on the toilet for 45 minutes. I don't care enough to figure it out. I'd rather just go sit on the toilet for 45 minutes. Now, as a black man, did you enjoy today driving from your home in Calabasas to come here to work with three white guys in Baldwin Hills?

It is interesting. I find culture very interesting. I'll tell you two things. What I did find fascinating, I've never been to Baldwin Hills, and I've never been to a Starbucks where all the employees are black, all the people in line are black. And number two, I've never been to a Starbucks that moves so quickly. Like, they were churning in there. Like, it was so well run. But number two, like, I was raised not to see race, so I actually don't see race.

It might be a disorder or something like that. I was in my household. We were raised, we couldn't use the word white or black. Like, you might as well have said the F word. You'd be better off versus calling someone white, black, or even like Mexican. You couldn't say that. You had to say they're from Mexico. Cause my dad didn't believe in that. I have all these moments all the time where I'm like, I forget I'm the only black person in the room. So you're telling me if you described me, you wouldn't say, when would you say white? I would never say it. You would never bring it up in describing me. No, no. I would talk

about who you are, where you're from. Right, but I'm saying if you're like, what's he look like? I would say you look like somebody who looks like you. I'd be like, he's about the same. Your grandpa? I would say I would reference someone and be like, oh, he's the same complexion if it mattered. Well, hey, I'll tell you when you saw color as a former neighbor of mine.

First of all, for people that don't know, you stopped boxing, I don't know, a decade ago? Yeah. All right. So you're going to fight again. But you started training and then you had a post on Nextdoor app. Oh, yeah. Hey, guys, I'm training for a fight or I'm training. I'm going to be jogging at night.

So if you see a huge black man running through Malibu, don't call the police or don't shoot me. And I'm paraphrasing. I'm paraphrasing. Direct quote. No, direct quote. I don't know if I have a screenshot of it. But that's real. You knew that you didn't know. You didn't have to do that, but you're like, you know what?

I'm going to do this because unfortunately a lot of other people do see color. Which I'm fully aware of. Okay. So then we moved to Cal, we moved out here in Malibu and I said, you know what? Let's go to the best place. We found this little gated neighborhood and because I want safety just from everything, right? Sure. Everybody, you have to be careful, especially in LA. We found this little gated neighborhood because I want safety just from everything, right? Just from everybody. You have to be careful, especially in L.A.

And I was getting ready to get in shape and start running again because I do want to fight. And I started running around. I was terrified. And I actually never get scared. I don't register fear that well either. I think that's a form of disorder. It's also from just being strong. So I looked at my wife.

I came back because my run was only 20 minutes. She was like, why did you only run so long? I said, my wife, I came back. Cause I like my short, my run was only 20 minutes. And he's like, why did you, you know, only run so long? I said, you know what I realized? I don't want to, I got to come back home to Hannah. And no matter what I think, like if someone shoots me, like you just see it on the news, maybe I'll watch too much news, but that's, that's why I put it out there. I did not say a black guy, but my profile clearly shows them the same color as my grandma. Well, I just was like, you know, who's not having to put that post up a white guy. So I felt, I felt like that's, Oh, look at that. That that's horrible that you have to, but it's all good, man. Let me tell you my thoughts on

boxing first, because I gotta be honest with you. I, I don't like boxing. Like I don't like the UFC. And here's why. I can't watch people fighting. It makes me sick to my stomach a little bit. And I've always been like that. Whenever like a fight broke out in school and everybody crowded around, I was the kid that was like, oh no, oh, this is bad. This is bad. Let's stop them.

Fighting's always made me feel really weird. It's boxing. If you train to boxing, you realize when it's a sport and you're training to see the punches coming, they don't hurt that bad, number one. The head shots don't really hurt. It's the body shots that hurt. And you'll probably look at boxing different once you box with me, right? I'm almost 50. There's no way I'm getting punched.

My dad was fighting when he was 50. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he fought when he was 20, too. So it's a little different. It's not even a mental thing. I physically feel ill watching people fight. I feel like that during UFC, though. Because in boxing, it's a gentleman's sport, so to speak.

And people do foul sometimes, but you're supposed to, once a guy can't fight anymore, you're supposed to back off and guy can't fight anymore, you're supposed to back off and let the referee do his job. In MMA, and I have full respect for UFC and Dana White, and I love what they've accomplished, but you hit a guy, he goes down, he's actually knocked unconscious, but kind of moving still. You can be out on your feet and still be lucid. Of course. And then you go down and you start banging his head until the ref stops it. I think that's inappropriate. I actually can't watch UFC. I actually get sick the same way, and I'm a fighter.

Here's another thing I don't understand about boxing. Always having to hate your opponent, whether it's the pre-fight stuff. I always thought, I've thought this for a long time, wouldn't it be funny if the guy was like, ah, I love this guy. He's great. I wish him the best. Because, you know, I bring it to basketball. Like Michael Jordan, like he always had to hate his opponent.

He could, you know, but now generations like LeBron, like they can go out to dinner and they can play basketball that night. It's not like he's not going to try to kill him on the court. The two don't have to go hand in hand is what I'm saying. You don't have to hate somebody to compete against them. I think there's two reasons. Number one, boxing comes from the same place WWF comes from, Madison Square Garden. And then it was the same promoters.

They would work together and promote boxing the same way they did wrestling. You have Pee Wee Herman versus King Kong, and Pee Wee Herman wins. Oh, my God, we got to see a rematch, right? And so that's how boxing was promoted. And eventually it became more about the sport and the competition. And there aren't that great, but there's a direct line between P.T. Barnum and Don King, like mentor, friend, and so on and so forth. And so we knew we had to hype these fights up.

Otherwise, no one cares. And then what happens now, though, is everybody knows we got to talk up the fight because otherwise it's boring and there's no story. Every boxer knows the fight starts when you sign the contract, right? Because you got to get the psychological advantage. But what happens is the both fighters know, hey, we got to talk it up. And at some point, someone goes too far and now it becomes a real fight. And also you're trying to win the exchange.

So I think that's what happens. And it helps. I mean, all that makes sense. It's a roast battle. How were you 16- 0 in your career? Yeah. And then you retired. Yeah.

Who does that? Well, two things. So when I was training, I don't know if it's a myth, but when you're training, you have to be celibate. You don't. That's another thing that's probably made up.

I don't know. Whoever came up with that was... Why take a chance? That was my attitude. So for like five years years i'm celibate you know you're kind of like excited not to have to be like that yeah put it that way what if you weren't and then all of a sudden had the best fight of your life would you be like oh that's way better i don't know man i'm not willing to take that chance i'm not at least you got to

abstain for at least six to eight weeks and i was fighting every six to eight weeks. I would masturbate on the way to the ring. See what happens. I'd love to fight you. You know, wait, boxers always have rappers bring them to the ring a lot of times. I see that on big fights. I think it'd be cool if you had like a comic and I'm just doing material on the way to the ring. You ever notice? I think it would be a better fit than rapping. comic and I'm just doing material on the way to the ring. You ever notice? I think it would be a better fit than rapping.

You know the worst time I ever saw you get hit? It's not boxing. It was when you walked into a giant umbrella at that restaurant. You remember you turned and hit that thing right in your head? I was like, oh. That hurts. That was actually worse than I've ever been punched before. Seriously, man. I can take a punch, but that was horrible.

I want to get back to the question that I asked you, which is you were 16-0, and then you just walked away. But were you a champion at 16-0? Did you ever get – what level do you get to at 16-0? Boxing's a wild, wild west of sports. There's no proper league. There's like four belts, which are sanctioning bodies. Then there's separate promoters, separate networks.

It's not concentrated, the power and the control like UFC which is why the sport struggles um so for me I was I didn't have an amateur career I had 16 fights just fighting honestly whoever they would put in front of me to get uh experience in front of crowds to get used to that and also to like when you fight only 20% of what you can do makes it to the ring and then as you get more experience 80% of what you can do in the gym makes it to the ring. So it was about preparation. But honestly, it was becoming the most popular fighter, proving that I can compete. And then it was about fighting for the heavyweight title.

And that's still my goal to this day. I only put it down because I didn't want to make my living off of boxing because I was too scary to like, if I don't get a fight, I can't pay my bills. So I started a gym to make money between fights. How many gyms do you have now? Right now I have four locations. One is mine in Calabasas. The other are franchises in Canada. Let's talk about your employees.

You're not afraid to look at a resume and go, oh, it says here you were in prison for a while? No. I mean, I owe a lot of it to my dad. Number one, my dad was a criminal. He was thrown in jail multiple times before 16. Anything horrible? Just beating up people.

Okay. Beating up his friends, stuff like that. He was an angry guy, but he literally used to charge a tax to people to cross streets. Like, you can't cross the street unless you pay George. He's going to do some great things. I wish that's what he was still doing. Well, remember. To make money. Just telling people, you want to cross the street unless you pay George. He's going to do some great things. I wish that's what he was still doing. Well, remember to make money. Just telling people, you want to cross the street?

The crosswalk signal's on. He's like, no. I actually met a guy he's like, I always looked up to your dad. And I was like, why? Because I was thinking the boxing and the grills. And he said, man, I heard he used to charge a tax for people to walk across the street. And he's like, that blew my mind. And this is like a real like dude, you know what I mean?

Like a serious dude, if you know what I mean. Oh, sorry. My point on that was I grew up, I never beat anybody up in school. I was beat up once. Who beat you up? I was first grade. I just moved back to be closer to my father. And a group of kids called me the N-word.

And of course, I had something to say about that. And I tried to like fight and they grabbed my hands, pulled, you know, pulled me back and beat me up. Right. Okay. So you got jumped. That's different. No, no, no, but no kid in first grades, one-on-one beating you up. No, no, no. But I got, I got jumped and like held down and beat up. And so I told my dad about it and whatever. And he was like, look, he said, if you're going to fight in school, you need to be prepared to come home and fight me. You're not going to fight in school. And so I said, you know what? I backed down from every fight or bluffed my way out of it because I was literally more afraid of what would happen to me

when I would come home. Yeah. At home is the heavyweight champ. At school is just a little prick. So, so, so when my neighbor comes up to me with a pistol or someone says I've been in jail for 17 years, I just see a human. I'm not afraid of them. I'm more afraid of my dad. You could take your dad right now. I don't know. He still punches pretty hard. That'd be the fight. Let's get that on the books. Hey, what is the deal when your first few fights coming up? The people are, you're just picking somebody to punch in the head. How's it work? Yeah. I mean, look, you know, the people are, you're just picking somebody to punch in the head. How's it work? Yeah.

I mean, look, you know, the people, some people call them bums or whatever, but I think, look, it's,

it's, it's a feat to walk in the ring and take your shirt off and fight in front of three to 6,000 or 20,000 people. But it's literally, everybody does it because it's how you get sharp and it's how you get yourself in front of fans. Like, I don't know if you like practice material or you used to.

Yes, of course I do. It's like that. And then when you're like, yo, I got this down, then it's time to put it all on the line. But every time you walk in the ring, you're risking your entire career. You can get knocked out. So you only take the big risk when there's a big paycheck.

But that's not considered fixed, though, right? No. No, no, no. That stopped in, like, maybe the 60s, 70s. What, a fixed fight? Yeah, and they wouldn't so much. I mean, remember the mob controlled boxing until 70s. But remember they also controlled gambling.

So there were things like, hey, there's this champion and this guy who everybody thinks can beat the champion. Let's have this fight. And they would ask the champion, hey, don't fight too hard. Make it competitive. You're going to lose this one. So they're going to have a rubber match and have the second and third. It's a controversial loss.

Everybody wants to see the next fight, so it's even bigger. And then you're going to win the second fight. Well, now everybody wants to see the tiebreaker, and then the tiebreaker is a fair fight. And people kind of just knew that. And those are the types of things they would do to make great fights,

but also make money on the gambling side. Do you gamble ever? I do slot machines. I don't know how to gamble. I'm not that smart. I would love to gamble with you, though. I enjoy gambling. What's your favorite boxing movie?

Raging Bull. If you know boxing and you're from the culture, they have it down to a T. Because when you become great and you're fighting, you get really paranoid. I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a scene where he accused his brother of sleeping with his wife. That's the life of a prizefighter. Mine's coming to America.

What's your favorite part? Well, just the boxing barbershop scene. Joe Louis. Yeah. Yeah, that was classic. Eddie Murphy's nuts. By the way, I know this because you were at my house last night. You don't listen to this show.

You haven't watched this show. Every episode, I appreciate people taking time out, but I also hate having stuff at my house. I give them something from my house that I don't want anymore. And I say, here, you take this. And that's your gift for being on the show. So today, this is what I got you, George, for being on the show. Hold on. Let me grab it.

I want your house. Can you give me that? I got you. You actually brought this. I got you my bounce house. Oh, my. Are you serious? Yeah, but be careful.

It's heavy. Oh, you can handle anything. So last night, the kids are playing in the bounce house, and he's like, do you own your own bounce house? I'm like, yeah, I own my own bounce house. So now I'm giving it to you so that you and your daughter, oh, it's a good ring for her. Oh, my God. I'm giving it to you so that you and your daughter, oh, it's a good ring for her. And on rainy days, this thing, it fits inside.

You move some furniture. I can't fit this in my house, but I'm going to put this to good use. You'll find a place for it. It'll be great. It'll be great. You ever taken a full-on punch from your dad back in the day? Yes. One time when I was like six or seven, we were fighting.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Six or seven. I was hoping you were in the ring at 20. All right, never mind. He really didn't punch me. He like snapped a punch right at, you know, he could pull the punch back right before he hit you. And that was one that obviously that didn't hurt.

We were play fighting. But then when I became a boxer, my dad was my trainer and my manager for six years. One day he was like, hey, I got to, if I'm going to train you, I got to, I only know what type of fighter you are if I get in the ring with you. So we got in the ring together for the whole week and he wouldn't wrap my hands. He wouldn't talk to me. He would go in the corner and be like, you know, get over there. Like, you're just another fighter now. And for the whole week, he was about 63 years old.

We sparred every single day. And I was just running like Ali, literally. And finally, he was like, I'm going to get a hold of you. Like the fourth day, he reached over and leaned to the left. And he was about to hit me so hard in my liver. I remember it. And he pulled back. And he kind of looked at me like, don't get ahead of yourself.

Like, I can still whip your ass. So that happened are you the one person that doesn't love muhammad ali because he beat up your dad i don't know i mean there's two parts to that i have a lot muhammad ali was a great fighter i respect him and so on and so forth but the part like had he not beat my dad neither one of them would be legends in my opinion i think where i was the only thing i would ever hold against him him and so on and so forth. But the part, like, had he not beat my dad, neither one of them would be legends, in my opinion. I think where I was, the only thing I would ever hold against him is that he didn't give him a rematch. But he was, Ali, he was washed up at the time, so to speak. He was on his way out. He fought him. Everybody convinced my dad to fight Ali because that was what you did back then. It was traditional. If there was a big champ, you give him one more

payday so he can retire. And then you absorb his fan base. And so my dad was like, all right, just pay me. I'll fight him. And the only guys to beat Ali at that point were Joe Frazier, who my dad beat in two rounds. I love boxing, so bear with me. No. Kenny Norton broke his jaw. My dad beat him in inside two rounds. And then Ali's 34 at the time, which is old in boxing. And so they're like, George is going to kill him. And so once again, he was like, if I beat him, I'm not going to get credit. If I hurt him, people are going to hate me. But this is $5 million. It's the biggest payday ever in sports history. So he did it. But then Ali beat him and everybody said, oh my God, this guy came. It's like Superman. He was in an impossible situation and won. Now he's the greatest of all

time. So I think that's really cool. And then 20 years later, my dad was able to get his title after losing it. And now he became great because he's 46 years old, redeeming himself. So I think it worked out for both of them. And that's the way it was supposed to happen. All right, now I'm going to get into the grill because it's just going to make me laugh. It wasn't like this was a slam dunk. It wasn't like, oh, your dad was just such a business genius.

It was like, they brought him this, and he was like, ah, whatever. And then he asked for 16 grills. All true. So we're bankrupt. My dad fights 20 times in like three years. He's bankrupt because he spends. He spends, number one. He gives.

Can't say no to people. And also, the guy who manages his money stole it. This is when you don't hire felons for certain positions. These white collar crimes are way worse, but agreed. He's making, he made $13 million to fight Holyfield. Then it was 10 million, 10 million. So the commercials he would get paid for six, half hour day, six hour shoot, 250,000, 300. This is like, we're thrilled to make this type of money.

He doesn't have to get hit. And so that's what he's used to. So a friend of his had a friend who was with him in college and said, hey, we have this grill that my friend is marketing. It's been taken off the shelves before. We can't really get it going, but how about you promote it? He's like, fine, just pay me about 200 to $400,000 and I'll be there for six hours. They're like, no. Then they said, well, just pay me about $200,000 to $400,000, and I'll be there for six hours. They're like, no.

Then they said, well, let's form a joint venture. We'll provide the operations. You provide your time and your name, and you'll own 20% of it, 22% of it, 23%. What was his magic number? What was his magic number? 16 grills. 16 grills. And what percentage?

The offer got up to 45% of a joint venture. And after all the expenses were paid, he'd keep the profit, 45% of the profit. And 16 free grills because he liked them. Well, my mom had been cooking grilled cheese for us. There's so many of us. And the steaks. And the Teflon rubbed off. And so he said, I want 16 grills, which is enough for the Teflon to rub off and still have one.

Enough for my homes and enough for my mother. Okay. And he said, I'll give you a half-day shoot. And that got the deal done. And how many years went by before it exploded? So the deal was signed in 93. At the end of 94, he, by a fluke, got a heavyweight title shot and won. And now he's on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Athlete of the Year.

And they're like, wow, we got this guy for cheap. It still wasn't doing good. So they kept promoting it, promoting it. And they said, George, we want to tweak it and take the videos of you boxing and show videos at home with your kids cooking, actually using it. And then they just put everything behind it. And by 1997- Then things started to change. He had his last fight. He was 49, lost a decision. They come in and give his manager came and gave him a check his attorney for a million dollars. And that was just one month of his 45%. And at that point he was like, I think I can retire. So now he's got a million a month. What's the most, he was making

like 5 million a month, just off the grill. And then they got fed up. They're like, we can't keep paying you this much money. So they're like, how much just to own your name on this grill forever? And you walk away and they're like, you're like 128 million. What was the number? There was a publicly traded company. So they had to report at some point and say like, why is all this money going out the door? So they offered him 137 million. 20 of it was stock. And the stock went up when they did the deal because now the company is going to be more profitable. So it ended up being about $170-ish million. I know for a fact that you have a Weber. Yes, I have a Weber.

Come on, man. Come on. Do you think in hindsight, if your dad could have had that grill money, do you think he would have not fought that final comeback run? Yes, he didn't want to fight. Even though he became the heavyweight champion again? Look, my dad, he said if he had a college degree, he would have been a teacher. He was a preacher, and he's like, this is all I know how to do.

And he did love boxing, but no, he wouldn't. No way with that type of money. I wonder if people ever went to his church and went, hey, isn't that the guy that used to charge us to walk across the street? went to his church and went, hey, isn't that the guy that used to charge us to walk across the street? By the way, I just recently saw, because I look at some blogs of cars,

he just unloaded the most, like a hundred cars. And he still has a lot more. Of course he does. And I'm just like going through these cars. And like, it's like, they're so random. And then like, and they all have like 3,000 miles on them. They're like nothing. He had a beetle with 200 miles on it. Volkswagen beetle. Yeah. Your dad also has right now over a hundred dogs. True or false? True. That we know of. He hides them from my mom. And you guys sell them or? It's a pleasure thing.

He'll sell them if like he finds a good home, you know, sometimes he'll just give them to people. Cause he cares about the home. He's literally Dr. Doolittle. We grew up with crocodiles, um, uh, antelope elk,

let's see monkeys, lemurs, um, cows, of course, horses over a hundred horses. Right. Wait,

it's you understand why you went bankrupt a couple of times, right? Like you can't have a zoo. Like that's not, zoos are run by the city. Like that's, is your dad getting sweeter as he gets older? He's a, he's always been a puppy dog. Right. But he's been tough to the kids. He was, he was just strict. Right. Well, strict and puppy dogs are far apart. Yeah. I think, yeah, he's definitely way more lenient. And he's soft. Even his ministries, when it started, it was like, the Bible says what the Bible says, and that's what we're preaching.

And now it's the doctrine of love. He's like, if it's in the Bible, but it violates me loving somebody, then I'm not for it. So he's definitely softened up a little bit. The first question I ask all my guests, do you believe in ghosts? Yes. Yes, I do. I can't disprove it. And I had one incident in the Langham Hotel where there was a butler.

Our room came with a butler. And my dad and my mom were in the next room. And they were asleep. And I was looking at the door. I'm eating my room service. And the door just closes. And I run to the door. And long story short, I won't explain the context,

I'm sure it was a ghost. But that's it? That's from that moment, you're like, well, ghosts are real? Because of this moment of one door that swung closed or opened. Which was it, opened or closed? It was slightly opened. It was slightly opened, and then it closed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That meant just a draft, something came through. It was a ghost, man. Because, so that hotel, I don't know if it's still called the Langham, it was an old hospital. Yeah, old.

That's a key word in this because old stuff, always things happen. Do you believe in ghosts? No. Of course I don't. Why not?

I don't know because I just don't. All right. True or false. You're considering doing that porn. George, I got to feed my family, but hopefully things will things will never get to that point. You've got a, you've got a wonderful family. You've got a, a wonderful gym. Uh, and you know, if you want a box, I'm going to obviously I'll root for you, but I'm probably I'm probably not going to pay pay-per-view for it. I'll pirate it if possible. But thank you for being on the show, George. Thank you, man.

I had a great time talking to you. I'm Jason Flom and you're Maggie Freeling. Hey, Jason. Every day we learn about another person who shouldn't be in prison. 58 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. So glad you're home. If you want to be part of this work, listen to Wrongful Conviction. The podcast where we hand the mic to innocent people to hear their stories.

How do you send someone innocent to prison? Listen to new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling and Jason Flom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I am the ferryman. In the shadows of the afterlife, the ferryman of souls guides America's most influential spirits to their eternal rest. You've been looking for me, yeah? Where are you taking me? Are you death?

This road is not on any map. How much for a ticket? All I ask for in payment is a tail. These are the tails that shaped the nation. I don't know who got to Kennedy first. The devastation those first bombs caused. Then I told them they were drinking cyanide. Featuring the voices of Wes Studi.

Martin Starr. President Nixon. Called me the most dangerous man in America. Scott Hayes. Next thing I know, I'm standing over the bodies of Baker Morton. My pistol smoking in my hand. And Tristan Mack Wilds. I've never been to hell, but I know intimately the hymns of the damned.

Starring Dan Fogler as the ferryman. This is The Passage. Listen to The Passage now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. In July 1881, a man walked into a train station, pulled out a gun, and shot the President of the United States. James Garfield's assassination horrified the American people, and they wanted his killer, Charles Guiteau, punished. But Guiteau, many experts believed, was insane. What had seemed like a black and white case was now much grayer. Could the justice system truly deliver justice in a

situation like this? Guiteau's trial was extraordinary, but not unique. Important trials have always raised questions and made us reflect on the world we live in. I'm Mira Hayward, and I'm exploring the stories of these trials in my new podcast, History on Trial. Every episode will cover a different trial from American history Thank you very much, George. Well, Carl, that was a delight. Thank you very much, George. And I will be calling you George for the rest of my life and nothing else. Just George. You know what I admire so much about George is that he has just so much respect and he's proud of he's proud of his dad and there's just, that's just kind of neat.

I just, I, you know, I, I could learn from that a little bit, but then again, my dad wasn't the heavyweight champion of the world. You know, my dad worked at human resources and it's just not as cool. It's just, it's just not as cool. It's just, it's just harder to be so proud of that. I'm, but I'm, but I should,

I should, he's because you know, his dad was strict, probably too strict, but whatever he, uh, that's, that's,

that's a, that's a good thing, uh, that they've got going. And I'm glad that George senior is in good health. Uh, that's great. I'm happy that he was, uh, on the show That's great. I'm happy that he was on the show.

All right. Check out my tour dates. I'm performing all over the place. Get a ticket. Come see me. It's enjoyable. BoysWearPink.com. Check out the charitable clothing company for toddlers.

The Goat premiering on Freebie and Amazon. Probably going to be the biggest reality show since Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire. Remember that show? Oh, yeah. That shitty comic that had one house that was barely worth a million dollars, so they

called him a millionaire? Yep. That's funny. Rick Rockwell. Rick Rockwell. Good name poll, Eddie. Jesus. Good lord. Now it's time for one of my son's bedtimewell. Good name. Paul, Eddie, Jesus. All right. Now it's time for one of my son's bedtime stories that we recorded when he was three years old. Enjoy the animation and whatever.

I think he said, I'll be, I try to ask him something. I'm like, what do you think he said right here? And he's like, I don't know. And I'm like,

ah, it's so mad. I just make him sit there And I'm like, ah, he gets so mad. I just make him sit there. I'm like, well, then you can't get up from the table. Like three hours later, Dad, I don't know what I said. Tell me what the shark ate. See you next week. I'm telling the same story, but a different version of it.

You're going to tell me a different version of the same story? All right, let's hear it. Once upon a time in Tahoe, ye paven prayed the Lord. They went around, but they liked it to fit their eyes, and there suddenly something happened. Some... My head broke.

Someone said, my head broke off. And then, wow, somebody came out with a penguin and a baby penguin. Oh, no. She said she was a baby. I don't like this story at all. It's not good. It doesn't make sense.

And it's really hard to understand. I don't like it when your stories have voices because your voice is already on the scale of tough to understand. And then when you do voices, it's like, what are we talking about at this point? See what I'm saying? I can't understand that. This guy has the baby. Okay. You're still doing it. But don't

stop by the hotel. What's 156 times 28? Don't sign your phone. That's pretty good. Hey guys, I have to remind you, wherever you're listening to this podcast, to make sure that you rate it. But rate it 5 stars. That's pretty good. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about creating a billion-dollar startup.

Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A small town with secrets hidden for centuries. You turn up in Danville just as the town sees its first real crime in decades. And a curious stranger who may be their only chance for survival. I'm talking about the murder and disappearance in small town New Hampshire. What do you think? This is Consumed, an all-new supernatural audio thriller inspired by the novel by Aaron Manke.

I did not wake up this morning prepared to deal with forces beyond my understanding. Please, I call that breakfast. Listen to Consumed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.