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Speaker 1: The Michael Barry Show. Is it mister Foreman or pastor

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Speaker 1: Forman these days?

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Speaker 2: Just don't call me too late for dinner?

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Speaker 1: Or is it the father of five Georgia's. You know,

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Speaker 1: we have one son who we named Michael, and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna have another son. And I said, Uh, wouldn't it

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Speaker 1: be cool to name him Michael? And my wife said, hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily against that. I said, hey, George Foreman

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Speaker 1: has five Georges, so if it's good enough for him,

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Speaker 1: it's good enough for me.

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Speaker 2: Well, you you you haven't had to get hit on

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Speaker 2: the head by Joe Fraser, Mohammed Ali, Ken Norton, so

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Speaker 2: you'll have an easy time remembering names.

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Speaker 1: You know what, I went back this morning and watched

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Speaker 1: your first fight with with Fraser. The hitting on the

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Speaker 1: head was you hitting Joe Fraser. It wasn't him hitting you.

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Speaker 1: You know, with with Joe Fraser passing, I know a

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Speaker 1: lot of people are reaching out to you. I went

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Speaker 1: back and watched that fight. It wasn't a very long fight.

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Speaker 1: But I'm curious, with all these years later, what you

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Speaker 1: remember of it, because I'll tell you, as I as

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Speaker 1: we talked about this morning, I was three years old

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Speaker 1: when that fight took place. But I've I've heard so

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Speaker 1: much about it, you know, the Sunshine Showdown or Rumble

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Speaker 1: and the Junk, all these fights that you had. But

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Speaker 1: to go back and watch it, you didn't dance around,

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Speaker 1: you didn't move. You just seemed cool. And in fact,

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Speaker 1: Coselle talks about repeatedly the fact that you're so calm.

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Speaker 2: Take me back to that fight where you got to

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Speaker 2: understand that you got to take you back to Joe Fraser.

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Speaker 2: Joe Fraser was not the bigger of any of us.

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Speaker 2: He was the smallest in statute for wait, but for

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Speaker 2: some reason, everyone was afraid of Joe Fraser. Not everybody

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Speaker 2: wanted to fight him. Even Mohammed Ali had lost because

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Speaker 2: Fraser would not stop coming. So I kept thinking I

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Speaker 2: wanted to be Champ of the world, but I was

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Speaker 2: wanting Fraser retired, I'll fight someone else. So when the

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Speaker 2: bell rang, I was like, what he in the first lace?

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Speaker 2: You know what am I doing in the ring with

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Speaker 2: smoking Joe Fraser?

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Speaker 1: You our mutual friend Michael Harris was playing an audio

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Speaker 1: clip of yours. I'm not sure from when it was

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Speaker 1: and you were talking. It was from a few years ago, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but you were talking about the fact that you would

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Speaker 1: hit Fraser and he would go down. I think he went.

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Speaker 2: Down three times, six times, but.

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Speaker 1: Three times in the first round was yes, And you

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Speaker 1: talked about with Michael Harris. He just kept coming back, and.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking, I said, oh, he's going

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Speaker 2: to be mad now. That knocked him down again. I said, oh,

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Speaker 2: why did I do that?

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Speaker 1: So you were worried that you knocked him down.

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Speaker 2: I'm furious to go Fraser. He'd gone down before in

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Speaker 2: boxing matches, but the thing was he'd get up and

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Speaker 2: come and get you. And the first time I'd seen

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Speaker 2: him really go at it would bust to Mathis. He

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Speaker 2: was so much smaller, and everyone left out of the

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Speaker 2: arena afraid of small guys because Fraser was so vicious.

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Speaker 1: You know you talked about I heard an audio clip

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Speaker 1: of an interview you gave about it kind of reminded

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Speaker 1: me of Donny McClurkin's song We Fall Down but We

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Speaker 1: Get Up. You were talking about Buster Mathis having beaten

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Speaker 1: Fraser early, and yet Matthis's hand was injured, and so

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Speaker 1: Fraser beats him in sixty four goes to the Olympics,

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Speaker 1: and as we know, the rest is history because that

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Speaker 1: sort of launched Joe Fraser. Could you tell that again?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe Fraser really was not the choice. Bust Mathis

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Speaker 2: had beaten him in the Olympic trials, but he had

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Speaker 2: broken his hand, should have hit it. Fraser was the

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Speaker 2: alternate and going on to become an Olympic gold medalist.

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Speaker 2: So Bust Mathis had this confidence that I beat him once,

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Speaker 2: I even beat him twice. To fight for him, he thought, well, probably,

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Speaker 2: and so he got the shock and everybody in the

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Speaker 2: audience did as well when Joe Fraser knocked him out.

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Speaker 1: When you heard the news, George Foreman is our guest,

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Speaker 1: when you heard the news that Fraser had passed, what

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Speaker 1: went through him?

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Speaker 3: I was the first thought last night.

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Speaker 2: I was just for some reason, I got upset, if

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Speaker 2: you think about it, I just I didn't have enough

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Speaker 2: time to say everything I wanted to say to him,

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Speaker 2: those little things like I love you, how are you

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Speaker 2: doing this day? Those kind of things I got a

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Speaker 2: said because I intended to say so much more to him,

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Speaker 2: and then grief stepped in. And today I decided to

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Speaker 2: make as much as I can about letting everybody know

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Speaker 2: those small things about Joe Frasier.

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Speaker 1: They had never known what's one of those What's one

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Speaker 1: of those things?

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Speaker 2: That this man was kind? He never in all the

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Speaker 2: years I knowed him and scouted him, he never treated

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Speaker 2: anyone better than another. If you were rich, Joe Fraser

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Speaker 2: would give you a boogie boogie, and if you were poor,

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Speaker 2: he'd give you the same old handshake, boogie booget He's

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Speaker 2: the most consistent human being I've ever met.

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Speaker 1: You know. I don't know if you've seen the documentary,

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Speaker 1: but ESPN did a documentary on Fraser Ali and it

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Speaker 1: gave it gave a very different perspective. It painted Fraser

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Speaker 1: as this decent, honest man of integrity, and it sort

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Speaker 1: of suggested that Ali took advantage of him and wasn't

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Speaker 1: respectful to him, and it really made Fraser look like,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, just such a solid stand up guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and sometimes you don't want to paint

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Speaker 2: a pitch that Mohammad took advantage of him, because no

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Speaker 2: matter what, Joe Fraser enjoyed being Joe Frazier, he was

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Speaker 2: so comfortable in his own skin that the only problem

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Speaker 2: he had with Mohammed Ali is that he loved him.

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Speaker 2: And the only problem Mohammad had with Joe is that

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Speaker 2: he loved Joe Frasier as well. It was a love

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Speaker 2: affair and it was like a family of boys that

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Speaker 2: just kept teasing one another. Mohammad would tease him and

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Speaker 2: he wanted to fight, and that's that really motivated Mohammed

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Speaker 2: to continue to tease him, because they loved each other,

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Speaker 2: just like any other family.

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Speaker 1: When Fraser, you really shocked the world.

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Speaker 2: What did he say to you, Joe Frazie? He was

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Speaker 2: strange because I told him from time to time that

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Speaker 2: I just and I knew I would Probably this was

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Speaker 2: my opportunity to get him because he had put so

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Speaker 2: much effort into beating Mohammad Ali. He put everything he had.

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Speaker 2: He wanted that victory more than anything in the world.

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Speaker 2: So when he fought me, there wasn't a much motivation.

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Speaker 2: If I had caught him earlier, no way I could

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Speaker 2: have beaten Fraser in that fashion.

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Speaker 1: Compare Joe Frasier and Muhammad Ali as fighters.

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Speaker 2: Well, it was one way and the other. Mohammad Ali

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Speaker 2: was the master of get out of the way and

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Speaker 2: punch you. Fraser was the master of here I come

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Speaker 2: and I'm gonna punch you. No one did it better

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Speaker 2: in each case than these two guys. Wonderful. You couldn't

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Speaker 2: have had Mohammad Ali without Joe Fraser. Joe Fraser never

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Speaker 2: could have achieved what he did as far as respectability

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Speaker 2: without Muhammad Ali.

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Speaker 1: George Foreman is our guest. When when you made your comeback,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I was at an age then that

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Speaker 1: I could watch that, not not in the old time reels,

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Speaker 1: but I could actually watch that in real time and

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Speaker 1: it was very inspiring to a lot of people to

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Speaker 1: see you do that. What did Fraser say to you?

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Speaker 2: You know, it's strange. I'm fighting the Vanda Holyfield in

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Speaker 2: Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and pre fight introduction

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Speaker 2: there is ladies and gentlemen, Joe Fraser, he walks up,

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Speaker 2: shakes my hand and evanders and walk out ladies and gentlemen.

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Speaker 2: Mohammed Ali and he walks out. I'm thinking maybe I

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Speaker 2: should walk out myself. That's when you realize you were

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Speaker 2: into another era or something that you shouldn't have been in.

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Speaker 2: I've gotten myself into a real fight. But Joe Frasier,

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Speaker 2: Muhammad Ali, especially Joe Fraser, he encouraged me. He said, man,

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Speaker 2: you can punch. Nobody can take that away from you.

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Speaker 2: Mohammad Ali. I told him I was coming back. He said,

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Speaker 2: you could probably do it.

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Speaker 1: To watch that, Tyson, Well did you did you keep

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Speaker 1: up with Fraser over the last few year?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? We were a good friends. We as a matter

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Speaker 2: of fact, we became great friends. Whenever that was an event,

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Speaker 2: Fraser would always be my guests and vice versa. You know,

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Speaker 2: all you have to do is give me a call

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Speaker 2: and I would show up for him and his children

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Speaker 2: and I. We were good friends.

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Speaker 1: Did he cook on a George forman grin?

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Speaker 2: Joe Frazier had a George for mc grill. I made

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Speaker 2: certain of that because I sent him many of them.

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Speaker 1: Would I hope so much as they paid you, you

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Speaker 1: could send everybody in America one that still have made money.

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Speaker 2: You know what? He appeared with me on the Monarchy

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Speaker 2: commercial way back to as the average Joe.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yes, yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 2: We had a wonderful, loving relationship. I'm proud of that.

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Speaker 1: You know, you lived through and were a part of

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Speaker 1: a reason for absolutely the golden age of boxing. I'm

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Speaker 1: sad that I was just a child and that was

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Speaker 1: going on. But to look to go back this morning

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Speaker 1: and look and see how many of those old how

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Speaker 1: many people have posted those YouTube videos, and to get

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Speaker 1: to go back and see it's just an amazing.

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Speaker 2: Time, amazing, you know, and it's something that brings those

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Speaker 2: things to life again. Thank goodness YouTube and the video era.

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Speaker 2: You can see us. You can not only talk about it,

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Speaker 2: but everybody can see it.

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Speaker 1: So if people ask, now, where is George Foreman, what

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Speaker 1: are you up to these days? What do you say?

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Speaker 2: I lived a good life. You know. I've got ten

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Speaker 2: kids and I'm starting to accumulate grandkids now. My sixth

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Speaker 2: grand child should be any day now. So I found

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Speaker 2: myself at home. I'm still doing business. I always had

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Speaker 2: some success and with Madison Avenue, so I sit around

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Speaker 2: the house and fish, ride horses and still try to

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Speaker 2: sell things.

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Speaker 1: Well, you made it a long way from the Bloody

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Speaker 1: Fifth to the Annals of Boxing and beyond. You're an

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Speaker 1: amazing person and I'm a big fan. Thanks for being

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Speaker 1: with us, George.

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