Comments (0)Punim Popper
November 20, 2009Neil Rubin
The first Foreman boxing great never met a burger he didn’t bite first and ask questions later.
The new one never met meat he did not bless before biting.
The first is known for a bald head, healthy belly and big smile. The second has a Star of David emblazoned on his shorts and is studying to be a rabbi — a program he hopes to finish in two years.
The first, of course, is the legendary George Foreman, now 60, and the second is 29-year-old Russian-Israeli Yuri Foreman, who studies Torah and kabbalah in the a.m. before hitting the bags after lunch.
On Saturday, Nov. 14 Yuri upset Daniel Santos to win the World Boxing Association super-welterweight belt on a decision, giving Israel — where he emigrated with his family from the then-Soviet Union in 1989, its first world champion.
So is there any parallel between wrestling a Rashi text and a clinch on the ropes?
As Yuri once told the New York Daily News, “Boxing is sometimes spiritual in its own way. You have the physical and mental challenges in boxing, just like you have lots of challenges in exploring the different levels of Judaism. They are different but the same.”
OK, maybe not, but it works for him so we’re not going to argue.