Always stay humble

The new movie “Big George Foreman” reminds watchers to stay humble when becoming successful

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Foreman had a tough childhood; however, he broke free from poverty through boxing.

By Brendan Busky

When growing up and a person gets things like fame and money, it is easy to be greedy with it. If that person continues to be greedy that is the type of person they will grow into and what they will get used to. Typically they can get exposed for it and have some bad things happen to them.

The movie “Big George Foreman,” which came out on April 28, 2023, is a great example of this.

At the beginning of the movie, it shows a young George Foreman with his family and they live in poverty. At night, Foreman, his siblings, and his mom all are seen sharing one burger for dinner, putting into perspective how poor they were. 

While watching Foreman’s childhood, it seems like he can never finish anything. When he was a kid in school, he always got held back and struggled a lot with finishing school. He always turned to fighting because it was something that he found that he was good at; this is an important part because it shows why later in life when he starts boxing, he is good at it. 

Once he was in his teen years, he started doing a program called the Jobs Corps Work Program. In this program, he got three meals a day, schooling on how to get a good job, and life experience on how to operate in the world without living at home. At this place, he would always get in trouble and almost got kicked out. 

A man stole Foreman’s shoes at the work program and he chased after the man. While chasing him he punched a hole in a door to get through the door and chased him down. Foreman had a hold of him and was threatening to throw him out of a window when building counselor Doc Broaddus saw Foreman. 

Broaddus went to kick Foreman out; however, he decided to give him another chance and realized he could make a good boxer. This is the point where everything in Foreman’s life changed.

Foreman started learning how to box from Broaddus and within a year he went to compete in the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City. He ended up winning a Heavyweight gold medal. 

Foreman had lots of success and continued his dominant run until going up against Muhammad Ali. Foreman was undefeated going into this fight and Ali was the underdog. 

Ali ended up wearing out Foreman and winning in a knockout finish. Before this fight, Foreman had lots of greed and dominance, but after this fight, it all ended up catching up to him.

After his divorce, Foreman turned to God and stopped boxing. He started to become a good person, buying a church to preach at and a gym to keep kids off the streets, and being more appreciative of the people around him.

He ended up running out of money and started boxing again to pay the bills. At 45 years old, he came back to boxing and won the Heavyweight title, and made enough money to never have to work again. 

While there are some flaws, the movie overall is a great movie that tells an amazing story. While being 2 hours and 13 minutes, “Big George Foreman” feels rushed, as it spends very little time on each part of Foreman’s life. Another flaw is that there is a lot going on in the movie, so those who do not know Foreman’s story may be confused. 

Overall, this is a great movie that tells a story people can learn from. This movie is good for people who are going through hard times because they can see how Foreman’s life changed from hard work. And it can remind everyone to appreciate everything that they have.