It’s been nine months since my last book update so I wanted to provide you with news about its development. Since that first update last February, I have roughly written the first few chapters. They are by no means complete but I wanted to get the main sections down on paper, including the quotations I plan to use.
From there, I moved on to writing about the individual fights of Foreman’s comeback, which will represent the bulk of the book. So far, I have written about 2/34 fights.
As I was researching Foreman’s third comeback fight against Bobby Crabtree, I came across an article written about him in 2020 on NYFights.com by Robert Mladinich. I reached out to Robert to see if he would be willing to provide contact info for Crabtree. Not expecting to get a response back, I was pleasantly surprised when Mladinich answered my email that same day. And he not only provided Crabtree’s contact info but also the info for a few other fighters in Foreman’s comeback. I also received the contact info for one fighter from Murray Greig of the International Boxing Research Organization.
Now that I had several names to contact for interviews, I decided to change up the order of my fight research to prioritize those contacts I had acquired. Sadly, you never know how long ex-fighters will be around and I wanted to make sure I got to hear their stories while they are still able to tell them.
I started by reaching out to Ken Lakusta, a fellow Canadian, and fight #23/34 on Foreman’s comeback trail. Lakusta fought from 1979-1994 and retired with a record of 23-23-1. He shared the ring with some incredible heavyweights, including Donovan Ruddock, Tommy Morrison, Larry Holmes, and David Tua. I spoke with Ken for an hour and he was very easy to talk to and happily shared his experience fighting Foreman.
After speaking to Lakusta, I contacted Bobby Hitz, who now resides in Chicago and works as a boxing promoter and restaurant owner. Hitz fought from 1985-1989, compiling a record of 15-5, and he was comeback opponent #12/34. Foreman was by far the biggest name that Hitz faced in his career, and he was happy to talk extensively about that fight. We spoke for an hour and it was a pleasure to hear from him.
I then contacted Bobby Crabtree, who was comeback opponent #3/34 and the one who was next up in my chronological list of fights. Crabtree fought from 1982-2002 and finished with a record of 56-35-1. Besides Foreman, Crabtree also fought the likes of Mike Weaver, Michael Dokes, Tyrell Biggs, and Michael Moorer. Crabtree is from Arkansas and we had a lovely chat for 30 minutes.
For my last interview, I spoke with David Jaco from Florida, who was comeback opponent #14/34. Jaco fought from 1981-1994, compiling a record of 24-25-1. He fought Foreman in 1988 amid a three-fight losing streak. Similar to Crabtree and Lakusta, Jaco fought the best heavyweights of his generation, including the likes of Donovan Ruddock, Mike Tyson, Buster Douglas, Tommy Morrison, and Bert Cooper. And just like all the fighters I had the privilege of talking to, he was very generous with his time.
I believe that the interviews I conducted with the aforementioned fighters are going to make my book special because their unique stories have yet to be told. Everyone knows Foreman but very few people know his opponents, especially the random ones he fought during his comeback. Each of them has an interesting backstory and perspective that deserves to be heard. I am looking forward to dissecting the interviews and pulling some interesting quotes for the book.
As always, I keep pushing forward and making progress. I try to work on the book every weekend, but there are some weeks that I am too busy to do so. During those absences, I try to be self-compassionate and accept that those lulls will happen throughout the course of such a massive project. But I don’t let the weeks spiral where I completely fall off track.
As long as I can move the book forward in some way, even if it’s just watching fights and doing research, I am happy and proud. I keep reminding myself that even 1% forward is better than no progress at all. And I recommend that you adopt that same mentality with any challenging goal you have in your life. Any step forward is a good step!
Amazing work, can’t wait for the book.
Amazing determination!
Good work!