Yuri Foreman: Not the Usual Boxing Comeback

By Thomas Gerbasi

Yuri Foreman was never the typical boxer. So, of course, his retirement in May of 2013 wasn’t the usual one, as he left on the heels of a four-fight winning streak. And unlike most of his peers, when he walked away, you almost expected that this would be one boxing retirement that would stick.

But the 35-year-old wasn’t through throwing curveballs, which meant that earlier this year, he announced that he was coming back to the ring, with his comeback fight taking place against Lenwood Dozier this Saturday at Barclays Center.

“Sometimes people make decisions based on getting angry, getting tired,” Foreman said. “Three years ago, I just quit, and I was just angry with more of the business aspect of it.”

But what brought him back?

“Realizing that something was missing in life, something that gives you that ‘wow’ moment,” he said. “I think every single person in the world should once in a while, or often, ask themselves, what do I want to do in life, what makes me happy in life? What brings me purpose in life? And that’s boxing. I feel great physically, mentally, spiritually. The reflexes are there, physically I’m strong and I just realized that I cannot stop. I want to continue.”

A former WBA junior middleweight champion whose 32-2, 1 NC record has only seen him defeated by Miguel Cotto and Pawel Wolak, Foreman had nothing left to prove in the ring, and outside of it he had moved on as well as a husband and father of two. But soon the ring beckoned, first as routine trips to Gleason’s Gym.

“It started in March of this year when I started going regularly to the gym and training,” he said. “It was just for fun because I couldn’t sit on my ass anymore. (Laughs) I went to the gym and after a couple of weeks I asked my coach, Pedro Saiz, ‘hey, how about you hold the pads for a couple rounds?’ That was fun. A good workout, thank you. See you tomorrow. (Laughs) Then there’s some boxing. Hey, you need sparring? I’ll give it to you tomorrow. The rest is you’re doing it almost full-time and then you start playing with the idea of coming back.”

As for the reaction of his wife, Leyla, Foreman says “My wife is my team member and she’s very supportive. It was not overnight. I didn’t wake up like ‘okay, honey, I want to continue boxing.’ It was a slower process.”

That process brings him just a few blocks from his home in Brooklyn this weekend, and while he hopes to pick up where he left off in 2013 and be the same fighter he was, he’s certainly not the same man, as he completed his rabbinical studies in April.

“Rabbi means teacher,” Foreman explains. “I’m trying to be spiritually connected. It’s a work in progress and it’s a lifetime of work. I also find boxing to be a very spiritual sport. We’re doing repetition, we’re doing the same thing every day with our workouts and our routine. It’s the same thing with God and religious studies and spirituality. It’s a repetition, it’s a routine. So as a rabbi, I’m not practicing in terms of being a full-time rabbi. Right now I am a boxer.”

But does his faith interfere with what happens on fight night?

“You think God is not a boxing fan?” he asks with a laugh. “If you go to any sporting event, you’ll see people under one roof from all kind of backgrounds, especially in New York City. There are Muslims, Christians, Jews, all sitting under one roof cheering for one team or another team. Sports bring people together.”

As Foreman talks, you realize that in this day and age, a comeback like his means more than simply watching two guys punching each other and one getting his hand raised. But as mentioned earlier, the Belarus native has never been typical. He recalls his time growing up in Israel and training with Arab boxers.

“We had the same dream,” he said. “They wanted to be world champion, I wanted to be world champion. And in the end, we lost this barrier between he’s a Muslim, I’m a Jew. We’re not enemies. We have the same goals and we’re the same teammates. Sports bring people together and it brings a stronger bond between individuals.”

The dream hasn’t changed for Foreman in his comeback. It’s to be a champion once more, but also to make an impact far beyond the ring.

“I have simultaneously quite a few goals,” he said. “One goal is, God willing, with my effort and success rate, winning a world title. That would be great. But there is always a bigger picture.  If I could win the title, maybe I can bring people together through a sporting event or to bring motivation to people. I think we are one and we are all living under the same sun even if we are different. Some of us have different paths and make different choices, and I respect that.”