By Mitch Abramson
According to Bruce Silverglade, an advisor to Yuri Foreman, the junior middleweight is still mulling whether to fight again and hasn’t given the okay to schedule any future fights. Silverglade, who owns Gleasons, said that Foreman, an aspiring rabbi, has been in the gym to work out- even as recently as this week- and remains in good shape, but that he’s still deciding what his next move is. Foreman hasn’t had any discussions or contact with his promoter, Top Rank, either, Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti said.
“He hasn’t made up his mind yet,” Silverglade said. “I’ve asked him a couple of times if I should start trying to find him a fight, and he’s told me, ‘Not yet.’ He’s his own man and he’s going to decide what he’s going to do. I just don’t want to see him wait too long until he gets back in the ring if that’s what he wants to do.”
Foreman, a former junior middleweight champion, appeared lethargic and at times even disinterested in his last fight against Pawel Wolak on March 12. He didn’t come out of his corner after the sixth round after taking a pounding, nor did he display the usual laser-like focus he usually carries with him into his fights. The fight came only months after Foreman’s longtime manager, Murray Wilson died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 72 last October. Wilson was a father-figure to Foreman, rescuing his career early on when it stalled and helping to get him a big fight with Miguel Cotto at Yankee Stadium last summer, where he fought valiantly despite injuring his knee. Silverglade believes that Foreman (28-2) was still essentially grieving when he fought Wolak.
“He was physically fine for the Wolak fight,” Silverglade said. “It was certainly a mental thing. His leg was fine. It wasn’t that. When Murray died, it just changed him. He didn’t have that desire. I don’t hold it against him. I still love him. He’s still one of my favorite fighters. He just has to make a decision real soon what he wants to do. I don’t want him to be one of these old fighters who come back too late.”
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