Boxing

‘In the 10 years out of the ring I became a minister. Sometimes my car would need a booster, and a stranger would stop by to help me out. I asked how much I owed him. He said, ‘Get out of here, big’un. He didn’t even realise I was once heavyweight champion of the world but he was so kind to me.

Everyone was so kind to me and I used to think, ‘1 wish I could be champion again because I should have been nicer to people. When I came back I built my profile up again and I repaid all the people I had been unkind to. The comeback was my way of saying sorry for being so unkind the first time round. That was the best time of my whole boxing career, when I came back because I gave back. When I was in Reno, Nevada I couldn’t sign autographs or shake people’s hand because I had sprained my hand, so I just sat by a post and let anyone come over and talk, or take a picture. They did. I was there for three hours, and it was the nicest time of my life as a boxer.

Nothing compared to that moment – not even beating Frazier, or being with Ali in Zaire!’

• George Foreman #boxing