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 Yuri Foreman, New Yorker
 by Thomas Gerbasi (April 24, 2003)
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It’s been said that home is where you hang your hat. Enter well-traveled 22-year-old Yuri Foreman, who continues his pro campaign on Saturday night against Eddie Mendivil (9-5-3) at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.
Foreman, a native of Belarus who spent his teen years in Israel, has seen a lot of world in a short time, but despite all the stamps on his passport, it’s clear that Brooklyn, New York is home now.
“When I came to the States in 1999, my eyes just opened,” remembers Foreman, who has compiled a 9-0 (5 KOs) record in a little over a year as a pro junior middleweight. “I saw so many boxers here. It was completely different because people love boxing here. In Israel they don’t. There are two main sports over there, soccer and basketball. I saw so many talented boxers, and if there’s any local show, people just go there to support and watch boxing.”
It was a change for the better for the three-time Israeli national champion. A melting pot of every ethnic group and variation you could possibly imagine, New York was a place Foreman could roam, free to not only pursue his professional career but to do it without the fear of the daily battles being fought in and around the streets of Haifa – well, at least pre-9/11.
“It was difficult for the first couple of years,” said Foreman of growing up in Israel. “I was 11 years old when we moved to Israel and I was missing my friends, my grandma. Sometimes there was discrimination between Russians and the Jews. The Russians were also Jewish but the Israeli people would call us Russians and say that we don’t deserve to be there, and there would be fights in school between the immigrants and the Israelis. But it was all right. Sometimes it was hard with the suicide bombings, but after so many, it becomes kind of normal. People are sad for one day and they just continue to do their things everyday.”
It’s the attitude of many who have been forced to live with the daily threat of terrorism, a view that seems foreign to those Stateside who have dealt with 9/11 and its aftermath. To relate, just imagine suicide attacks happening every day where you live. You either succumb to the fear, or grit your teeth and move on.
Foreman moved on, possessing an internal toughness few prospects own, along with a joy for fighting that makes the jaded look kindly on the sport again. When you’re dodging real bombs, gloved ones don’t seem that bad.
“It’s been great,” said Foreman of his early success. “That’s what I like about it, being the center (of attention). I’m comfortable with that pressure, if you call it that. I’m enjoying it.”
But back to New York, where Foreman wasn’t greeted with million-dollar contracts and flashy gifts as he stepped off the plane from Israel. Despite his amateur credentials, Foreman had to work.
“On my second day in the States I was already working,” Foreman remembers. “It was difficult because it was a completely different lifestyle. You have to work and you have to train. I was working in Manhattan. Cleaning, carrying, delivering, and everything. (Laughs) From morning until evening and then straight to Gleason’s Gym to train for the Golden Gloves or for any competition.”
It was a rough gig for the youngster, and he admits that the schedule took its toll at times. “Working this job was taking a lot of strength out of me,” he said. “Sometimes when I went to the gym I was dead already.”
But he continued working, continued winning, and by the time he was ready to make his professional debut in January of 2002 against Israel Felix, there was a loud buzz about Foreman, who not only had fast hands and deceptive power going for him, but a Jewish heritage that could be a marketing goldmine in New York City.
Foreman stopped Felix in a single round, yet the most interesting event of the night happened after the bout ended, as the Belarus native made his way back to the dressing area. Within seconds of his departure from the ring, Foreman was mobbed - not only by the usual members of the fight crowd - but by members of the Hasidic community, all who wanted to congratulate their new hero. It was bedlam at the Park Central New York Hotel, and a scene not lost on Lou DiBella, who quickly scooped up the prospect for his growing stable of up and comers.
And after one more fight - a third round TKO of Tommy Attardo, Foreman was a free man – not from DiBella, but from the 9 to 5 world.
“The first couple of weeks I couldn’t believe it,” said Foreman. “Finally I could run in the morning instead of the evening. I could rest all day, then go to the gym and give 110%. I was dedicating myself more to boxing more when I went full-time.”
Yet in his first fight as a full-timer, on March 21, 2002, against George Armenta, Foreman had the toughest go of his young career, getting dropped in the first round and stunned again late in the final round. It was a trial by fire he passed, winning a six round majority decision.
“He caught me with a good right hand on my jaw,” remembers Foreman. “I lost my balance and at first I was a little bit dizzy but I already had that experience in the amateurs, so I knew that this was no problem. He tried to finish me but I was already clear after like five seconds. It was a tough fight.”
Since then, the wins have piled up, with Foreman being steady and patient in his approach to business in the ring. And as he enters his tenth pro bout Saturday, he will be displaying the lessons he has learned, not only from trainer Tommy Brooks, but also from cruiserweight champ Vassiliy Jirov, with whom he trained in Big Bear, California.
“He (Jirov) was giving me a lot of advice while I was sparring,” said Foreman. “I learned everything because we did roadwork together, went to the gym together. We spoke Russian together, and we became friends. He taught me a lot of stuff.”
Brooks’ influence is also starting to bear fruit, as Foreman looks to “Americanize” his style.
“This is one of the happiest things to happen to me, to train with Tommy Brooks,” said Foreman. “I totally trust him and he has taught me a lot of things; things like angles that nobody had taught me before. Things like throwing more combinations. Before Tommy, I wouldn’t throw more than two or three punches. I was too stiff. He taught me how to be smarter in the ring. I had a lot of mistakes. I still make mistakes, like everybody, but I’m making them less. In my first fights I was too amateur, too straight, with no head movement. I was too open all the time. When you go to the next level of competition, any smart opponent will take advantage of it. I’m trying to Americanize myself because it’s good to know both, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I’m taking the good stuff from each style.”
“Sometimes you have doubts, but not lately,” Foreman continues. “Every year I get more and more confident. I’m getting stronger every day.”
Foreman is having fun right now – training, fighting, and enjoying life. He doesn’t hit the streets at night looking for a party (“I’m not interested in clubs or all that. I’m more interested in going fishing or something.”), and he has no desire to be the Great Jewish Hope (“I don’t know how to react. Dmitry Salita can tell you. (Laughs) He’s my buddy.”).
Nope, Yuri Foreman just wants to fight and win. Simple goals for a young man who has lived a complex life, but one that he tells you, has been pretty good so far.
“I had a pretty happy childhood,” he said. “Sometimes you have to work, sometimes you have a day off.”
E-Mail Thomas Gerbasi at tgerbasi@mindspring.com
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