George Foreman has invited Deontay Wilder to spend several weeks with him building his strength ahead of his third fight against Tyson Fury.
The stripped WBC champion is currently licking his wounds after the first defeat of his pro career and has offered some strange excuses for the performance against the Gypsy King.
Wilder suggested his legs were drained due to a heavy walk-out outfit and heavyweight legend Foreman is convinced the Bronze Bomber only needs to work on his strength to beat Fury.
Asked if he would change Wilder’s boxing style, Foreman told the Athletic: ‘Nah, because if he was strong enough, he could’ve done something on his own. He just didn’t have the strength to do what he wanted to do.’
He added: ‘It’d be fine, just a couple weeks with him. I don’t want to be in his training camp.
‘I don’t want to be part of his entourage. I just want to pass something on to him so he can become champ again.’
Foreman had to bounce back from several demoralising defeats in his illustrious career, including losses to Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield.
The two-time heavyweight world champion believes his experience could be vital to helping Wilder return to his best.
‘He’s got his trainers and the people who help him in boxing,’ Foreman explained.
‘I believe he has an excellent trainer who took him all the way to the title. He doesn’t need a lot of boxing stuff, but he needs to go back and get to the earth.
‘That’s what enabled me to come back later on in life. What I mean by that, if you can visualize a horse plowing — one of those big strapping horses pulling logs through the forest.
‘That’s getting back to the earth. And boxing was built around that. In the first place, it was man against man.
‘Hard-working men working the earth. Who was the strongest? Who was the best?
‘Later on, that strength came to be provided by weightlifting, personal trainers. That turns into something that will fail you if you go up against a man who has the earth thing with him.
‘So I can take (Wilder) back with me to where I was, take him back to the boxer he ought to be. I know I can take him there.
‘In those weeks, I can show him how to do it, and then it belongs to him. He will be able to keep himself up from that point and no one will ever again be able to take his legs.
[I’d be his strength coach], but in a different way. We’d do different exercises and then it’d be, “OK, let’s shadow box now”.
‘Then we’d do some more work and shadow box again until he’d get to the point where he’d think, “Man, I just can’t shadow box anymore”. And I’d say, “Now you know why I’m with you. You have to learn to shadow box”.
‘I’d help his legs, his back.’
Follow Metro Sport across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
MORE: Eddie Hearn sends blunt message to Frank Warren over Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight
MORE: Deontay Wilder ‘left his trainer crying outside the changing room’ after Tyson Fury loss
