Yuri Foreman BOXING RETURN – Former Junior Middleweight Champ Comes Back – BOXING NEWS
Yuri Foreman, former junior middle weight world champion (30-2, 8 knockouts), will fight an 8-round bout on July 24, 2013 at Manhattans Roseland Ballroom, announced his new manager Len Zimmerman, of Lenco Sports Management. This will be Foremans third fight since returning to the ring to reclaim his championship title after a 22-month layoff to recover from a knee injury sustained at Yankee Stadium, for which he underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL and meniscus. The fight is part of promoter Lou Dibella’s Broadway Boxing Series.
Foreman, an observant Jew who has completed his rabbinical studies, and will soon be ordained a rabbi, won his title as junior middle weight world champion on November 14, 2009 before a standing-room-only crowd at the Las Vegas MGM, defeating Daniel Santos in a 12-round unanimous decision. He has the distinction of being the first Jewish boxing champion in over 60 years, the only Israeli world champion, and one of only two rabbis to ever fight professionally.
Nicknamed “the fighting rabbi” by the press, Foreman keeps kosher and has a deep passion for his religion and his profession. According to Foreman, who studied under the tutorage of leading Kabbalah scholar Rabbi DovBer Pinson, there is no disparity between the two endeavors. Boxing and Judaism go side by side, because they both involve many challenges and require a very focused discipline, explains Foreman, who wears a Jewish star on his boxing trunks.
Born in Belarus, formerly part of the Soviet Union, he and his family emigrated to Haifa, Israel, when he was 10 years-old. Foreman has dreamed of being a boxing world champion since the age of seven when his mother sent him to boxing classes because he was being bullied. He had an impressive amateur boxing career, compiling a 75-5 record, and was a three-time Israeli National Champion. After arriving in New York as a determined 18 year-old with big dreams of becoming a professional boxer, Foreman won the New York Golden Gloves in 2001. He began training at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where Mohammed Ali, Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta and other champions got their start. Once turning pro, Foreman was undefeated in all his professional fights prior to losing his world junior middle weight championship title in January, 2010 to Miguel Cotto, in Yankee Stadium, due to a torn ACL and meniscus.
Since returning to the ring this year to reclaim his title, Foreman has a 2-0 record. He fought and won on January 23, 2013, as part of DiBellas Broadway Boxing Series at BB Kings in Manhattan. On April 4, 2013, he won a six-round bout, defeating Gundrick King at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. Yuri has a quick in and out rhythm, hes very light on his feet and keeps on his toes, a style that makes him elusive to opponents,” says his manager Len Zimmerman. He has the speed, the power and the character to become a champion again. His compelling story of overcoming the many daunting challenges he faced early in his life to become a world boxing champion, makes him a role model for the Jewish community.
At Gleasons Gym, Foreman met his wife, Leyla Leidecker, a former model and amateur boxer who was born in Hungary. They live in Brooklyn with their two sons, ages three years and a three month-old infant. He and his wife share a strong commitment to healthy nutrition and to teaching others how to achieve emotional, spiritual and physical well-being. The key to maintaining an ideal weight is not by counting calories, explains Foreman, but instead by listening to your bodys signals. Babies know to stop eating when they are full. We need to get back to the instinctual knowingness we were born with to effectively regulate the amount of food we consume. Foreman is a much sought-after inspirational speaker and has appeared as a guest on many national television shows, including: the Jimmy Kimmel Show, NBC News, ESPN and CNN. He has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, the Daily News, in the Jewish press, and in many blogs. To learn more about Foreman, visit his website www.yuriforeman.com
