Foreman finally at peace with loss to Ali

But he's done making excuses. Ali, he now says, was simply smarter than he was that day.

"This man could think. He understood I would go out there to try and knock him out," Foreman said. "But no one had ever knocked him out. Where in the world did I get it in my mind I could knock him out? That's why I lost."

Foreman would come back 20 years later to become the oldest man to win the heavyweight title at age 45, knocking out Michael Moorer in an upset almost as huge as the one Ali pulled off in Zaire. He couldn't have imagined that, just as he could never have imagined becoming hugely rich as a popular pitchman.

"Thirty-five years ago I walked off that canvas thinking I was dead," Foreman said. "Turns out I hadn't even begun to live."

Ali had said he was going to retire after the fight, and Kilroy pleaded with him to do it. But he liked the idea of being heavyweight champion once again, and soon there was an offer of another $5 million to defend against Joe Bugner in what would be little more than a glorified sparring session.

Ali is muted now, his once magnificent voice not heard publicly in years. He lives mostly in Arizona with his wife, Lonnie, and, though Parkinson's Syndrome has taken a terrible toll on him, still travels frequently.

Foreman and Ali became friends over the years and until recently would talk on the phone. If there's a rumor about Ali's health, one of his daughters will call Foreman to reassure him that things are fine.

He hasn't seen him in a few years, but thinks it could be time.

"He's always coming to you, but he's not getting around well these days," Foreman said. "I guess I will have to go to him. This will probably push me out the door to find him."

Foreman knows that he will always be defined by what happened in that faraway ring, but that's OK now, too. He understands that maybe he was just a part of something with Ali that was much bigger than either of them could understand at the time.

Yes, he lost to Ali in the ring, but in the end he may have gained even more.

"I don't call him the best boxer of all time," Foreman said, "but he's the greatest human being I ever met."