Prayer and Punch Get Boxer His Victory Lap

Marc Brodsky and Gil Shefler
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

NEW YORK

Yuri Foreman, the new super welterweight world champion, is currently working hard for a shot at the rabbinate.

Yuri Foreman used his time well between rounds of his Nov. 14 super welterweight world championship bout against titleholder Daniel Santos.

Not only did he take liquids and instruction from his corner, the fighter/Orthodox rabbinical student sought some divine assistance in the last 10 seconds of each 60-second break of the 12-rounder.

"God, give me strength," was his simple invocation.

Foreman related the tidbit just days after he grabbed the big title. A reception on Nov. 19 at a posh kosher steakhouse on New York's East Side served as an ethnic-themed victory lap for the 29-year-old, who found enough strength to win a unanimous decision in Las Vegas for the World Boxing Association crown.

The boxer, who came to live in Brooklyn via Belarus and then Israel, moved to 28-0 since turning pro seven years ago, even though prognosticators figured he would fall to Santos.

At the reception, Foreman said that he turns especially spiritual in the ring, gets "very close to God," because "another guy wants to take your head off."

Santos didn't take off Foreman's head, but the new champ, clad all in black for the Prime Grill fete, did need 18 stitches (of course, it was 18!) to close a cut over his left eye.

Foreman's spiritual mentor, Rabbi DovBer Pinson, the Rosh Yeshiva of the IYYUN Yeshiva for adults in Brooklyn, said that no other fighter can "balance spirituality and physicality" like Foreman, whom he praised as a "gentle lion" breaking stereotypes about boxers and Jews.

Another broken stereotype?

That boxers can't use their heads for something other than batting rams. Foreman has been studying for years with Pinson to become an Orthodox rabbi, scheduled to be ordained within a year or so.

In a double-dip hats-off to his heritage, Foreman was also the guest of honor at the Jewish National Fund's third annual JNFuture gala, held on Nov. 18 at a club in New York's Soho district.

Organizers of this gathering, aimed at raising money for environmental causes in Israel, had booked Foreman well in advance of his title fight, and found themselves thrilled to have him there on one of his first public appearances since his victory in Vegas.

Gabrielle Carlan, one of the promoters of JNFuture, said: "We've got a good turnout of 200-plus people -- more than we had last year."

Foreman's wife, Leyla, said at the event that she remained unusually calm during her husband's fight.

"Most fights, I'm very tense," said the Hungarian-born former model. "But this time, I had a good feeling. He had done all the training and all the praying right, what more could he do?"