"My first real impression of him came later. Now that I have met him and gotten to know him, I can see that everything I thought is true. George really does have a charismatic personality. He's a very nice person."
Oops. Maybe no one told Schulz the protagonists are supposed to snarl at each other and talk lots of trash at these media gatherings. It's the American way.
Schulz (21-1-1, 10 knockouts), didn't actually ask Foreman, 46, for his autograph at Wednesday's final press conference, but the guess here is he cadged a few signatures from his hero and role model after he jetted in from Bad Saarow, Germany, last month.
Sgt. Schultz never quite caught up with the crafty Col. Hogan, and Schulz, a 6 1/2-1 underdog who is unrated by any world sanctioning body, doesn't figure to catch up with Foreman (73-4, 68 KOs), even though the American is older than dirt and just as slow.
"I'm here to fight for the biggest title in the world," Schulz said. ''I'm going to give everything I have to make sure the belt goes back to Germany."
Some 110 press credentials have been issued to German reporters, who have flocked to the desert just in case Schulz wins. It would be a huge upset if he did, of course, sort of like Wile E. Coyote finally capturing the Roadrunner. Or maybe Buster Douglas knocking off Mike Tyson.
But the apparent hopelessness of Schulz's quest is reflected less by the odds, which are not so wide as you might imagine, than by the size of the check each man will take home. Foreman is being paid $10 million for what basically shapes up as a few rounds of intensive sparring; Schulz, who knew little of material wealth growing up in the former East Germany, is giddy as a newlywed to receive a career-best $350,000.
