Yuri Foreman (born August 5, 1980) is an Israeli professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, but currently fights out of Brooklyn, New York. Foreman has also pursued Jewish religious studies during his boxing career, and in 2014 was ordained as a rabbi. He has been referred to as the "Boxing Rabbi."
Early years
Yuri Foreman was born in Gomel, in Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union. He started out as a swimmer, but his mother signed him up for boxing lessons at age seven after he experienced bullying and beatings. At age nine, he immigrated with his family to Israel. Boxing was not popular in Israel and there were few boxing gyms so he trained at an Arab gym. On his early days in boxing, Foreman said: The first time I walked in, I saw the stares. In their eyes, there was a lot of hatred. But I needed to box; and boy, did they all want to box me. After a while, the wall that was between us melted. We all wanted the same thing. I traveled with them as teammates. It helped that I won almost all the time. And finally, we became friends."
In Israel he became an amateur boxer and won three national boxing championships. In 1999, Foreman moved to Brooklyn, New York City. He stated that the only reason he came to the United States was to pursue his dream of a professional boxing career, and saw no further opportunity to do so in Israel. His first job was in the Garment District in Manhattan, where he made deliveries and swept the floors for a clothing store. At the same time, he began training at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, where he met his first wife, Leyla Leidecker. The couple later divorced. During this period of time was when he found a Brooklyn Heights synagogue while in search of enlightenment. He was quoted saying, "As I was maturing, as a person and a fighter, I realized that I needed some sort of spiritual center to achieve things physically, especially in boxing where you need to have good spiritual form and good physical form. I needed an outlet — a spiritual backbone, so I could push myself better, channel my energy, be more present." He embarked on the long road to becoming a rabbi and was eventually ordained under the tutelage of Rabbi Dovber Pinson.
Amateur career
In 2000, Foreman lost the New York Golden Gloves in the final, but came back in 2001 to win the tournament. During his amateur career, Foreman compiled a 75–5 record.
Professional career
At the onset of his professional career, Foreman's management team was unsuccessful procuring appropriate fights. Foreman struggled financially. Around 2004, Foreman met Murray Wilson who became his manager. Wilson signed Foreman up with Bob Arum's Top Rank promotion company.
Light middleweight
On June 3, 2006, Foreman defeated Jesus Felipe Valverde, but tore ligaments in his left hand in the process. His next scheduled fight was June 9, 2007 facing the favored Anthony Thompson (23 (17 KOs)-2-0) of Philadelphia in Madison Square Garden on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto–Zab Judah fight. Prior to the fight, Foreman moved his training grounds from Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn to Joe Grier's gym in Paterson, New Jersey. Foreman won a tactical 10-round split decision, with the scores 97–93 and 96–94 for Foreman, and 96–94 for Thompson. In September 2007, he was ranked as the 8th-best welterweight (67 kg, or 147 pounds) challenger by the World Boxing Association.
In December 2007, Foreman won a 10-round split decision over Andrey Tsurkan (25–3; 16 KOs), to take the North American Boxing Federation super welterweight title from him at the Paradise Theater on Grand Concourse in The Bronx, New York City.
In April 2008 he beat 28–4–0 Saúl Román in a unanimous decision. While training for the fight, he was also studying to become a rabbi. In October 2008, he defeated Vinroy Barrett (22–7, 11 KOs) from Kingston, Jamaica on the Hopkins-Pavlik undercard.
Foreman defeated James Moore (16–1; 10 KOs), in a 10-round unanimous decision for Foreman's NABF title at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on December 13, 2008. In the five outings leading up to the Moore fight, Foreman won decisions over fighters with a cumulative record of 118–17–2.
WBA super welterweight champion
On November 14, 2009, Foreman defeated Daniel Santos by a 12-round unanimous decision to become the new WBA super welterweight champion and Israel's first WBA champion. He also became Israel's first world boxing champion. In early January 2010, Foreman began talks with Bob Arum to arrange for himself and Filipino boxer seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, to meet on March 13, 2010. However, Pacquiao rejected the offer.