Legendary boxer George Foreman dies

Known as "Big George," the American has built one of the most memorable and longest-lasting careers in sports.

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Photo: Reuters

Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

22.03.2025. 08:37h

Heavyweight boxing legend George Foreman has died at the age of 76, his family announced.

Known as 'Big George', the American has built one of the most memorable and longest-lasting careers in sports.

He won Olympic gold in 1968 and has won the world heavyweight title twice, 21 years apart - the latter making him the oldest champion in history at 45 years old.

He won his first heavyweight championship title in 1973, and then in 1994.

In the famous match called Rumble in the Jungle, Forman lost the heavyweight championship title to Muhammad Ali in 1974.

However, Foreman had an astonishing 76 wins in his professional career, 68 of which were by knockout, almost double that of Ali.

He retired from the sport in 1997, but had previously entered business, launching a barbecue brand under his own name, which brought him a fortune.

"He was a devoted husband, a loving father and a proud great-grandfather, living a life marked by unwavering faith, humility and purpose."

"A humanitarian, Olympian and two-time world heavyweight champion, he was deeply respected - a force for good, a man of discipline and conviction who fought tirelessly to keep his name clean for the sake of his family," his family said in a statement.

Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas, on January 10, 1949.

He was raised by a single mother along with six siblings in the American South, where segregation and racism were prevalent at the time.

He dropped out of school and became a petty thief to find salvation in the ring.

At the age of 19, he won the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

He then entered the professional ranks and won 37 consecutive matches.

He has been defeated in only five matches in his career.

He defeated the previously undefeated reigning champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1973, knocking him down six times in the first two rounds.

The fight against Ali named Rumble in the Jungle or Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 in Kinshasa, then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, remains one of the most famous boxing matches of all time.

Muhammad Ali, who was older, was an outsider after being stripped of his crown seven years earlier for refusing a call to fight in the Vietnam War.

Half a century later, Foreman spoke to the BBC about that legendary match, saying that everyone predicted he would defeat Ali.

"He won't last a single round," Forman quoted experts' predictions at the time.

"Before every match, I would get nervous, I would feel butterflies in my stomach, but then I was extremely relaxed," Foreman said.

But the cunning Ali used a tactic that later became known as rope-a-dope (a boxer leans against the ropes of a boxing ring to cushion his opponent's blows, and from that position he fights back).

Muhammad Ali's tactics wore Foreman down, and he knocked him out in the eighth round.

After the second defeat of his career, Foreman retired in 1977 and became a minister at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of Texas, which he founded and built.

He told the BBC that his defeat by Ali became "the best thing that ever happened to me" because it ultimately led him to "get the message across" through preaching.

He recalled that his preaching began modestly and simply, on street corners and with friends, but over time the gatherings became larger.

"We started meeting informally at different homes in Houston, and it soon became tight," Forman wrote on his website.

"We ended up buying a piece of land and an old, dilapidated building on the northeast side of Houston."

Foreman came back from boxing retirement in 1987 to raise money for a youth center he founded.

He won 24 matches before losing to Evander Holyfield after 12 rounds in 1991.

In 1994, Foreman knocked out the previously undefeated Michael Moorer and became the oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45.

SEE PHOTOS OF FORMAN

He became the face of the George Foreman Grill brand, and since its launch in 1994, millions have bought it, thanks in part to his memorable line in the commercial: „Lean Mean Rolling Machine".

Forman was married five times.

He has ten children, five of whom are sons, and all are named George.

I gave them the same name so they would "always have something in common," Forman explained on the website.

"I told them: 'If one of us goes up, then we'll all go up together.'"

"And if one falls, then we all fall together."