Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who fought and misplaced in opposition to Muhammad Ali in boxing’s iconic 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” earlier than reclaiming the title 20 years later, died Friday aged 76, his household introduced in an announcement. “With profound sorrow, we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr, who peacefully departed on March 21, 2025, surrounded by loved ones,” Foreman’s household mentioned in an announcement posted on the boxer’s official Instagram web page.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers, and kindly ask for privacy as we honor the extraordinary life of a man we were blessed to call our own.”
Born in Texas on January 10, 1949, Foreman grew up in Houston. The man who raised him was regularly absent and infrequently drunk. Foreman solely came upon that J. D. Foreman was not his organic father after he gained the world heavyweight when his actual father, a adorned Second World War veteran, obtained in contact.
As an adolescent Foreman flirted with crime and dropped out of college at 16.
“At 13-years-old, George was about 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and the terrorist in the neighbourhood,” his youthful brother Roy advised the BBC in 2024. “And when you’re bigger and stronger and think you’re better than everyone else, you take things.”
At 16, he took up boxing.
“I wanted to a football player,” Foreman mentioned on his web site. “I tried boxing just to show my friends that I wasn’t afraid. Well, 25 fights and one year later, I was an Olympic gold medallist.”
At the Mexico Games in 1968, the 19-year-old Foreman bludgeoned his technique to the super-heavyweight gold. As he celebrated his remaining victory, 10 days after fellow African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos had made a black energy salute following the 200m monitor remaining, Foreman waved an American flag within the ring.
At 6-foot-4 (1.93m), ‘Big George’ was bigger and stronger than the opposite main heavyweights of the time. He was mild on his ft, however slugged his manner by the skilled ranks, to earn a heavyweight title shot in opposition to champion Joe Frazier, demolishing the champion in two rounds.
By the time he fought his third title defence over 15 rounds in opposition to Ali in October 1974 in Kinshasa, Foreman was unbeaten in 40 skilled bouts. He had gained all however three inside the gap and had not wanted to develop stamina.
Ali’s ‘rope-a-dope’ ways, exhausted the large man who misplaced in eight rounds.
The defeat punctured Foreman’s intimidating aura, not least, in his personal thoughts.
“I just couldn’t believe I’d lost the world title,” he mentioned later. “It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. It went from pride to pity. That’s devastating.”
His marketing campaign for an additional title shot ended when he misplaced on factors to a different contender, Jimmy Young in March 1977 on a scorching night time in Puerto Rico.
Foreman fell ailing after the combat and mentioned he sensed God telling him to alter his life.
He retired, aged 28 and have become an ordained minister. When he introduced his comeback 10 years later, bald the place he had as soon as sported an afro and flabby as a substitute of chiseled, it appeared like a boxing gimmick. He wrote later that he wanted cash for his youth centre.
Knockout
Over the following three years he fought 21 instances, principally in opposition to mediocre opponents, profitable each bout, 20 of them inside the gap.
A giant title in a weakened and fragmented division, he earned a title shot in opposition to Evander Holyfield in 1991 after which in opposition to Tommy Morrison two years later, dropping each on factors.
In November 1994 he confronted Michael Moorer, who had dethroned Holyfield. In the identical shorts he had worn 20 years and 6 days earlier in opposition to Ali, Foreman was trailing badly when he caught Moorer on the chin within the tenth for a knockout. At 45 years and 299 days outdated he was the oldest heavyweight world champion.
He was stripped of first his WBA title after which his IBF title for refusing to combat nominated opponents however gained three extra fights and was nonetheless ‘lineal’ world champion when he misplaced on factors to Shannon Briggs in 1997, aged 48, and retired once more.
He fought 81 instances as knowledgeable, profitable 76, 68 of these by a knockout.
In 1994, he put his title to the “George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine”, showing smiling and pleasant within the TV adverts, turning into a celeb exterior boxing.
Foreman, who hosted a 1996 TV programme ‘Bad Dads’, married 4 instances, fathering 10 youngsters and adopting two.
He named all his 5 sons George Edward, explaining that he needed them to know, “‘If one of us goes up, then we all go up together, and if one goes down, we all go down together!'”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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