Boxing legend George Foreman died at the age of 76

Former world heavyweight boxing champion American George Foreman, who lost a historic and iconic fight to Muhammad Ali in 1974 before regaining the title two decades later died Friday at age 76, his family announced in a statement.

"It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr, who departed peacefully on March 21, 2025, surrounded by his loved ones," Foreman's family said in a statement posted on the former boxer's official Instagram account.

"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," the family added in the message."

Born Jan. 10, 1949, in Marshall, Texas, Foreman grew up in Houston. The man who raised him was frequently absent and often drunk. Foreman only discovered that J.D. Foreman was not his biological father after winning the world heavyweight title, when his real father, a decorated World War II veteran, contacted him.

As a teenager, Foreman flirted with delinquency and dropped out of school at 16's.

"At 13, George was 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and the neighborhood terrorist," his younger brother Roy told the BBC in 2024. "And when you're bigger and stronger and you think you're better than everyone else, you take things."

At 16, he started boxing.

"I wanted to be a soccer player," Foreman said on his website. "I tried boxing just to prove to my friends that I was not afraid. Well, 25 bouts and a year later, I was an Olympic gold medalist."

Olympic gold

At the Olympic Games in Mexico 1968, Foreman, 19, won gold at super heavyweight.

As he celebrated his final victory, 10 days after Tommie Smith and John Carlos did the black power salute after the 200 m flat final, Foreman waved an American flag in the ring.

At 6'3" tall, "Big George" was stockier and stronger than the other heavyweights of the era. He was light on his feet, but he worked his way up through the pros to win the heavyweight title against champion Joe Frazier, whom he defeated in two rounds.

In October 1974, in Kinshasa, Foreman defended his title for the third time in 15 rounds against Ali and went undefeated in 40 professional bouts. He had won all but three inside the distance and had not needed to develop his stamina.

Ali's "noose around his neck" tactic exhausted the big man, who lost in eight rounds. The defeat undermined Foreman's intimidating aura. 

"I couldn't believe I had lost the world title," he later said. "It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I went from pride to pity. It's devastating."

In March 1977, on a hot night in Puerto Rico, he lost on points to another contender, Jimmy Young, and his title campaign ended. Foreman fell ill after the fight and said he felt God telling him to change his life.

He retired at 28 and became an ordained minister. When he announced his comeback 10 years later, bald where he once sported an afro and flabby instead of chiseled, he looked like a boxing gimmick. He later wrote that he needed money for his youth center.

Knockout

Over the next three years he fought 21 times, mostly against mediocre opponents, and won every fight. 

A big name in a weakened and fragmented division, he got a title shot against Evander Holyfield in 1991 and then Tommy Morrison two years later, losing both on points.

In November 1994 he faced Michael Moorer, who had dethroned Holyfield. Wearing the same shorts he had worn 20 years and six days earlier against Ali, Foreman was trailing when he hit Moorer on the chin in the 10th to knock him out.

At 45 years and 299 days he was the oldest heavyweight champion of the world.

He was stripped first of his WBA title and then his IBF title for refusing to fight designated opponents, but won three more fights and was still "lineal" world champion when he lost on points to Shannon Briggs in 1997, aged 48, and retired again.

He fought 81 times as a professional, winning 76 fights, 68 of them by KO. In 1994, he put his name on the "George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine.” He appeared in television commercials, becoming a celebrity outside of the boxing ring. 

Foreman, host of the 1996 television show "Bad Dads," was married four times, had 10 children and adopted two.

He christened his five children George Edward, explaining that he wanted them to know, "'If one of us goes up, we all go up together, and if one of us goes down, we all go down together!"