‘If Big George hit you, you stayed hit’ – Foreman obituary

At school, George Foreman’s version only served mayonnaise sandwiches. Another was 19 years old when they won Olympic gold. Another was committing muggings at 15.

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier made up the “holy trinity” of heavyweight boxing’s 20-something version of Foreman. The 45-year-old version would become the oldest heavyweight world champion in boxing.

He was once marked to be another poor kid from Texas, lost to America’s wasteland, but instead rose to be one of the most recognisable faces on the planet.

In a sport full of prestige and drama, Foreman’s abilities to transform were well-suited to him.

The 76-year-old “Big” George Foreman left behind a professional legacy that many boxers today only dreamed to replicate. He had 81 fights, 76 wins and just five losses.

He twice won the world’s heavyweight title. He faced Ali, Frazier, and Ken Norton. His longevity was such that he even faced a 28-year-old Evander Holyfield.

His haunting of Frazier, his impossible achievement, and his legacy were all forged in the Rumble in the Jungle.

Foreman has repeatedly carved out a place in heavyweight greatness.

“I am sure he is in every argument for the greatest heavyweights of all time”, 5 Live Boxing analyst Steve Bunce said.

He won 76 games, and his victory came in the form of a knockout.

Although I haven’t done the research to determine how many times he dropped men, I will say that out of his 76 victories, he probably dropped his rival roughly 200 times overall.

Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas, 10 January 1949. He was the only child of six siblings, and his birth father was JD Foreman, his stepfather.

Foreman admitted that he struggled as a troubled child in an environment that made him angry and disenfranchised.

He started mugging people by the age of 15.

He claimed that food has always been what motivated him. For various reasons, there has never been enough food for me to eat.

His mother, Nancy, convinced him to join the Job Corps aged 16. He received his GED, where he worked as a carpenter and bricklayer, but a coach named Doc Broadus gave him the opportunity to learn boxing at a crucial time in his life.

With only 25 amateur fights to his name, Foreman entered the 1968 Olympics at the age of 19. He bulldozed the competition, winning gold.

He later claimed that he was hiding from the police “less than two years prior to the day that I stood on that platform receiving gold and listening to the national anthem.”

Foreman’s Olympic success opened the door for entry into the professional ranks. In his first professional year, he won 13 of his 13 fights, totaling 11 victories. By 1972, he was 37-0 and the clear contender to the heavyweight champion Frazier.

Ali was defeated by Frazier. The division’s top dog was him. Foreman was a 4-1 underdog when they met in Kingston, Jamaica in January 1973.

In two rounds, Foreman defeated Frazier six times to become the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight champion.

The heavyweight scene at the time was completely altered by the win. Foreman was only 24.

“He famously lifts Joe Frazier off the ground with an uppercut in that fight.” Bunce referred to George Foreman as the “that is”.

Foreman would say later Frazier was the only man he ever “feared” and how the victory changed his life overnight.

It is hard to explain just how iconic the ‘ Rumble in the Jungle ‘ is. However, in the middle of Ali and Frazier’s two seminal fights would be a statue representing boxing’s greatest fights.

Everything boxing was and still is a part of the fight. The sublime and the downright grime.

It was staged in Zaire on October 30, 1974, with the support of the brutal dictatorship there.

Ali, a fervent underdog, had made Foreman the brutish villain and Ali the charismatic good guy. It would be staged at 04: 00 local time so some 50 million people could tune in across the world.

Surrounded by 56 million people, a rumored 26 million watched in the UK.

Ali was anticipated to be defeated by Foreman. Instead Ali produced a classic performance, soaking up pressure for seven rounds. He slowly stripped Foreman of his abilities before launching his “rope-a-dope” style on the ropes.

Ali reacted in the eighth round. He dropped Foreman, who was not allowed to beat the count by the referee, thus bringing to a close one of the biggest upsets in world championship boxing.

Foreman walked out of the ring after suffering his first defeat in 41 matches.

That was devastating, Foreman remarked of the loss, “from pride to pity.”

Foreman complained the ropes had been loosened, that his trainer had even drugged him. He fought for a second match, but it was unsuccessful. However, Ali and Foreman became close friends after Ali abruptly stopped working on his career.

Foreman famously helped a Parkinson-afflicted Ali climb the steps to receive an Oscar for the When We Were Kings documentary in 1996, which told the story of their showdown 22 years previously.

According to boxing promoter Frank Warren, “Foreman was a member of that holy trinity of heavyweight boxers along with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.”

“The incredible fights they engaged in were special times for boxing and world sport.

Foreman returned to the ring at age 27 to face Frazier twice. They each received a $1m fight purse. Foreman was only 27 when he died.

Foreman stopped Frazier, 32, in the fifth attempt on June 15, 1976, by stopping him for a second time.

During the US TV broadcast, commentator Howard Cosell summed up the performance:” George Foreman: Too big. too strong . in top condition. The punches crisp from the very beginning. “

Although Foreman reportedly had a top-notch performance in Puerto Rico three fights later, he would lose to Jimmy Young on points in a sluggish performance.

Foreman claimed that as a result of the fight, he had a “near-death experience” in the dressing room as a result of exhaustion and heatstroke.

Ten years later, Foreman shocked the boxing world by announcing his comeback.

He initially came back because his George Foreman youth center was experiencing a financial crisis, but he managed to win 24 games between 1987 and 1991.

Later, Foreman told the BBC, “Everyone laughed, and I listened to them laugh.” He faced Holyfield in April 1991 for the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight world titles.

Holyfield would defeat Foreman, a 42-year-old man, to put an end to an impossible task to reclaim the title.

He fought again, but in 1993 he lost to Tommy Morrison in points, but he was given the chance to face WBA and IBF champion Michael Moorer.

Before falling short of Foreman’s right hand in the 10th round, fellow American Moorer was cruising through the encounter.

With age 45, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion in history. He narrowly retained the title against Axel Schulz in his next bout.

After losing to Shannon Briggs by points in a point loss in a non-world title fight, he would fight three more times before putting the end to his professional career in 1997.

In 2022, two women filed lawsuits in the United States accusing him of sexual abuse in the 1970s.

One claimed Foreman had sex with her when she was 15 and groomed her when she was eight.

When the other accused him of sexually abusing and raping her when she was 15 and 16 years old.

In March 2024, Foreman launched a countersuit, asking one of the lawsuits be thrown out.

Foreman “absolutely and categorically denied the allegations.”

In his retirement, he remained a household name. He became a boxing analyst but to the younger generations he most known for his George Foreman grill.