BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Legendary boxer George Foreman has died, his family announced on Instagram. He was 76.
He fought in two of the most iconic boxing events of all time, taking on Joe Frazier in ‘The Fight of the Century’ in 1971 and then Muhammad Ali in ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ in 1974.
An intimidating, thunderous puncher who lost his first title to Ali in that iconic fight, ‘Big George’ returned to knock out Michael Moorer for his second crown two decades later.
He is famous for his work outside of the ring too for his George Foreman Grill, which has sold over 100 million units since its launch in 1994.
Mike Tyson posted an emotional tribute to Foreman in the hours after his death was announced.
Alongside two pictures of them together, Tyson wrote: ‘Condolences to George Foreman’s family. His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten.’
After his birth in Marshall, Texas in 1949, Foreman’s family moved to Houston where he and his six siblings were raised by a single mother. Growing up poor in the segregated American South, Foreman dropped out of junior high school and used his size and fists in street robberies.
The Job Corps, part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ reforms, ‘rescued me from the gutter,’ Foreman later wrote. Through the program, 16-year-old Foreman moved out of Texas and was encouraged to channel his rage and growing bulk into boxing.
At age 19 and in his 25th amateur fight, Foreman captured the heavyweight boxing gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Turning pro, he won 37 straight matches on his way to face reigning champion Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, winning by technical knockout in round two.
Foreman defended the belt twice more before meeting Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in one of the most celebrated boxing matches in history.
Foreman came out of retirement and fought Michael Moorer for his second heavyweight crown.
Ali had been stripped of his crown seven years prior for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War and came into the match a heavy underdog against the bigger, younger champion.
But for seven rounds, Ali lay against the ropes and fended off Foreman’s clubbing blows, tiring and knocking him out in the eighth round.
‘I was one strong heavyweight punching fighter,’ Foreman told Reuters in 2007.
‘I was one punching machine, and that was the first time I delivered everything I had and nothing worked.’
The loss devastated Foreman. He took a year off before returning to the ring and then, after a second professional loss, retired in 1977 to become an ordained minister in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A decade later and considerably heavier at 315 lbs, Foreman staged an unlikely return to the ring to raise money for a youth center he founded in Texas.
He went on to win 24 straight matches, gradually slimming along the way, before losing to Evander Holyfield in a 12-round decision in 1991. Three years later, he knocked out undefeated southpaw Moorer to become the oldest ever heavyweight champion at age 45.
Foreman’s family paid tribute to ‘man of unwavering faith and humility’ in their statement
Foreman’s last match was in 1997, ending his career with a professional record of 76 wins and five losses.
Foreman was married four times in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he married for the fifth time to Mary Joan Martelly, with whom he remained for the rest of his life.
He had five sons – all called George – five biological daughters, and two adopted daughters.
Throughout the 1990s and after retirement, he was an enthusiastic pitchman for various products, most notably an electric grill from home appliance maker Salton Inc.
In 1999, the company paid Foreman and his partners $137.5million to put his name on the grill and other goods.
