Former boxing world champion George Foreman died at the age of 76, but ‘Big George’ was so much more than a boxer. He was also a minister, a humanitarian and an entrepreneur
When Muhammad Ali died, George Foreman said in one of his many tributes to his foe-turned-friend that he was “bigger than boxing”.
He added that saying Ali was the best boxer of all time is only part of the story. In some ways those words also describe Foreman now he has passed like his old rival. Maybe not the best boxer of all time but certainly one of the best heavyweights in history.
George Edward Foreman died on Friday at the age of 76 peacefully and surrounded by the family he loved. He was not just an iconic heavyweight fighter from one of the sport’s glory eras but also a minister, a humanitarian and an entrepreneur.
Once belittled as just a robotic, characterless puncher by Ali before their iconic Rumble in the Jungle fight in 1974, Foreman would go on to become one of sport’s most loved characters.
When Ali died in 2016, Foreman sat by the phone and spoke to anyone who called about his great friend. He wanted to tell his stories about ‘The Greatest’ but, even though without Foreman the Ali story is not as special, ‘Big George’ wrote his own chapters in sport and history. If Ali was here today then he would be regaling similarly warm tales about his rival.
The pair will always be intrinsically linked thanks to those eight rounds in Zaire. But Foreman made his own mark on this world. A two-time heavyweight champion and the oldest to ever call himself a title holder in the sport’s glamour division.
As one of six children raised by a single mother after his birth on January 10 1949 in Texas, Foreman grew up to find his huge fists useful not for boxing first but street robberies and settling racial disputes. But he would find boxing through the job corps, a programme which was part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society reforms, and, at 16, he was in the ring.
Within three years, he was Olympic heavyweight champion. Winning gold at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. The professional ranks soon called. Foreman built his record to 37 wins before he stepped in the ring with champion Joe Frazier in 1973.
The world knew Foreman by then as a mean, scary man with thunderous punching power. Still, few expected him to topple the man who had beaten Ali. “Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier,” were the iconic words from broadcaster Howard Cosell.
The phrase “sent shockwaves around the world” is often hyperbole but not on that night. Ali watched on in disbelief before declaring that he would take down Foreman.
It led them to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and one of the most famous sporting events in history. Ali won in the eighth after a nasty build up that the Greatest even overstepped the mark. That night changed both men. They would later go on to become friends.
It wasn’t until he lost to Jimmy Young in 1977 did Foreman throw in the towel on being champion again. But that night in the dressing room afterwards, he felt he was dying and asked God for help and in return he would devote his life to religion.
He was ordained as a minister not long after and founded the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1980 before starting the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston four years later.
It was to raise funds for the project as to why he returned to boxing a decade on from his first retirement. He was not the physical, sculpted out of stone and intimidating presence of the 1970s, but a more rotund and likeable character.
Then, in 1994, he would stun the world again by knocking out Michael Moorer at the age of 45 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history. Jim Lampley, another iconic US broadcaster, simply declared “It happened, it happened”.
Now as a two-time champion, Foreman was adored. He retired for the last time in 1997. With a record of 76 wins and five defeats, remarkably 68 of his victories coming inside the distance.
It led to a company paying him over £100m for use of his name for a cooking tool – the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. He would earn even more from the royalties.
Foreman continued to work as a minister into his later years. He had 12 children, with his five sons all called George so “they would always have something in common”.
‘Big George’ was an icon of heavyweight’s glory era, a history maker in his comeback and someone who left a huge mark not only on sport but also the world.