George Foreman: Former heavyweight champion dies aged 76

George Foreman became a boxing icon and a symbol of self-improvement - GETTY IMAGES

George Foreman, the boxing world champion who became a celebrated product pitchman, has died at age 76, his family said in a statement.

The American was two-time heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medallist. His fight against Muhammad Ali in Zaire – known as the Rumble in the Jungle – is part of boxing legend.

In later years he became the spokesperson for the George Foreman Grill, which sold millions of units.

His family posted on Friday on his official Instagram account: “Our hearts are broken. 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.

“A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a proud grand and great grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility, and purpose.”

Muhammad Ali knocks Foreman down in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' — Muhammad Ali knocks Foreman down in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ - AP

An intimidating, thunderous puncher who lost his first title to Ali in in 1974, “Big George” was a more rotund, jovial figure when he knocked out Michael Moorer for his second crown two decades later.

Foreman’s comeback and the fortune he made selling fat-wicking electric cooking grills made him an icon of self-improvement and success for the baby boomer generation.

Soon after his birth in Marshall, Texas, on Jan. 10, 1949, his 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.

Foreman was the face of the popular George Foreman Grills - ANDREW CROWLEY

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 Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, winning by technical knockout in round two.

In Las Vegas in 1994, as he reclaimed his heavyweight title by knocking out Michael Moorer - GETTY IMAGES

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.

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.

The poster for one of the most famous fights in boxing

“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 (143 kg), Foreman staged an unlikely return to the ring to raise money for a youth centre 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 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 $137.5 million to put his name on the grill and other goods.

“What I do is fall in love with every product I sell,” Foreman wrote in his autobiography, “By George.” “That’s what sells. Just like with preaching.”

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