Zürcher Nachrichten - Heavyweight boxing great George Foreman dead at 76

EUR -
AED 4.243572
AFN 81.469444
ALL 99.149043
AMD 442.834049
ANG 2.067962
AOA 1059.621008
ARS 1365.24062
AUD 1.779654
AWG 2.082842
AZN 1.968988
BAM 1.965965
BBD 2.334993
BDT 141.323141
BGN 1.957537
BHD 0.43583
BIF 3399.567891
BMD 1.15553
BND 1.485318
BOB 7.991527
BRL 6.406607
BSD 1.15651
BTN 99.515394
BWP 15.544776
BYN 3.784601
BYR 22648.378878
BZD 2.323011
CAD 1.569961
CDF 3324.458889
CHF 0.938
CLF 0.028228
CLP 1083.228509
CNY 8.298556
CNH 8.307576
COP 4771.689881
CRC 582.91389
CUC 1.15553
CUP 30.621533
CVE 110.786441
CZK 24.84493
DJF 205.361163
DKK 7.461301
DOP 68.527389
DZD 150.352551
EGP 57.438983
ERN 17.332943
ETB 155.307646
FJD 2.597342
FKP 0.850459
GBP 0.851846
GEL 3.16042
GGP 0.850459
GHS 11.90641
GIP 0.850459
GMD 81.469282
GNF 10001.108533
GTQ 8.887026
GYD 241.95098
HKD 9.070618
HNL 30.171325
HRK 7.538333
HTG 151.665482
HUF 402.707866
IDR 18820.10953
ILS 4.160155
IMP 0.850459
INR 99.252881
IQD 1513.74369
IRR 48647.793814
ISK 144.037202
JEP 0.850459
JMD 185.157335
JOD 0.819316
JPY 166.518785
KES 149.645467
KGS 101.051502
KHR 4651.006782
KMF 492.837731
KPW 1040.06584
KRW 1579.043107
KWD 0.353835
KYD 0.963708
KZT 593.172062
LAK 25034.547771
LBP 103535.446704
LKR 346.273364
LRD 230.648054
LSL 20.73064
LTL 3.411979
LVL 0.698969
LYD 6.291903
MAD 10.537856
MDL 19.804913
MGA 5147.884477
MKD 61.591335
MMK 2426.053799
MNT 4137.037757
MOP 9.349541
MRU 45.782518
MUR 52.588586
MVR 17.800977
MWK 2005.999671
MXN 21.910925
MYR 4.905805
MZN 73.89655
NAD 20.730635
NGN 1782.335411
NIO 41.950023
NOK 11.468204
NPR 159.224631
NZD 1.920123
OMR 0.444292
PAB 1.15651
PEN 4.170888
PGK 4.781626
PHP 64.802529
PKR 326.957514
PLN 4.273091
PYG 9227.791107
QAR 4.206825
RON 5.027136
RSD 117.283981
RUB 92.187067
RWF 1646.629587
SAR 4.337371
SBD 9.645657
SCR 16.419661
SDG 693.899733
SEK 10.950611
SGD 1.481162
SHP 0.908065
SLE 25.479855
SLL 24230.880068
SOS 660.389361
SRD 43.364756
STD 23917.128362
SVC 10.119321
SYP 15024.294106
SZL 20.730627
THB 38.107635
TJS 11.680191
TMT 4.044353
TND 3.39127
TOP 2.70637
TRY 45.518855
TTD 7.842549
TWD 34.121983
TZS 2998.59953
UAH 47.969823
UGX 4167.584088
USD 1.15553
UYU 47.546244
UZS 17598.715198
VES 118.057029
VND 30130.432615
VUV 138.621479
WST 3.176351
XAF 659.383386
XAG 0.031814
XAU 0.000336
XCD 3.122877
XDR 0.8155
XOF 655.767165
XPF 119.331742
YER 281.198532
ZAR 20.738332
ZMK 10401.156591
ZMW 27.958281
ZWL 372.080039
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Heavyweight boxing great George Foreman dead at 76
Heavyweight boxing great George Foreman dead at 76 / Photo: Michael Tran - AFP

Heavyweight boxing great George Foreman dead at 76

Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who lost to Muhammad Ali in boxing's iconic 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" before reclaiming the title two decades later, died Friday aged 76, his family said.

Text size:

Fondly known as Big George, Foreman dropped out of school as a teenager and went on to become an Olympic champion and later a legend of boxing.

He fought 81 times as a professional, winning 76, 68 of those by knockout.

As well as boxing he put his name to the "George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine," appearing smiling and friendly in the TV ads, becoming a celebrity outside the sport.

"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," Foreman's family said in a statement on Instagram.

"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."

Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum saluted Foreman as "one of the biggest punchers and personalities the sport has ever seen."

Born in Texas on January 10, 1949, Foreman grew up in Houston.

The man who raised him was frequently absent and often drunk. Foreman only found out that J. D. Foreman was not his biological father after he won the world heavyweight title when his real father, a decorated World War II veteran, got in touch.

As an adolescent, Foreman flirted with crime and left school at 16.

"At 13-years-old, George was about 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and the terrorist in the neighborhood," his younger brother Roy told the BBC in 2024. "And when you're bigger and stronger and think you're better than everyone else, you take things."

Foreman took up boxing.

"I tried boxing just to show my friends that I wasn't afraid," Foreman said later. "Well, 25 fights and one year later, I was an Olympic gold medalist."

At the Mexico Games in 1968, the 19-year-old Foreman bludgeoned his way to the super-heavyweight gold.

As he celebrated his final victory, 10 days after fellow African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos had made a black power salute following the 200m track final, Foreman waved an American flag in the ring.

- Bigger, stronger -

At 6-foot-4 (1.93m), "Big George" was larger and stronger than the other leading heavyweights of the time. He was light on his feet, but slugged his way through the professional ranks to earn a heavyweight title shot against champion Joe Frazier, demolishing the champion in two rounds.

By the time he fought his third title defence over 15 rounds against Ali in October 1974 in Kinshasa, Foreman was unbeaten in 40 professional bouts.

He had won all but three inside the distance and had not needed to develop stamina.

Ali's "rope-a-dope" tactics exhausted the big man, who lost in eight rounds.

The defeat punctured Foreman's intimidating aura, not least in his own mind.

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

His campaign for another title shot ended when he lost on points to another contender, Jimmy Young, in March 1977 on a hot night in Puerto Rico.

Foreman fell ill after the fight and said he sensed God telling him to change his life.

He retired aged 28 and became an ordained minister.

When he announced his comeback 10 years later, bald where he had once sported an Afro and flabby instead of chiseled, it seemed like a boxing gimmick. He wrote later that he needed money for his youth center.

- Knockout -

Over the next three years he fought 21 times, mostly against mediocre opponents, winning every bout, 20 of them inside the distance.

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

In November 1994 he faced Michael Moorer, who had dethroned Holyfield. In the same shorts he had worn 20 years and six days earlier against Ali, Foreman was trailing badly when he caught Moorer on the chin in the 10th for a knockout.

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

He was stripped of first his WBA title and then his IBF crown for refusing to fight nominated 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.

Foreman, who hosted a 1996 TV programme "Bad Dads," married four times, fathering 10 children and adopting two.

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

L.Rossi--NZN