Boxing great “Big” George Foreman died on Friday, March 21, 2025. His family announced his passing on his social media, stating that he died peacefully “surrounded by loved ones.” He was 76 years old.

Foreman was one of the most well known boxers, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1968, he was a two-time heavyweight champion, and is a Hall of Fame boxer.

Born on January 10, 1949, in Marshall, Texas, he was a troubled youth. In his autobiography, Foreman admitted that he dropped out of school at age 15 and would mug people for money. It didn’t take long for the teenager to realize the error of his ways, and he went back to school to earn his GED and was trained to be a carpenter and bricklayer. After moving to Pleasanton, California, he started training as a boxer.

Foreman went to the ’68 Olympics in Mexico City where he fought the Soviet Union’s Jonas Čepulis, a 12-year amateur veteran with over 220 fights under his belt, for the gold medal. After a successful amateur career with a record of 22-4, he became a professional boxer in 1969. During his first three years as a pro, he amassed a stellar record of 32-0, becoming the number one contender. In ’73, he fought the undefeated heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, and despite being the underdog, Foreman dominated the fight, winning by TKO.

His most remembered match was the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight with Muhammad Ali that was held in Zaire in 1974. Foreman was expected to win the bout, but he lost in an eight round knockout that became a historic moment in boxing.

After losing the heavyweight title, he fought five more times. He defeated Joe Frazier in a fifth round TKO win and Ron Lyle with a fifth round knockout in a slugger’s battle. Retiring at 28, he became a minister in Texas.

Ten years later in 1987, he returned to boxing and started out with several easier wins. Then in ’91 at age 42, he had a classic slugfest with Evander Holyfield, but lost the heavyweight title fight in the end. Undeterred, he kept fighting and earned another title bout against Michael Moorer in ’94. Foreman landed a two-punch combo that knocked Moorer down, and Foreman won the heavyweight title. At nearly 46 years old, he was the oldest man to win the championship.

His final fight came in 1997 with a majority decision loss to Shannon Briggs. While still enjoying his comeback run, he introduced the George Foreman grill, and would eventually sell the rights to it for $138 million. After his second retirement, he was a ringside analyst for HBO until 2004.