George Foreman, world heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic gold medalist and later preacher, died Friday at the age of 76, his family said.
“Our hearts are broken,” an announcement on Foreman’s Instagram page read.
“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,” it read. “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.”
A cause of death was not provided.
Foreman, known as “Big George,” won an Olympic gold medal in boxing at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City when he was 19 years old.
He won the world heavyweight championship five years later in a stunning knockout of Joe Frazier in two rounds in 1973, but he lost it to Muhammad Ali the next year in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
But Foreman was not finished. At the age of 45, Foreman reclaimed the heavyweight title when he beat Michael Moorer — a comeback that made him the oldest boxer to win the championship.
He became a preacher in 1978, and was also known as an entrepreneur. He became a household name for the “George Foreman Grill” — officially called the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine.
More than 100 million were sold worldwide, according to Foreman’s website, and he became a fixture on television programs promoting the device in an apron.
“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,” the statement announcing his death Friday read.
Humility and purpose were not always character traits for which Foreman was known.
He described himself on his website as going “from thug to boxer.” He was born in Marshall, Texas, on Jan. 10, 1949, but grew up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where his website said he bullied other children and “became a mugger and brawler.”
Foreman credited the Job Corps program, started by President Lyndon B. Johnson, with the mentoring that led him from crime to a career in boxing.
“I have been literally rescued from the gutter. I was out hiding from the police,” Foreman told NBC News in a 2023 interview. “The next thing you know, I’m in the Job Corps program getting three meals in one day. They built me into what I’ve become.”
Foreman retired from boxing in 1977 and became a born-again Christian. He said in his biography on his website that he had a religious experience in a dressing room after losing in a decision to Jimmy Young on March 17, 1977, in Puerto Rico.
He was ordained as a minister the next year, founded the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1980, and in 1984 founded the nonprofit George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston.
Foreman returned to boxing in 1987, a decade after he retired.
He told NBC News in 2023, the same year that a biopic about him was released, that he won the heavyweight title a second time because he learned how to fight without anger.
“I started working with kids to make certain they stay on the right road,” he said, teaching them to never throw “a punch in anger. I taught it so much, I started to believe in it. I went back to boxing, became champ of the world, but I never had one ounce of anger in my life.”
The film, “Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World,” was released in April 2023 by Sony Pictures.
Fellow world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was among those sharing condolences after Foreman’s death Friday.
“Condolences to George Foreman’s family. His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten,” Tyson wrote on X.
ESPN called Foreman “one of the most influential and recognizable boxers of all time.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott remarked, “a legend lost.”
“The world knew Foreman as a two-time heavyweight champion,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in a statement. “We knew him as a proud member of our community — a man whose heart was as big as his powerful punch.”
William Shatner, who appeared with Foreman on the reality television travel show “Better Late Than Never” in 2016, also expressed his condolences.
Others on social media recognized Foreman for the grill, which was a common sight in home kitchens and college dorm rooms alike in its heyday.
Foreman emphasized that part of his life in the 2023 interview with NBC News.
“Being honest, I’m not a spokesman for boxing. I’m a spokesman for the George Foreman Grill. And I’m a minister full time at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ” in Houston, he said then, with a friendly laugh.
Foreman’s family said they were grateful to be in his extraordinary life.
“A humanitarian, an Olympian, and two time heavyweight champion of the world, He was deeply respected — a force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name— for his family,” the statement said.
“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.”
Joe Kottke contributed.
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