George Foreman, the legendary boxer who set a record as the oldest-ever heavyweight champion, served as a minister after becoming a born again Christian, and achieved perhaps his greatest reknown as the spokesperson for a popular grill named after him, died Friday, his family announced. He was 76.
“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,” Foreman’s family said in a statement posted to his Instagram account.
Born George Edward Foreman in Houston Texas in 1949, Foreman grew up in the East Texas town of Marshall, where as he later explained he had a troubled childhood and early teen years participating in petty crimes before turning his life around through sports. He moved to Pleasanton, California in his late teens where he took up boxing.
Foreman won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico city and began his professional career the next year, when he was just 20. He rose quickly and by January 1972, still undefeated, he earned a title bout against Joe Frazier.
He defended his title twice, against José Roman in September, 1973 and again against Ken Norton in March of 1974, but was ultimately dethroned in the final part of Muhammed Ali’s comeback at the iconic Rumble in the Jungle. Held on October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of Congo), the fight was one of the biggest televised events in history, with possibly a billion people watching.
Those viewers witnessed Foreman losing by knockout in the 8th round, ending his reign as champ and, potentially, making him a footnote in the legend of Ali. And indeed it could have turned out that way, as Foreman continued boxing for the next three years, never attaining his former greatness. But in 1977, suffering depression after a particularly brutal loss, Foreman had what he later described as an epiphany, quit boxing and became a born again Christian.
For the next decade he was a minister but in 1987, he announced his intention to resume boxing. 38 years old at the time, Foreman said he did it to raise money for a youth center, but as it turns out he’d stayed in good shape and was in fact still a formidible fighter.
He also displayed an entirely new public image. During his first era of boxing fame, he was known for an aloof, somewhat hostile demeanor — which Foreman said was inspired by one of his boxing heroes, Sonny Liston — that in a tabloid-driven sports press saw him unfavorably compared to more purposefully charismatic figures such as Ali.
But inspired by his faith and perhaps aware of how silly a 38-year-old boxer sounded in the late 1980s, Foreman now presented himself as a fun, goofy figure, a kind of beloved uncle of boxing that endeared him to fight attendees and television audiences alike. As he made his way through his resumed professional career, he also became something of a staple of TV talk shows — and advertising, as he also stuck multiple lucrative endorsement deals.
Forman likely never considered the possibility he could ever become a champ again, as he resumed professional boxing at the height of the sport’s utter domination by Mike Tyson. But Tyson was dethroned by Buster Douglas in a shocking 1990 upset victory, and Douglas was defeated just months later by Evander Holyfield.
As it turned out, Holyfield first defended his title against Foreman in April, 1991. Foreman lost but the fight made him even more famous. It was also a chaotic era for pro boxing — Holyfield lost his title to Riddick Bowe a year later, regained it a year after that, and then lost it again to Michael Moorer in April, 1994.
That November, Foreman got another shot at the title against Moorer, prevailing over the 27-year-old — and in the process becoming the oldest-ever unified Heavyweight Champion at age 45.
The same year Foreman completed that record-setting comeback, the grill that bears his name — the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine — launched. He didn’t design it, but having frequently talked about the low fat diet he attributed his success to, he was asked by the grill’s designers to endorse it. Chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve owned at least one Foreman grill, which puts you with one of the more than 100 million other people who have since it launched.
Foreman Married 5 times. His first four marriages — Adrienne Calhoun (1971 to 1974), Cynthia Lewis (1977 to 1979), Sharon Goodson (1981 to 1982) and Andrea Skeete (1982 to 1985) — were short lived. His fifth marriage, to Mary Joan Martelly, lasted from 1985 to his death. He had 12 children.