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Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who fought and lost to Muhammad Ali in boxing's famed 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" before reclaiming the championship two decades later, died Friday at the age of 76, his family revealed in a statement.
"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 posted on the boxer's official Instagram page.
"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."
Foreman was born in Texas on January 10, 1949, and grew up in Houston. The dad who reared him was frequently away and inebriated. Foreman first discovered that J. D. Foreman was not his original father after winning the world heavyweight championship, when his real father, a decorated WWII veteran, contacted him.
Foreman experimented with criminality during his adolescence and dropped out of school at the age of 16.
"At 13-years-old, George was about 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and the terrorist in the neighbourhood," 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."
At 16, he took up boxing.
"I wanted to a football player," Foreman said on his website. "I tried boxing just to show my friends that I wasn't afraid. Well, 25 fights and one year later, I was an Olympic gold medallist."
At the Mexico Games in 1968, the 19-year-old Foreman bludgeoned his way to the super-heavyweight title. Foreman hoisted an American flag in the ring as he celebrated his final triumph, ten days after fellow African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a black power salute after winning the 200m track final.
At 6-foot-4 (1.93m), 'Big George' was bigger and stronger than the other top heavyweights of the time. He was light on his feet, but fought his way through the professional ranks to get a crack at the heavyweight title against champion Joe Frazier, whom he defeated in two rounds.
By the time he faced Ali in his third title defense over 15 rounds in Kinshasa in October 1974, Foreman had been unbeaten in 40 professional fights. He had won all but three fights within the distance and had not required to build stamina.
Ali's 'rope-a-dope' tactics, exhausted the big man who lost in eight rounds.
