The two-time world heavyweight champion’s career included his historic fight — the Rumble in the Jungle — with Muhammad Ali

George Foreman. Photo:Clutch Pockets Wambli/Shutterstock

George Foreman has died at the age of 76.

Foreman was a two-time heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed Big George, in later years he became the spokesperson for the George Foreman Grill, which sold millions of units.

The news was shared by his family on his official Instagram account on Friday, March 21.

“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,” the statement read.

Foreman was born in Texas in 1949. He grew up in Houston. “I grew up in the Fifth Ward of Houston — the Bloody Fifth, we called it. Every weekend someone got killed,” he told Esquire in 2006. His family was poor, and he dropped out of high school at 15 and was involved in petty crime. But at 16 he signed up for the Job Corps, where he got his GED and learned carpentry and bricklaying. During that time he also began training as a boxer.

“I went into boxing at the age of 17 to lose weight and become a great street fighter,” he told Ringside Report in 2000. “Next thing I know, I was fighting as a Golden Glover. It basically all happened as an accident.”

George Foreman won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics. Bettmann/Getty

In 1968, at 19 years old, Foreman won a gold medal at the Mexico City Olympic Games. “Winning that gold medal at the end, I wanted the whole world to know where I was from, so I picked up a small American flag and paraded around the ring to make sure they knew,” he told On the Ropes, a boxing radio show, in 2023. “This was my chance to represent my country. That was greater to me than even winning the boxing matches.”

The next year, Foreman went professional. He won all 13 fights that year and all 12 fights in 1970. By the end of 1971, with 32 wins and no losses, he was the number-one challenger in the world and expected to face World Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier in a bid for the title.  

The two finally fought in 1973’s The Sunshine Showdown, which Foreman won by total knockout. “I didn’t fear anyone except Joe Frazier,” Foreman admitted in a 2023 interview with Andscape. “I hoped something would’ve happened to him before I’d ever fight for the title.”

“I’ve never told anyone this, but that was the happiest time of my life in boxing because I worked so hard to fulfill my dream and become heavyweight champion,” Foreman explained. “It was the first and last moment I felt that.”

George Foreman and Muhammad Ali fight in 1974’s historic Rumble in the Jungle match. Ken Regan /Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Foreman defended his title against José Roman and Ken Norton. In 1974, he faced Muhammad Ali in a historic fight dubbed “the Rumble in the Jungle,” believed to be the most-watched live television broadcast of all time. Ali, a massive underdog, defeated Foreman. 

Through the years, Foreman told different versions of the event, at times alleging that the fight was fixed for Ali. He was upset that they never had a rematch. 

“For years afterwards I would agonize, ‘How could this happen?’” he told Vogue Man Arabia in 2019. “That night I lost everything I ever was. It was the most devastating event in my life as an athlete. I was not even a man no more.” But he and Ali eventually became friends.

George Foreman in 1991. Mark Morrison/Allsport/Getty

Foreman continued to fight. He retired from boxing in 1977, and after a near-death experience after his last match, became a born-again Christian.

But 10 years later, amid financial difficulties, Foreman returned to boxing at the age of 38. “It was like, I did it once, I’m gonna have to do it again,” Foreman told USA Today in 2023. “It was the only profession I knew. Sometimes I wished I’d been a golfer, it’s much easier than boxing.”

Foreman received title shots against Evander Holyfield in 1991 and Tommy Morrison in 1993, but lost both. But in 1994 he beat Michael Moorer and reclaimed his championship.

George Foreman with a George Foreman Grill in 2003. zz/GL/UPPA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP

“When you fight for the heavyweight championship of the world it does feel unbelievable, it doesn’t feel like you’re really there, it could be a dream,” he told Boxing News in 2023. “‘You’re going to wake up soon, you don’t belong in the ring with these guys.’ The second time around, I could deal with all those thoughts. It was a special moment, more so than when I won the fight with Frazier.”

As he succeeded once again in the ring, he also started to make more public appearances and became a celebrity, even starring in a short-lived sitcom George. Foreman retired from boxing for good in 1999. He finished his career with 76 wins and five losses. 

George Foreman in 2001. Focus on Sport/Getty 

In 1994, Foreman launched the George Foreman Grill. To date it has been so successful that well over 100 million grills have been sold. “My attorney came to me and said, ‘George, you’re making other people wealthy, why don’t you make yourself wealthy?’” Foreman told PEOPLE in 2003. “And he told me about this grill.”

Foreman competed on The Masked Singer in 2022. He also executive produced the 2023 biopic Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World,

Foreman had 12 children: Natalia, Leola, Michi, Isabella, Courtney, Georgetta and Freeda (who died in 2019) and five sons all named George Edward Foreman. 

George Foreman in 2016. Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

“I named all my sons George Edward Foreman so they would always have something in common,” Foreman wrote on his website. “I say to them, ‘If one of us goes up, then we all go up together. And if one goes down, we all go down together!’” Two of his grandsons also share the name.

Foreman was married four times. He was with Adrienne Calhoun from 1971 to 1974, Cynthia Lewis from 1977 to 1979 and Andrea Skeete from 1982 to 1985. In 1985 he married Mary Joan Martelly.

In 2022, Foreman was accused of child sexual abuse. He denied the allegations.

Foreman is survived by his wife and 11 children.