George Foreman, a heavyweight boxing champion who returned to the sport to recover his title in the unlikely age of 45 and turned his fame and friendly personality into a grill multimillionaire business, died on Friday night into a hospital in Houston, Texas. He was 76 years old.
His family announced his death in his Instagram account. Roy Foreman, George’s brother, said the cause of death was not known.
When Foreman returned to the ring after ten years away, there was skepticism that a fighter of his age could beat any younger fighter, let alone return to the top of the game. But in 1994 he defeated unbeaten Michael Moorer to recover the world title, shocking the boxing world.
Foreman’s career encompassed generations: he fought Chuck Wepner in the 1960s, Dwight Muhammad Qawi in the 80’s and Evander Holyfield in the 1990s.
With Joe Franzier and Muhammad there, Foreman embodied a golden age in the 1970s, when boxing was still a cultural force in America. The three great champions enchanted fans with a classic fight after another. Foreman was the last living member of the trio.
And his popularity helped him earn millions selling grids after his retirement.
George Edward Foreman was born on January 10, 1949, in Marshall, Texas, son of Nancy Ree (Nelson) Foreman and Jd Foreman, a rail construction worker. As an adult, he found that his biological father was a man named Leroy Moorehead.
Foreman was frank about being a bully and a small criminal in his youth. After leaving school, he joined Job Corps at 16. At 17, he tried the boxing.
Success came quickly in the amateur categories; Just a year and a half later, he was an Olympic heavyweight champion, defeating Ionas Chepulis of the Soviet Union by knockout in the second round in Mexico City in 1968.
After the fight, Foreman, who was black, nodded with a small American flag in the ring, days after athletics athletics Tomie Smith and John Carlos raise clenched fists during the national anthem to protest against the treatment of the country to blacks.
“I was just happy to be American,” Foreman said later. “Some people have tried to do something of this, calling me Uncle Tom, but I’m not. I just believe people should live together in peace.”
Becoming professional, he started an intense agenda of fights, boxing up to a dozen times a year. He was 37-0 when he had his first chance of a world-weight title against Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973.
Although he was a bad luck, Foreman dominated the fight, knocking down Frazier six times before the fight was interrupted in the middle of the second round. One of these falls led television announcer Howard Cosell to utter one of the most famous calls of boxing: “Franzier falls! Frazier falls!”
Foreman defended the title twice before the fight with there at Zaire in 1974, which would become known as “Rumble in the Jungle”. This time Foreman was the favorite, but there he recovered the title, inflicting Foreman his first career defeat.
There he used his Rope-a-Dope strategy, resting on the upper rope and allowing Foreman to help him, but also get tired. There ended the fight with a left-right combination knockout on the eighth round.
Foreman had five more wins, including another about Franzier, but after losing to Jimmy Young in 1977, he decided to hang his gloves at age 28, quoting his religious beliefs and his mother’s wishes.
He turned to the religious vocation in his retirement years, as a non -denominational Christian minister in Houston and founding a youth center.
But the ring attracted him back. “I want to be champion again,” he said in 1987. “I have a three -year plan. I want to start from scratch. Training more than any man in the world. Fight once a month.”
He admitted that the money was also a factor. “You know that story about how you have four pockets in your pants, and it is better to keep what is in a pocket to be able to live?” He said. “I saved a pocket. I have money for steak and potatoes. But the other three pockets I just spent.”
In fact, Foreman often fought, until nine times in a year. He accumulated 24 consecutive wins, although most were against lower skills. This prepared him for a 42 -year -old title chance against the champion, Holyfield, in 1991. Foreman lost the decision but presented a decent performance.
Times described Foreman as “in shape and brave.” But the overall reaction was that his performance was little more than a brave effort. Certainly it seemed to be the end of Foreman’s title dreams.
He scored some more wins and lost to Tommy Morrison, but then got another chance of title in 1994 against Moorer, 26, who had defeated Holyfield.
Foreman was losing in the judges’ scores when he managed to hit the great punch he was looking for and knocked out Moorer on the 10th round in Las Vegas. Moorer had launched 641 punches, against 369 of Foreman. But the last one was what he said. “Anything you want, you can make it happen,” he said after the fight.
Foreman defended his belt against a German fighter, Axel Schulz. But the rulers who granted the championship began to remove their belts when he refused to fight the challengers they sent. Instead, Foreman faced and defeated some smaller fighters. His final fight was a defeat, a tight decision for Shannon Briggs in 1997. He was 48 years old.
He ended with a professional record of 76-5.
Foreman returned to his youth center, commented on television boxing transmissions and, more profitably, sold hamburger grills.
Foreman began to endorse George Foreman Grill in 1994, with a big smile and predictable but still charming phrases, such as “It’s a knockout.” The grills were electric and portable and could be worn indoors as an alternative to outdoor charcoal barbecue. Foreman helped boost the grills to become a basic item in American cuisine.
In 1999, Salton Inc. paid $ 137.5 million ($ 259.5 million in updated amounts, or $ 1.5 billion) for the world rights to use Foreman’s name on grids. The former leanman received about 75% of the payment. He also endorsed silencers, fried chicken and chips.
Foreman’s affability helped him transcend boxing and cross to the media world. In 1993-94, in the midst of his return, he starred in “George”, a short-lived sitcom at ABC in which he played a retired boxer helping young problems, and made appearances on several other programs over the years. He appeared in a carnivorous plant fantasy on the “The Masked Singer” program in 2022 (his performance of “Get Ready” of Temptations was not enough to avoid elimination).
Foreman named all his five children of George. In 2005, he collaborated with author Fran Manushkin in a children’s book called “Let George do It!” About a house full of Georges, like yours.
It reads: “‘Today is the birthday of the great George,’ says the mother to the gathered boys. ‘Can I count on all of you to help with the party?’
“You can bet, ‘said George, George, George and George.’ Urgle, ‘said baby George.”
A key to Foreman’s business success in so many areas, he said, was to make personal appearances.
“This is bigger than anything, any endorsement, no matter who you are,” he said. “They want to touch you; they want to meet you.”
“So,” he said, “they buy you.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
