George Edward Foreman (1949–2025) was an American professional boxer, Olympic gold medalist, businessman, minister, and author, best known as a two-time world heavyweight champion and for his later success as the face of the George Foreman Grill. His career spanned three decades, marked by remarkable comebacks and a unique blend of athletic achievement and entrepreneurial success.
Born in Marshall, Texas, Foreman grew up in Houston, where he struggled with poverty and a troubled youth. He found direction through the Job Corps program in Oregon, where he learned to box. His amateur career culminated in winning the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Turning professional in 1969, Foreman quickly rose through the ranks, capturing the undisputed heavyweight title by defeating Joe Frazier in a stunning second-round knockout in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1973. His reign ended in 1974 when he lost to Muhammad Ali in the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle.”
Foreman retired in 1977 after a loss to Jimmy Young, experiencing a religious conversion that led him to become an ordained Christian minister. A decade later, he staged one of boxing’s greatest comebacks, returning in 1987. In 1994, at age 45, he defeated Michael Moorer to reclaim the heavyweight championship, becoming the oldest world heavyweight champion in history. His final record stood at 76 wins (68 by knockout) and 5 losses, and he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.
Beyond boxing, Foreman authored books such as By George: The Autobiography of George Foreman (1995) and Knockout Entrepreneur (2010.) His endorsement of the George Foreman Grill, launched in 1995, sold over 100 million units worldwide, earning him more than his boxing career. Popular biographies include sportswriter Andrew R. M. Smith’s George Foreman: The Life and Times of Big George (2009) and the Netflix documentary series Untold: Deal With the Devil (2022.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by George Foreman
I’m a winner each and every time I go into the ring.
—George Foreman
Topics: Winning, Winners, Belief
George Foreman. A miracle. A mystery to myself. Who am I? The mirror says back. “The George you was always meant to be.” Wasn’t always like that. Used to look in the mirror and cried a river.
—George Foreman
Topics: Acceptance
I want to keep fighting because it is the only thing that keeps me out of the hamburger joints. If I don’t fight, I’ll eat this planet.
—George Foreman
A hero is someone right who doesn’t change.
—George Foreman
Topics: Heroism, Heroes/Heroism, Heroes
The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.
—George Foreman
Topics: Retirement
My kids idea of a hard life is to live in a house with only one phone.
—George Foreman
Topics: Life and Living
It embarrasses me to think of all those years I was buying silk suits and alligator shoes that were hurting my feet; cars that I just parked, and the dust would just build up on them.
—George Foreman
Topics: Praise
Boxing is like jazz, the better it is, the less people appreciate it.
—George Foreman
Topics: Jazz
That’s my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If it’s not positive, I didn’t hear it. If you can overcome that, fights are easy.
—George Foreman
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