“Big” George Foreman, one of the most influential and recognizable boxers of all time, died Friday, his family announced on his social media account.
He was 76.
Foreman, who captured an Olympic gold medal in 1968, is a two-time heavyweight champion and Hall of Fame boxer.
He’s perhaps best known for the historic Rumble in the Jungle bout with Muhammad Ali in 1974 in Zaire, a fight Foreman lost in an upset via 8th-round KO. It’s arguably the most-famous fight of all time and the “When We Were Kings” documentary that chronicled the fight won an Oscar for best picture.
Foreman, of course, made history yet again later on in his career. He fought five more times after he lost the heavyweight championship to Ali at age 25, including another a fifth-round TKO victory over Joe Frazier (whom he stopped in two rounds to first win the title) and a fifth-round KO of Ron Lyle in a classic.
After that fifth fight at 28, Foreman shockingly announced his retirement and began a career as an ordained minister in his native Texas.
