Legendary boxer George Foreman has died at the age of 76 year Old .

George in the ring, the American won the 1968 Olympic gold medal and twice held the world heavyweight title over a 21-year span.

first title he lost to Muhammad Ali in their famous Rumble in the Jungle fight in 1974.

He had 76 wins overall, including 68 knockouts, almost double that of Muhammad Ali.

The statement added that “he was a philanthropist, Olympian and two-time heavyweight champion, highly respected, a force for good, disciplined, determined and a defender of his legacy, who fought tirelessly to uphold his name.”

Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson said that “Foreman’s contributions to boxing and the sport will never be forgotten.”

First time often called the bible of boxing, described him as “one of the greatest heavyweights of all time,” writing, “He will always be remembered as an icon of the sport.

What happened in the match with Muhammad Ali?

Foreman recalled the legendary fight in an interview with the BBC World Service News Hour in October 50 years later, explaining that everyone thought he was going to destroy Ali.

The boxer said that “the experts were predicting at the time that he wouldn’t last a round”.

Foreman told the BBC that he usually gets “real nervous” before a boxing match but that night was “the most comfortable” for him.

He laughed about the match and said, “I went in there with two title belts and I came back with none.” It was so strange that I thought I would knock him out in one round, but by the third round I had knocked him down once and he got up and shouted at me, ‘Can you do this, George, show me something?’ I realized then that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

The fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo), is considered one of the greatest sporting events of the 20th century and the greatest fight in the history of heavyweight boxing.

George Foreman was considered the ‘iron fisted boxer’ who knocked out powerful boxers like Ken Norton and Joe Frazier in the second round.

That is why experts were not giving much importance to Muhammad Ali, who was 32 years old and his speed and reflexes were not what they used to be, but if anything had changed, it was his fiery rhetoric.

Muhammad Ali gave George Foreman a powerful verbal attack in an interview with David Frost, for which he was famous, and when he entered the ring, it was not difficult to guess that he was very popular with the spectators, who were chanting, “Ali, kill him.

But the ingenious Muhammad Ali used a tactic that later became known as the “rope a dope”, which helped him knock Foreman out. Before knocking him out, Muhammad Ali took hundreds of punches from him.

Muhammad Ali, fighting in his traditional style, first tired George Foreman out and then the game turned in the eighth round and George Foreman fell staggering into the ring while taking Muhammad Ali’s punches. The world was certainly waiting for this spectacle.
It was the boxing match on Free that got the most viewers at the time.

The fight was the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary film released in 1996 called “Once Upon a Time in Kings.” When the awards were given out, Muhammad Ali was there, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. After his second professional defeat, Foreman retired in 1977 and became an ordained minister at the Lord Jesus Christ Church in Texas, which he had founded.
He told the BBC that his defeat by Muhammad Ali was ‘the best thing that ever happened to me’ because it led him to become a preacher.

George Foreman’s Life and Career

He dropped out of school and worked as a street robber before finding his way into the ring.

Foreman won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

young age turning professional, he had won 37 consecutive fights by the age of 19. He lost only five fights in his career.

He defeated former undefeated champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973, knocking him down six times in the first two rounds.

His Rumble in the Jungle against Muhammad Ali in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of the most famous boxing matches of all time.

Muhammad Ali, who was older than him, had been stripped of his crown seven years earlier for refusing to join the Vietnam War.

Deciding retirement and reclaiming the title

Before losing to Evander Holyfield in 1991 after 12 rounds, he had won 24 fights in a row. At 45, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion when he defeated Michael Moore, who had never lost a fight before. Foreman has been married five times.

He has a dozen children, five of whom are sons and all bear the name George. He explained on his website that he named them after himself so that “they would always have something in common”.
“I tell them, if one of us goes up, we all go up together”, he says. “
And if one of us goes down, we all go down together.