George Foreman: The boxing champ who reinvented home grills

He helped define boxing’s golden era

George Foreman
Foreman was an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight champion
(Image credit: Marc Morrison)

Fearsome in the ring, George Foreman was so charming outside it he became America’s favorite pitchman. The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight boxing champion fought the sport’s legends, helping define boxing’s golden era alongside Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the 1970s. After saying he’d seen a holy vision, he quit the sport in 1977 to become a preacher and open a youth center in Houston. But he managed an improbable comeback a decade later. Despite widespread skepticism that he could even get back into shape, he won his second world title in 1994 at age 45, making him the oldest heavy-weight champion in history. By then, he was already hawking George Foreman Grills, which eventually became a multimillion-dollar business. “Anything you desire, you can make happen,” he said upon clinching his second title. “It’s like the song, ‘When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.’ Well, look at me tonight.”

Born in Marshall, Texas, Foreman was one of seven children raised by a single mom. He grew up as a petty criminal and bully, something he freely admitted. Dropping out of school at 15, he took up boxing a year later and was quickly seen as a phenom. It took him just 18 months to become the 1968 Olympic heavyweight champion. Once he turned professional, he projected “a surly and intimidating” persona, calmly obliterating his opponents, said The Guardian. His 1973 win against Frazier produced one of boxing’s best-known calls when a shocked Howard Cosell shouted, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” The next year he lost to Ali in Zaire at the Rumble in the Jungle.

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