Former heavyweight champion dies aged 76

George Foreman, the boxing world champion who became a celebrated product pitchman, has died at age 76, his family said in a statement.

The American was a two-time heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medallist. His 1974 bout against Muhammad Ali in Zaire – known as the Rumble in the Jungle – is part of boxing legend. In later years, he became the spokesperson for the George Foreman Grill, which sold millions of units.

His family posted on Friday on his official Instagram account: “Our hearts are broken. With deep sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr., who peacefully departed on 21 March 2025, surrounded by loved ones.”

Foreman’s resurgence and the wealth he accumulated from selling fat-wicking electric cooking grills established him as an icon of self-improvement and success for the baby boomer generation.

At age 19 and in his 25th amateur fight, Foreman captured the heavyweight boxing gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Turning pro, he won 37 straight matches on his way to face reigning champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, winning by technical knockout in round two.

Foreman defended the belt twice more before meeting Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in one of the most celebrated boxing matches in history.

“I was a powerful heavyweight boxer,” Foreman told Reuters in 2007. “I was an unstoppable punching machine, and that was the first time I gave everything I had, yet nothing worked.”

He went on to win 24 consecutive matches, gradually losing weight along the way, before suffering a defeat to Evander Holyfield by a 12-round decision in 1991. Three years later, he knocked out the undefeated southpaw Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion ever, at the age of 45.

Foreman’s last match was in 1997, ending his career with a professional record of 76 wins and five losses.