The Black American Glossary

George Foreman is a retired American boxer who twice won boxing's heavyweight championship. After retiring, he became a popular pitchman, most famously known for his George Foreman Grill.

From Mean Streets to Olympic Gold

George Edward Foreman was born on January 10, 1949, in Marshall, Texas, and grew up in Houston's rough Fifth Ward district. A self-proclaimed thug, he dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and ran with street gangs until he joined the Job Corps in 1965.

The Job Corps provided Foreman with a connection to boxing trainer Doc Broaddus, who encouraged him to apply his fighting skills in the ring. Foreman adapted quickly enough that he was named to the U.S. Olympic boxing team for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. In October 1968, Foreman won the gold medal in the heavyweight boxing division with a second-round technical knockout of the Soviet Union's Ionas Chepulis. He went pro shortly afterward.

Rise and Fall of a Champ: Foreman vs Muhammad Ali

At 6 feet 3 1/2 inches and 218 pounds, Foreman was a fearsome ring presence who brutalized opponents with his raw power. He won his first 37 professional fights before earning a shot at heavyweight champion “Smokin’” Joe Frazier on Jan 22, 1973, in Kingston, Jamaica. Foreman was a decided underdog against Frazier, but he shockingly knocked the champ down six times over the course of two rounds to claim the heavyweight crown.

Foreman's reign ended with a loss to Muhammad Ali in the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” title bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974. Employing his “rope-a-dope” technique, Ali leaned back against the ropes to deflect Foreman's thunderous punches, then turned aggressor and floored the bigger man in the eighth round. It was Foreman's only defeat by knockout in his professional career.

Foreman's quest for another title shot was derailed with a loss to nimble-footed Jimmy Young in March of 1977. Exhausted and dehydrated after the fight, Foreman claimed to have a religious awakening and retired. He went on to become a non-denominational Christian minister and found the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston.

Comeback King: Oldest Heavyweight Champion in the World

Ten years after his loss to Young, at age 38 ‐ and with an extra 50 pounds and a friendlier public persona in tow ‐ Foreman returned to professional boxing.

Foreman failed to impress in his comeback win over Steve Zouski, but he worked himself into better shape as he knocked out a string of improving opponents, and was eventually given a title shot against heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. Although he lost a bout to Holyfield on April 19, 1991, in Atlantic City, Foreman earned praise for going the distance against the younger champion.

Clad in the same red trunks he wore during his bout against Ali, the 45-year-old Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their title fight on November 5, 1994, to become the oldest heavyweight champ in history. Though he was stripped of his title belts by the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation for refusing to fight their mandated opponents, he remained one of boxing's top draws.

On November 22, 1997, Foreman lost a controversial decision to Shannon Briggs in what turned out to be his final fight. He finished with a professional record of 76 wins (68 by knockout) and five losses.

Foreman was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 8, 2003. By that time, however, the sport that had made him a champion was practically a footnote to his famously successful career.

The George Foreman Grill & More Ventures

Already a familiar commercial pitchman, most famously for the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine which made its debut in 1994, Foreman remained busy after leaving the ring for the second time.

He continued to preach at his church in Houston, and joined HBO Sports’ boxing broadcast team. In December 1999, Foreman Grill manufacturer Salton, Inc. paid Foreman $137.5 million in cash and stock for rights to his name and image.

In October 2017, Foreman finally opened up about the origins of his multimillion-dollar grill idea, claiming that right after getting knocked out by Muhammad Ali, he had an hallucination that a talking piece of meat demanded to be grilled.

More Reality TV: ‘Better Late Than Never’

Turning to reality TV once more in 2016, Foreman stars in NBC's Better Late Than Never, a reality-travel series that takes him ‐ along with his fellow castmates William Shatner, Henry Winkler and Terry Bradshaw ‐ around the world, as they check off their bucket list and explore foreign cultures. The show was renewed for a second season, which premieres in January 2018.

Quick Facts

Birth Date:
January 10, 1949

He originally got into boxing as a way to lose weight and a way to win fights in street boxing. Once he got into the sport, he enjoyed it so much, he lost all interest in street fighting.
When Foreman won his first gold medal, he wanted everyone to know where he was from, so he picked up a small USA flag and paraded around the boxing ring with it. He saw this as an opportunity to represent his country.
His first plan was to finish college and get a good job, but people kept telling him he could earn lots of money boxing, so he hoped for that. He was actually surprised at how successful he became in that world.
In 1994, he became the spokesman for a popular line of cooking grills that shared his name, an enterprise estimated to have netted him nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
He was defeated by the legendary Muhammad Ali in the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight in 1974.