The sports world was hit with a stunner late Friday night when George Foreman’s family announced he had died earlier in the day at the age of 76.
A sports fanatic himself, President Donald Trump remembered the legendary boxer in a Truth Social post early Saturday morning.
“George Foreman is dead. What a GREAT FIGHTER!!!” Trump wrote. “He had, without question, the heaviest and biggest punch in the history of boxing. With the exception of [Muhammad] Ali, when you got hit, you went down. He was something really Special, but above all, he was a Great Person, with a personality that was bigger than life. I knew him well, and he will be missed. Warmest condolences to his wonderful family!!!”
Trump’s post came hours before his expected appearance at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships in Philadelphia.
Foreman became an Olympic gold medalist in 1968 when he defeated the Soviet Union’s Jonas Čepulis in that year’s Mexico City Olympics, but was most prominently known for his big-ticket matches against fellow legendary boxers Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.
Foreman won the heavyweight title with a stunning second-round knockout of the previously undefeated Frazier in 1973. He defended his title twice, but then infamously took his first professional loss in a match to Ali in the iconic 1974 match dubbed “Rumble in the Jungle.” That match was famously fought in Kinshasa, Zaire, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Foreman then retired after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977, but returned to boxing 10 years later after a self-described religious awakening. In his second stint, Foreman went on to win the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles.
In 1994, at age 45, Foreman defeated Michael Moorer, a boxer 19 years younger than him, to claim the heavyweight title. Foreman became the oldest world heavyweight champion in the history of boxing; he remains the second-oldest champion in any weight class.
In his post-boxing career, Foreman became a successful entrepreneur when he licensed his likeness to the home appliance company Salton, Inc., now known as Russell Hobbs Inc., to launch the George Foreman Grill – a portable electric grill that went on to become a common household appliance, selling over 100 million units.
