The sports activities world was hit with a stunner late Friday evening when George Foreman’s household introduced he had died earlier within the day on the age of 76.
A sports activities fanatic himself, President Donald Trump remembered the legendary boxer in a Fact Social put up 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 put up got here hours earlier than his anticipated look on the NCAA Division I wrestling championships in Philadelphia.
Foreman grew to become an Olympic gold medalist in 1968 when he defeated the Soviet Union’s Jonas Čepulis in that 12 months’s Mexico Metropolis Olympics, however was most prominently identified for his big-ticket matches in opposition to fellow legendary boxers Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.
Foreman received the heavyweight title with a shocking second-round knockout of the beforehand undefeated Frazier in 1973. He defended his title twice, however then infamously took his first skilled loss in a match to Ali within the iconic 1974 match dubbed “Rumble in the Jungle.” That match was famously fought in Kinshasa, Zaire, which is now often known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Foreman then retired after a loss to Jimmy Younger in 1977, however returned to boxing 10 years later after a self-described spiritual 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 youthful than him, to assert the heavyweight title. Foreman grew to become the oldest world heavyweight champion within the historical past of boxing; he stays the second-oldest champion in any weight class.
He then retired for good in 1997 on the age of 48, with a last report of 76 wins, with 68 coming through knockout, and simply 5 losses.
In his post-boxing profession, Foreman grew to become a profitable entrepreneur when he licensed his likeness to the house equipment firm Salton, Inc., now often known as Russell Hobbs Inc., to launch the George Foreman Grill – a transportable electrical grill that went on to change into a standard family equipment, promoting over 100 million items.
