US boxer George Foreman dies aged 76

US heavyweight boxing champion and businessman George Foreman has died aged 76, according to a statement from his family.

Foreman passed away on Friday local time, his family announced on Instagram.

“A humanitarian, an Olympian, and two time heavyweight champion of the world,” the statement read.

He was deeply respected — a force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name — for his family.

“We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers, and kindly ask for privacy as we honor the extraordinary life of a man we were blessed to call our own.”

Foreman won the world heavyweight title after beating the then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973.

He defended the belt twice before suffering his first professional loss to Muhammad Ali in the famous Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.

Two decades later, “Big George” knocked out Michael Moorer to claim his second crown.

Foreman’s comeback and the fortune he made selling fat-wicking electric cooking grills made him an icon of self-improvement and success for the Baby Boomer generation.

Born in 1949, the boxer grew up poor in the segregated American South, before dropping out of junior high school and using his size and fists in street robberies.

He would later write he was “rescued” from “the gutter” by the the Job Corps, part of US president Lyndon B Johnson’s “Great Society” reforms.

Through the program, 16-year-old Foreman moved out of Texas and was encouraged to channel his rage and growing bulk into boxing.

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 Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, winning by technical knockout in round two.

Rumble in the Jungle

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.

Ali had been stripped of his crown seven years prior for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War and be came into the match a heavy underdog against the bigger, younger champion.

But for seven rounds, Ali lay against the ropes and fended off Foreman’s clubbing blows, tiring and knocking him out in the eighth round.

“I was one strong heavyweight punching fighter,” Foreman told Reuters in 2007.

The loss devastated Foreman.

He took a year off before returning to the ring and then, after a second professional loss, retired in 1977 to become an ordained minister in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Becoming the oldest-ever heavyweight champion

A decade later and considerably heavier at 143 kilograms, Foreman staged an unlikely return to the ring to raise money for a youth centre he founded in Texas.

He went on to win 24 straight matches, gradually slimming down along the way, before losing to Evander Holyfield in a 12-round decision in 1991.

Three years later, he knocked out undefeated southpaw Moorer to become the oldest-ever heavyweight champion at age 45.

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

Foreman was married four times in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1985, he married for the fifth time to Mary Joan Martelly, who he remained with for the rest of his life.

He had five sons — all called George — five biological daughters, and two adopted daughters.

Throughout the 1990s and after retirement, he was an enthusiastic pitchman for various products, most notably an electric grill from home appliance maker Salton Inc.

In 1999, the company paid Foreman and his partners $US137.5 million ($219.19 million) to put his name on the grill and other goods.

“What I do is fall in love with every product I sell,” Foreman wrote in his autobiography By George.

Reuters/ABC

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