George Edward “Big George” Foreman (born January 10, 1949), is an American former professional boxer.
In his boxing career he was a two-time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist. Outside the sport he went on to become an ordained minister, author and entrepreneur.
After a troubled childhood, Foreman took up boxing and was a gold medalist at the 1968 Olympics. He won the World Heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of then-undefeated Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1973. He made two successful title defenses before losing to Muhammad Ali in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974. He was unable to secure another title shot, and retired following a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977. Following what he referred to as a religious epiphany, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister. Ten years later, he announced a comeback and, in November 1994, at age 45, he regained the Heavyweight Championship by knocking out 27-year-old Michael Moorer. Foreman is the oldest Heavyweight Champion in history, and second oldest in any weight class after Bernard Hopkins. He retired in 1997 at the age of 48, with a final record of 76–5, including 68 knockouts.
Foreman has been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) rates Foreman as the eighth greatest heavyweight of all-time. In 2002, he was named one of the 25 greatest fighters of the past 80 years by The Ring magazine. The Ring ranked him as the 9th greatest puncher of all-time. He was a ringside analyst for HBO’s boxing coverage for twelve years, leaving in 2004. Outside of boxing, he is a successful entrepreneur and is known for his promotion of the George Foreman Grill, which has sold over 100 million units worldwide. In 1999 he sold the naming rights to the grill for $138 million.