The Tragedy Of George Foreman Explained

The mention of the word "boxing" evokes memories of stellar fighters, such as Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Robinson, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, and George Foreman. The latter achieved Hall of Fame status after a career that featured a dramatic retirement and almighty comeback. For Foreman's efforts, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked him the eighth-greatest heavyweight of all time in 2005. Yet, boxing wasn't his only achievement, as he went on to become the face of the popular George Foreman grill and a preacher who wanted to inspire others.

Foreman's rise to the top didn't come without its challenges and heartache, because his greatest fight wasn't only in the ring — but in life. His childhood wasn't easy, and he nearly walked down a different path altogether. He might have achieved incredible knockout victories by using his sheer power to down opponents, but his few losses hit him the hardest. His personal life also featured tragedies that left their mark on him.

Yet, in the end, Foreman embodied the famous quote from "Rocky" about learning to get back up: "You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward." George Foreman was a fighter, father, husband, son, businessman, friend, and inspiration who took all of life's fiercest hooks and kept standing back up to face the next one.

There may be a lot you don't know about George Foreman's life, but he was open about his past and his humble beginnings. Foreman was the fifth born of seven siblings and grew up in a poor family in Houston, Texas. Writing in his memoir "George Foreman's Guide to Life: How to Get Up Off the Canvas When Life Knocks You Down," he explained that his mother, Nancy Ree, earned only $26 a week, so having to choose between eating or paying the rent, she would feed herself and her children first. Since they were running behind on rent, they would constantly be on the move to the next place. However, as Foreman revealed, these places were often filled with vermin and without common appliances, such as a stove.

In another autobiography "God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir," which Foreman co-wrote with Ken Abraham, he discussed how he was always hungry as a child. Foreman credited his mother for trying her best, while she would also try to spoil her children in whichever way she could. "Mom sometimes brought home a single hamburger for her kids and herself to divide," Foreman wrote. "It was such a luxury; I grew up believing hamburgers were only for rich people. She would tear it into eight pieces, and we all got one bite. I savored the few seconds it stayed in my mouth, dreaming of the day when I might get to eat an entire hamburger by myself."

According to George Foreman, his father, J.D., worked on the railroad and was rarely home. Eventually, J.D. and Nancy Ree split up, so the onus fell on Nancy Ree to raise the children. In "God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir," Foreman explained how his mother became ill with tuberculosis and entered the hospital for a lengthy stay of a year. "During that time, I was pretty much on my own," Foreman wrote, "so I spent most of my days and nights out on the streets, getting into trouble." The trouble he found himself in included bullying, fighting, and mugging people. By Foreman's own admission, he was mean and didn't hold back his punches.

Foreman claimed his mother knew he was getting into trouble, so from her hospital bed, she called social services to get someone to keep an eye on him. The department sent a person named Ms. Bonner, whom Foreman credited for instilling a sense of self-confidence and watching over him. When Nancy Ree left the hospital and returned home, Foreman said he went back to his brawling and mugging ways. He left school in the ninth grade, then bounced around from place to place trying to keep a job.

On his official website, Foreman declared that signing up with the Job Corps is what changed his life. It was there that he met counselor and boxing coach Doc Broaddus. Ultimately, Broaddus played a major part in Foreman becoming a professional boxer.

Much has been written about 1974's Rumble in the Jungle that saw Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman in one of the most watched live TV events in history. Few people gave Ali a chance of beating Foreman, never mind knocking him out in the eighth round. Foreman didn't think so either, as he had beat the two people who had defeated Ali before.

Writing in "God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir," Foreman discussed a strange incident that occurred before the fight. The boxer mentioned how he would always drink a glass of water before stepping into the ring. His trainer handed him the water, but Foreman proclaimed, "Hey, this water tastes like it has medicine in it." The trainer told Foreman there was nothing wrong with the water, but Foreman protested again. Eventually, Foreman listened to his trainer and drank up.

The first round went as expected, but Foreman felt something was wrong with him soon after. "By the end of the second round, my energy had dwindled faster than in any of my previous boxing matches," he wrote. "After the third round, I was as tired as if I had fought 15 rounds. 'What's going on here? Did someone slip a drug in my water?'" Foreman claimed that he was "tired and weak" but still believed he could defeat Ali with a clinical punch. It didn't happen, and Foreman thought the ref made a fast count too.

Remarkably, the loss to Muhammad Ali at the Rumble in the Jungle was George Foreman's first professional loss in the ring. Prior to that, he had an impeccable record of 40 wins, with 37 of them being via knockout. Now, any average person would look at a loss as an inevitability in the world of sports — especially in boxing — but not Foreman.

After taking some time off, Foreman felt like he had something to prove. Undoubtedly, he believed he had been poisoned and wanted to show the audience and his peers that he wasn't on the downslope of his career. According to Bloody Elbow, Foreman thought that it wasn't Ali who had beaten him — but his own exhaustion (most likely from the effects of the alleged poisoning). This grew into an obsession to demonstrate that he wasn't washed as a fighter, so he took on five fighters in one night in 1975.

Muhammad Ali added further fuel to the heated relationship between George Foreman and himself by sitting at ringside and goading Foreman. For Foreman, he took out his anger on the fighters in front of him and argued with Ali, but as the evening wore on, so too did Foreman. The event turned into a laughingstock, as Foreman's energy dropped — which should have been expected considering that he was battling five other men. While Foreman received several blows that night, nothing compared to the bruises to his ego.

The shadow of the Muhammad Ali loss loomed over George Foreman. However, he battled back to prove his detractors wrong. His obsession was to reclaim his title as the best heavyweight in the world, and the next person in his crosshairs was the talented Jimmy Young.

In "God In My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir," Foreman opened up about his strict routine and preparation ritual. With three months to go until he faced Young, he refused any distractions. No one was to bother him with anything, as his singular focus was the big fight. However, his phone rang in the middle of one night in December 1976. Foreman's mother answered the call and it was his sister Mary. It wasn't good news. Mary's son and Foreman's nephew, George Edward Dumas, had a seizure and ended up in a coma. The doctor's prognosis wasn't good either — if young George woke up, he would likely be unable to walk or talk.

The tragedy rocked the boxing legend, who insisted his mother phone his sister to tell the doctors that young George's uncle is a champion boxer and for him to get the best treatment. It was there and then that Foreman realized he was helpless, so he prayed for young George to be healed. According to Foreman, he even bargained with God to take his own life to save his nephew. In the end, young George recovered and worked for his uncle in the future.

In 1977, George Foreman's much-hyped fight against Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico didn't go according to plan. He lost the match. As Foreman told Pivot Point Publishing, he arrived back in his dressing room exhausted after the battle and experiencing severe heat stroke. Foreman said that even though he wasn't a religious man at the time, he started to fight and have a conversation with God about how his life had been an endless bout and how tired he was. According to Foreman, he said that God informed him of a bigger purpose and wanted to use Foreman to spread the word — not only for him to donate money to charity.

Foreman said that he died for "a split second" before he accepted the calling. When he acknowledged his belief and faith in God, he claimed he awoke to see the people around him as he lay on a table. He spoke to them about what he was seeing, then jumped off the table and told everyone that "Jesus Christ was coming alive" — much to their likely bewilderment.

"They took me to the hospital of course, 'cause that's what you do when people start acting like that," Foreman said. "I was in intensive care for a couple of days, and finally I got out of the hospital, but I never was the same man. My life changed. For ten years I didn't even make a fist, let alone box."

After George Foreman's near-death experience in the dressing room following the Jimmy Young fight, he embraced a new life and outlook. As a born-again Christian, Foreman traded in his gloves for the Bible. As he told Pivot Point Publishing, he never intended to box again, deciding to throw himself into religion and become an ordained minister in 1979 (though his official website says 1978).

Foreman headed out to prisons and hospitals to spread the gospel, while he also started his own youth and community center. His entire life revolved around his ministry work. However, a decade into this new chapter of his life, a problem developed. Despite the successful years he had as a championship boxer, his funds ran dry. He was broke. "After 10 years out as a minister, I went back because I had literally run out of money, especially with the youth center work that I was doing," Foreman said.

On his official website, Foreman explained how everyone suggested he close down the youth and community center to reserve whatever money he had left. This wasn't an option for Foreman, though, since he saw the positive effect it was having on various people's lives. He decided to get back into boxing, but the comeback wasn't going to be easy after a 10-year hiatus. Not only did he need to get back up to speed, but he also had to deal with the doubters — and he sure did that by becoming world champion again.

Freeda Foreman became a boxer like her father, George. As per a now-deleted post on X (via ESPN), George said that when Freeda told him she wanted to box, he told her to get a college degree first before even thinking about it. She did just that and earned herself a degree in criminal justice then stepped in between the ropes. While Freeda didn't have a lengthy career in the combat sport, she accumulated a highly impressive record of five wins (with three via knockout) and one loss between 2000 and 2001.

In March 2019, Freeda died by suicide. She was 42 years old. George posted an emotional tribute to his daughter on X, writing how it was the first Sunday in 42 years that he would spend without her. "She's with her maker now," he wrote. "Just one more day I wanted. Okay, one more year. Aw, one more decade."

Appearing on Bad Left Hook's podcast, George remembered his daughter, joking how he thought she was so beautiful that she would go into something like modeling. Then, she shocked him by saying she wanted to become a boxer. He admitted that no matter what he would have told her, she would have found her way into boxing, because that's a trait all boxers have.

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The first few months of 2019 weren't easy for George Foreman. After the death of his daughter, Freeda, in March, another tragedy struck Foreman and his family in April of that year.

According to a CNN report, a fire broke out in the garage of Foreman's home in Huffman, Texas, and the firefighters were called for assistance to put out the flames. That being said, it wasn't revealed how the fire started in the first place. There were people inside of the Foreman home, but no one was harmed by the blaze. However, it wasn't good news for Foreman's extensive car collection in the garage. Up to 40 of his cars experienced different degrees of smoke and water damage, which must not have been a pretty insurance claim.

After the incident, Foreman took to his X account to let everyone know that he and his family were fine. "Don't worry, all is well," he wrote. "Dogs are barking and I don't mean my feet. Thanks to all the firefighters."

In March 2025, George Foreman's family posted a statement on his Instagram account, announcing his death. "Our hearts are broken," it read, accompanied by a picture of Big George and his family in happier times. "With profound sorrow, we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr. who peacefully departed on March 21, 2025 surrounded by loved ones." He was 76 years old. At the time of writing, Foreman's cause of death had not been confirmed.

The death of Foreman saw an outpour of condolences from across the globe. The boxing world, in particular, remembered one of its most famous and celebrated sons. One of the people who paid tribute to Big George was "Iron" Mike Tyson, whom Foreman once proclaimed the only fighter Muhammad Ali feared. Tyson posted two photos of the pair on X. He wrote, "Condolences to George Foreman's family. His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten."

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