George Foreman: The great who went from juvenile delinquent to national treasure

Redemption was a long time coming for George Foreman, and when it finally arrived he grabbed it with both fists.

For years Foreman, who reigned as world heavyweight champion during his division’s greatest era, was forced to act as an antidote to the more popular successes of his main rivals, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

In the build-up to the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in what was then Zaire in 1974, Foreman, who died at the age of 76, was characterised as a humourless ogre in stark comparison to Ali’s ebullient charm: a persona Foreman did little publicly to try to change.

Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1949 and endured a troubled childhood, responding to local bullies by becoming, by his own admission, a juvenile delinquent, involved in shop-lifting and mugging and frequently finding himself in trouble with the police.

After dropping out of high school at the age of 16, Foreman enrolled for the local job corps, a decision he credits with helping to turn around his life. It was during a session that he caught a glimpse of an Ali fight against Floyd Patterson, and convinced himself he could become a boxer.

Just over a year after winning his first amateur fight, Foreman won the right to represent the United States in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Three straight wins took him through to the gold medal match against Ionas Chepulis, before which Foreman admitted he was “scared”.

Foreman’s devastating second-round win paved the way for an inevitable professional career. Over the course of the next three years, he cut a swathe through the heavyweight division, winning all but three of his first 37 paid bouts inside the distance to force a meeting with reigning champion Frazier in Jamaica.

Frazier went into the bout also unbeaten, having won the title from Ali. But Foreman destroyed him, knocking the champion down six times before the referee called a halt midway through the second round.

Foreman seemed invincible, swatting aside two top-level challenges to raise the inevitable prospect of a bout against the ageing Ali, then 32 and still struggling to regain the form he had shown prior to being banned for avoiding the Vietnam draft.

The bout was set for the heart of Africa and Foreman was the overwhelming favourite. But Ali courted the populist vote during the lengthy build-up to the fight, which was extended by an extra month when Foreman suffered an eye injury in training.

By the time of the first bell for the bout that would become forever known as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’, there was a sense of something special, and Ali duly provided it, soaking up extraordinary punishment before pouncing in the eighth round to sink Foreman to the canvas and win back his belts.

Foreman fought six times more, including another win over Frazier, before retiring following defeat to Jimmy Young in 1977. But a full decade later, having become ordained as a priest in the meantime, he announced a remarkable comeback attempt.

Working his way back through the ranks, Foreman did enough to earn a shot at then-champion Evander Holyfield in 1991, which he lost on points. But three years later, despite another loss in the meantime to Tommy Morrison, he stunned Moorer and the world by winning back the title at the age of 45.

By the time Foreman finally hung up his gloves in 1997, he had completed his remarkable journey from unloved street-tough to national treasure.

But Foreman still had one more epilogue up his sleeve – or rather in his stomach.

Crediting his successful comeback to healthy eating, Foreman gave his name to a grill which went on to sell in the millions, earning Foreman figures which dwarfed his boxing career, and he also evolved into a prominent television celebrity and boxing pundit.

Married five times, Foreman had 12 children, including five boys, all of whom he named George. “I named all my sons George so they would always have something in common,” Foreman said.

“I say to them, if one of us goes up, we all go up. And if one goes down, we all go down together.”