{"id":9945,"date":"2025-04-10T17:16:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T21:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefleetmag.com\/?p=9945"},"modified":"2025-04-10T17:16:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T21:16:43","slug":"big-george-foreman-success-of-an-icon-outside-of-the-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefleetmag.com\/?p=9945","title":{"rendered":"Big George Foreman \u2013 Success Of An Icon Outside of the Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We all know Big George Foreman as a world-class boxer, but he did so much outside of the ring as well. His influence during, and after his boxing career, will continue to be felt for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Foreman was born on January 10, 1949, in Marshall, Texas.  His family moved to Houston\u2019s Fifth Ward at a young age.  After a tough and troubled upbringing, he became an amateur boxer and won a Gold Medal in the 1968 Olympics.  He turned pro the following year and won the World Heavyweight Championship in 1973.  He retired from boxing, for the first time, in 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the next year, he found his second calling behind the pulpit. \u00a0He became an ordained minister in 1978. \u00a0In 1980, he founded The<\/strong> Church of Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>, a Pentecostal church in Houston, Texas. \u00a0\u00a0Before that, early church services were held in houses throughout the Houston area. \u00a0George also created The George Forman Youth and Community Center<\/strong>. \u00a0To help finance the new center, he returned to his first career path, boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Holly Stein \/Allsport<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his boxing return, George made his television series debut in a semi-autobiographical role, he portrayed a retired boxer who runs an after-school program for troubled youth.  In 1994, he made history by becoming the oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45.  Not only was he part of one of the most iconic boxing matches in history\u20141974\u2019s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’<\/strong> against challenger Muhammad Ali\u2014but he also went on to become the face of one of the best-selling kitchen appliances of all time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The George Foreman Grill went on sale in 1994. I\u2019m sure that everyone reading this who is over 30 years old has purchased or used a George Foreman Grill in their lifetime.  If you don\u2019t know George for his all-time boxing talent, you know him from his infomercials selling the \u2018Lean-Mean Grilling Machine!\u2019<\/strong>  It has sold over 100 million units.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Marketing is so powerful that every grilling device we see in stores is often called a George Foreman Grill, even if it isn\u2019t one. \u00a0One of his opponents, Evander Holyfield, put out a similar Real Deal Grill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George became a successful entrepreneur; not only was his grill a hot commodity, but he also sold cookbooks and Real Time Knock-Out Pain Relief.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In 2023, a biopic on his life Big George Foreman<\/strong> hit theaters.  George was portrayed by Khris Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Foreman passed away on March 21, 2025, at the age of 76.  Up until his death, he was very active in his church.  He left behind 12 children, including 5 boys, all named George, and seven daughters. One of his daughters, Freeda\u2014who passed away in 2019\u2014held a professional boxing record of 5 wins and 1 loss.<\/p>\n\n\n

Avatar photo<\/div>

THE FLEET MAG – WRITER
kerrylewis.fleetdjs@gmail.com<\/p>

Kerry Lewis<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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We all know Big George Foreman as a world-class boxer, but he did so much outside of the ring as well. His influence during, and after his boxing career, will… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":9947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,236],"tags":[364,345,440,376,359,344,347,348],"class_list":["post-9945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-top-stories","tag-entertainmentnews","tag-fleetdjs-2","tag-fleetnation","tag-musicbusiness","tag-musicnews","tag-thefleetmag-2","tag-webringtheurbanculturetou-2","tag-welivetheurbanculture-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t