Family, friends and the public are preparing to remember boxing legend, pastor and entrepreneur George Foreman during a memorial service in his hometown of Houston.
George Foreman IV, one of five sons of the boxing legend, along with Houston Mayor John Whitmire and former boxer Michael Moorer, who Foreman defeated in 1994 to become the oldest man at age 45 to win the heavyweight championship, are expected to speak at the service Monday.
The service will be hosted by Foreman’s family and the city of Houston at the Wortham Theater Center, a performing arts center that is home to the city’s ballet and opera companies.
“We are going to celebrate the life of George Foreman, two-time heavyweight champion of the world and certainly the face of how great Houston is,” Whitmire said. Foreman died on March 21 at age 76. Foreman’s family has not disclosed his cause of death, only saying on social media that he “peacefully departed … surrounded by loved ones.”
Born in Marshall, Texas, Foreman was raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward, one of the city’s historically Black neighborhoods.
He began his boxing career as an Olympic gold medalist in 1968, turning pro the next year.
Foreman became the heavyweight champion of the world when he beat Joe Frazier in 1973. But he lost the title the following year when Muhammad Ali beat Foreman in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in Zaire.
Foreman then gave up boxing and after a religious awakening, became an ordained minister in 1978. He began preaching in Houston, later founding The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1980. The middle-aged fighter returned to the ring after a 10-year absence and in 1994 pulled off one of the most spectacular knockouts in boxing history, flooring Moorer — 19 years his junior — with a surgical right hand to claim Moorer’s two heavyweight belts.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor.
He became known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing. A biographical movie based on his life was released in 2023.
Foreman had 12 children, including five sons who are all famously named George Edward Foreman.
