Five weddings, 12 children and 69 cars: portrait of George Foreman, the great boxer who passed away at the age of 76

He passed away in the past few hours George Foreman. Perhaps the very young will know only the name or a little more but for fans of boxing it was one legend. Impossible to blame them even just by scrolling through the list of the most significant goals: Gold medal at the Olympics of Mexico City 1968 and two times the world champion of heavyweights.

Born in Marshall, Texas, January 10, 1949, His career was divided into two parts: the first between 1969 to 1977, ended following an episode that marked his life forever.

That year on the island of Puerto Rico lost a meeting with Jimmy Young, a boxer not very strong but in a better state of form, which sent him to the carpet at the twelfth and last recovery and in the end he fought him on the points. At the end of the challenge, Foreman had an episode of hyperthermia, or a strong increase in temperature, which led him to live An experience of pre death. In his autobiography God in My Cornerremembering that moment wrote that he found himself, desperate and alone, in a place of desolation and fear where he would hear the voice of God who imposed him to change his life and to turn to the works of good.

The experience that disturbed him to the point of Make him hang the gloves on the nail at just 28 years oldwhen he was still at the height of success.

The 1974 match in Kinshasa, who went down in history as the most famous of all time, during which the boxer, then twenty -five years old, as a holder of the title of the heavyweights faced Muhammad Ali in the challenge christened Rumble in the junglehowever, ending up defeated in the eighth round for Ko.

After setting the boxing, George Foreman radically changed life: He was ordained worship minister of a church in Houston Where the George Foreman Youth Center also opened, an assistance center for young problematic.

His love story with the ring, however, had not yet fully finished and for this reason in 1987 he returned to fight at very high levels, until he became Again world champion in 1994at 45, beating Michael Moorer and also conquering the title of older world champion of the History of Hall weights.

The last match, in 1997 Lost against Shannon Briggs definitively ended a stellar career, made up of 76 wins, 68 successes for Ko and only 5 defeats.

In addition to boxing, Foreman’s life were animated Five weddings and 12 children5 of which baptized by him.

To give the news of death was his numerous familywhich in press release entrusted to social networks he spoke of him as “a person of great humanity, deeply respected, with a force always aimed at good, a man of discipline, strong convictions and custodian of his moral legacy, who has fought tirelessly to preserve his good name for his family”.

In the thousand lives of the sample there was also room for a lucky entrepreneurial parenthesis: after retirement in fact, a special grill launched on the market, the George Foreman Grill. After selling over 100 million pieces all over the world, in 1999 they give in commercial rights for 138 million dollars.

A deal that allowed him, together with the huge revenues given by the boxing career, to cultivate his Passion for carswhich over the years has led him to build a collection composed of sixty -nine models.