Bludgeoned and bloodied after his heavyweight boxing match with Jimmy Young, George Foreman was really to go home and die. He had lost, and the spirit of death was all around him in the dressing room.
But then he heard a voice within him say, “You believe in God. Why are you scared to die?”.
“I was afraid. I tried to offer money to save my life,” Foreman told Charisma News’ John Matarazzo in a recent interview with the former two-time heavyweight champion of the world. “I heard a voice saying, ‘I don’t want your money. I want you.’
“Then my legs gave out on me and I was in this dark place. Over my head, underneath me, all around me was hopelessness. There was no more George. I was dead. I’ve not forgotten the smell of death to this day. I said, ‘I don’t care if this is death, I still believe there is a God.’ I was rescued from nothingness. I was alive in the dressing room laying on the table. I told my doctor who was standing behind me to move his hands because the thorns on his head were making him bleed. I told my masseur, I told him, move your hand where he’s bleeding where they crucified him.
“That was my first experience with Jesus and my belief in God and Jesus. I jumped off the table, jumped in the shower and started screaming, ‘hallelujah, I’m clean. I’m born again.’ That was 46 years ago, and I have not stopped screaming that yet.”
Determined to spend the rest of his life sharing the Gospel, Foreman became a minister and, in 1980, founded The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Born in 1949 in Marshall, Texas, Foreman was one of seven children and had a problematic childhood defined by instability, violence and poverty. After dropping out of school in the 10th grade, Foreman began abusing alcohol and engaging in violent crime on the streets of Houston’s Fifth Ward.
In 1965, he left Houston for the Job Corps in California, a program developed to help disadvantaged youth by teaching them vocational job skills. It was there that Doc Broaddus, who was a Job Corps counselor and a boxing coach, encouraged Foreman to channel his anger through boxing.
Foreman would go on to win a gold medal at the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games and eventually went pro. He beat previously undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973, winning the world heavyweight title. He lost that title to Muhammad Ali in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.
Even in the most turbulent times in his life, Foreman said he knew God was present, but he had to undergo a series of difficulties before realizing just how desperate he was for a Savior. He credited his mother’s prayers with keeping him alive when he should have died.
“In hindsight, [God’s faithfulness] was all over my life, period,” he reflected. “There I was, a thief, on my way to jail, underneath a house, hiding from the police, covering myself from head to toe with slop. I heard their voices, and I knew then I’d have to change things. I didn’t want to be a thief. I didn’t want to be a criminal. And that was a big change for me. And of course, learning how to box and going as far as I could with boxing. But still, I did all of that without the knowledge of God.”
Foreman officially retired from boxing for the final time at 48. He still leads his Texas-based church today and has released nearly two dozen books. In 1994, he launched a brand of grills, and since then, more than 100 million George Foreman Grills have been sold.
The athlete told CP he’s grateful for his success but firmly believes in the power of living life in light of eternity. He shared that Psalm 1:1 guides his life: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.”
“It doesn’t matter what you achieve, what you accomplish in this life,” he said. “The most important thing is to keep your eye on the true prize, and that’s serving God.”
“Find God, have faith in God,” Foreman added. “It doesn’t matter what happened, believe all things are possible. Don’t ever give up on possibility and your life can be turned and changed for the better.”
The boxer said he hopes his story inspires others to realize that they, too, can turn their life around and find the redemption that is possible through surrender.
“My life is a story of someone coming from nowhere and receiving everything possible in this life,” he said. “And the greatest thing that this life can offer is the chance for everlasting life, finding God, and that’s what I found.”