George Foreman

George Foreman was born on 10 January 1949 in Houston, Texas. Two-time heavyweight world champion, Olympic gold medallist (Mexico City, 1968), and one of the hardest punchers the sport has ever seen. He knocked out Joe Frazier in two rounds in 1973 to claim his first world title - a performance so dominant it shocked the boxing world. A year later came the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire: Foreman was the heavy favourite against Muhammad Ali, but Ali's rope-a-dope tactics wore him down before a famous eighth-round KO. After retiring in 1977, Foreman came back a decade later in one of sport's great comebacks. In 1994, at 45 years old, he knocked out Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history - a record that still stands. Outside the ring, Foreman became almost as famous for the George Foreman Grill as for his boxing. Warm, funny and deeply religious, he transformed his public image from feared destroyer to beloved icon.