As the great and good of boxing past and present lined up to pay tribute to the heavyweight icon George Foreman, it was inevitable that Turki Alashikh would have a few words.
Former two-time world champion and 1968 Olympic gold medalist Foreman, whose unforgettable fights with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Ron Lyle authored treasured chapters in heavyweight boxing’s golden era, died on March 21. He was 76.
On X.com, Saudi boxing supremo Alalshikh posted: “Sad news for me and the boxing world… The last boxing pillar for an unforgettable era has passed away today… May his soul rest in peace. Big George Foreman!”
Alongside the post was a picture of Foreman, Ali and Frazier. It was taken during a promotional shoot for the 1989 documentary Champions Forever, where the celebrated trio joined Norton and Larry Holmes in a poignant look back at their glory days.
Sad news for me and the boxing world… The last boxing pillar for an unforgettable era has passed away today… May his soul rest in peace, Big George Foreman! 💔🥊 pic.twitter.com/cufeiEVyom
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) March 22, 2025
Foreman was already on the comeback trail, a path that would lead him all the way to detonating the sledgehammer right hand on Michael Moorer’s chin that made him the oldest heavyweight champion of all time at 45. That record, set in November 1994, still stands today.
Ali was already in the grips of Parkinson’s disease, the condition that would leave him increasingly diminished until his death in 2016. Foreman and Holmes were honourary pallbearers at his funeral.Â
Frazier had passed in 2011, a victim of aggressive liver cancer. He’d lost most of his fortune and lived with symptoms of neurological problems in his later years.
MORE:Â The best five years in boxing history: Timeline of Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton fights
George Foreman’s death is sad. It came without warning, a much-loved and life-affirming man to mourn. A cherished figure and a superman of our collective sporting memories.
But his life after boxing wasn’t sad. It was happy. He was one of the lucky ones. A gregarious, born-again everyman, who delighted viewers wanting good-natured and insightful boxing analysis, along with shoppers looking for a healthier way to grill their bacon.
From Frazier and Ali to fellow Foreman opponents Jimmy Young and Scott LeDoux, and other contemporaries including Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell and Jerry Quarry, heavyweight boxing’s golden era is littered with men who died in a diminished state at least in part due to their exploits in the ring.
George Chuvalo, who traded blows with Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Patterson, Terrell and Quarry, lives in a Toronto nursing home with advanced dementia at the age of 87, unable to recognise family members and close friends.
“It’s a two-edged sword. You cannot feel compassion without feeling a bit of guilt,” Foreman told Tris Dixon for his 2021 book Damage, a brilliant and vital investigation into CTE in boxing. “Even today, someone asked me about Muhammad and some of the damage I’d caused and I say there’s not been a day in my life in the last 25 years when I haven’t felt guilty about even laying my hands on Muhammad Ali. I don’t know why, but there’s always been guilt.”
Foreman attributed leaving the ring with his faculties intact to clean living and teetotalism outside it. Dixon acknowledges this is not exactly grounded in science, but Foreman had a happy and fulfilling retirement. He enjoyed time with loved ones and was financially secure. You’d hope that would be a given when our heroes hang up their gloves, but we know it isn’t.
The reasons for this are varied. Plenty of boxers come from volatile and tough backgrounds, which don’t leave a foundation for a stable existence after the final bell tolls. The former champion and their squandered riches is a tale as old as time.
“We should all bear the responsibility of taking care of these guys once these things happen,” Foreman told Dixon. “Literally billions of dollars have been earned through the Mike Tysons or the Holyfields… some of that money should be channelled to take care of these injuries that people suffer. Even now, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Floyd Mayweather… these guys have generated billions and a portion of that should be set aside to aid all of us one day.”
MORE:Â George Foreman’s 5 greatest knockouts, ranked
This is not a wish exclusive or original to Foreman. But it feels like something worth focusing on precisely because he didn’t suffer like his rivals. So far as we can tell he had a full and enriching life until the end, yet never lost sight of the dangers and consequences of his trade. They weighed on his hulking shoulders.
The numerous wonderful tributes to “Big George” have understandably basked in a story that was pure Hollywood, one he repeatedly retold with eloquence and empathy through a beaming smile. But the darkness is there in Foreman’s shared story with his fallen foes.
It is the right time to dwell upon this because of the winds of change that have ripped through the grizzled old sport in the past couple of years. Foreman flagged up the mind-boggling sums Joshua, Wilder and Mayweather were able to pocket. Since then, there’s more money coursing through boxing than ever.
This brings us back to Alalshikh and the Saudi boxing revolution. As we gorge ourselves on superfights and fantasy matchups, why not make a bold move to look after the heroes of today and yesterday properly?
The provisions Foreman wanted for his fellow fighters have never come about in any meaningful way outside of one-off benefits for those in dire straits. This is because boxing, in its fragmented existence of relentless politicking, lacks a central governing body and an associated union — the sort of organisations that typically pick up the slack for retirees in other sports.
The Ringside Charitable Trust is an organisation doing fabulous work in this area, but if Alalshikh truly wants to fix a sport that is “too broken” in his words, he might start here rather than going into business with the brains behind Power Slap. As hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown at captivating Riyadh Season cards, a portion could be set aside to provide a post-career safety net for every man and woman who steps through the ropes hoping to emulate Foreman’s great deeds.
Alalshikh and the General Entertainment Authority, a department of the Saudi Arabian government, have moved to recognise boxing’s rich history. Former champions have been flown out to fights in Riyadh, all expenses paid. Some left with a Rolex. Establishing and funding a foundation to care for ex-boxers would be a more substantial and enduring way to honour their bravery.
A broken sport denies its brilliant combatants the guarantee of dignity in retirement. George Foreman enjoyed that dignity and happiness as a revered heavyweight king, brimming with compassion and love for others. Boxing can afford to help boxers, now more than ever. It would be a wonderful tribute to Foreman if the sport could treat vulnerable ex-fighters how he wanted them to be treated.
“Big George” was a boxer who lived a life worth mourning after boxing. We should be able to say that much more often.
