George Foreman was a beast when he was young, a very powerful puncher. He mellowed into a likeable big teddy bear type as he got older and he was an unabashed capitalist, making lots of money off his name and reputation, such as the George Foreman Grill. He was also eccentric; if memory serves he had five or six sons, all named George.
I didn't read every obit, but the ones I did such as the BSPN one above, didn't mention Foreman waving the US flag in the ring after winning the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Like everything else in 1968, the Summer Olympics were very eventful and chaotic, probably best remembered for the black power fists raised by John Carlos and Tommy Smith on the medal stand after the 200 meters sprint. Foreman waving the flag in the ring following Carlos and Smith's stunt was something that made Foreman, then 19 years old, very popular in the eyes of the general public, which was then still mostly kneejerk very patriotic and reactionary and was sickened by the black power protest. Critics can say it was a calculated move by Foreman and maybe it was, but then again just about everything is political and was even then. It certainly was a huge part of Foreman's legacy, then and for the rest of his life, and to deliberately ignore it in obituaries certainly was also a calculated move by the regime's corporate media arm.
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