Remembering George Foreman. 

A man who won everything in the Ring but found meaning beyond it.

"Big" George Foreman, one of the most influential and recognizable boxers of all time, died Friday. He was 76. Foreman, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1968, was a two-time heavyweight champion and Hall of Fame boxer.

His family said in a post on Instagram on Friday night: 

"Our hearts are broken. A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a proud grand and great grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility, and purpose."

He is best known for the historic Rumble in the Jungle bout with Muhammad Ali in 1974 in Zaire, a fight Foreman lost in an upset via eighth-round knockout. It's arguably the most famous fight of all time, and the "When We Were Kings" film that chronicled the fight won an Oscar for best documentary feature.

Foreman famously won the heavyweight championship at age 24 and then again at age 45 to become the oldest title holder in history. But it was a near-death experience in between those two titles that transformed his life and led him to become a pastor, he says.

That life-changing experience took place in 1977. 

Foreman was full of pride, he says.

“I was in the dressing room … walking back and forward and saying, ‘I don't care about this boxing match I lost. I'm still George Foreman.’ You know, I can win this [next match] and I got my movie career, I got my money in the bank. And I could go home and retire now and die. That sneaked into my conversation – ‘die.’ And I couldn't get it out. All of a sudden I faced death, and I knew I was about to die.” “So with that in mind, I heard a voice within me say, ‘You believe in God, why are you scared to die?’ And I was afraid – I really was. And I started fighting to keep my life in me. I eventually lost the fight.”

Foreman said he died in the dressing room that night but God brought him back to life. The moment is portrayed in the movie Big George Foreman. 

“I was gone out of this life. Above me, under me, all around me was nothing. “The most sad thoughts that you can even come to mind – multiply it. I was in a dump yard of nothing and sorrowfulness. … I remember thinking there was no hope for me – like someone had dropped me out in a sea. There was no land.”

At that moment, Foreman said he cried out, “I still believe there's a God!” Suddenly, “a hand reached in and pulled me out of nothing and death.”

Foreman quit boxing, began preaching and opened a youth center. When he ran out of money for his ministry in the late 1980s, he started boxing again, winning his second heavyweight title in 1994.