Big George... heavyweight whose reach didn't end in ring

WHEN Muhammad Ali died, George Foreman said in one of his many tributes toa foe turned friend he was “bigger than boxing".

- BYCHRIS McKENNA

Saying Ali was the best boxer of all time is only part of the story, is how he put it. In some ways, those words also capture Foreman after passing at 76.

Maybe not the best boxer of all time but certainly one of the best heavyweights in history.

George Edward Foreman was also a minister, a humanitarian and an entrepreneur.

Once belittled as a robotic, characterless puncher by Ali before the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, he would become one of sport's most loved characters.

When Ali died in 2016, Foreman sat by the phone and spoke to anyone who called about his great friend.

If Ali were here today, he would be regaling similarly warm tales about ‘Big George’ who wrote his own chapters.