How George Foreman came to be buried in Sioux City, Iowa

But George Foreman, a two-time heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist, was serious.

Foreman, who died March 21, 2025 in Houston at age 76, visited the region in 1988 and often spoke to his family about the area's landscape and the peace it brought him. 

At a news conference Thursday morning at City Hall, George Foreman Jr. said his father spent time in Lincoln, Nebraska, and crossed over the border into Iowa.

"And then, in time, he saw the hills. He would talk about the hills," he said of his father, who loved cowboys and Westerns.

When Foreman's family saw the spot where he would be buried in Sioux City's Logan Park Cemetery, overlooking the Loess Hills, they knew it was perfect. 

The Loess Hills are a unique formation of wind-deposited loess soil in western Iowa that extend from Plymouth County to the Missouri border.

Foreman is survived by his wife of nearly 40 years, Mary Foreman, his 10 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and extended family

"It's the scenery of a Western, overlooking the hills," George Foreman Jr. said of where his father is buried. "And then, when the snow was there, it's like you couldn't draw a picture. It's just like a perfect movie, a perfect story."

Foreman's family laid him to rest in the cemetery at the city's northwest edge on April 17, 2025. A year later, the family returned to visit his monument and thank city officials who helped facilitate his burial. They expressed deep appreciation to Mayor Bob Scott, who was gifted with a red boxing glove signed by Foreman, as well as Police Chief Rex Mueller, Parks Superintendent Kelly Bach and Cemetery Supervisor Roger Posey. 

"Today is a very meaningful moment in our community, one that reminds us how deeply a place can touch a person's life, even decades after they pass through. More than 40 years ago, a gentleman visited Iowa and felt such a profound connection to the landscape and its people that he carried it with him for the rest of his life," said Scott, who said the boxing glove "means an awful lot to a guy like me who grew up watching this guy fight."

The monument includes an image of Foreman waving a small American flag after winning Olympic gold in Mexico City in 1968, a move he took some flack for in a politically turbulent year that saw the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 

"I didn't wave the flag to make a statement. I waved it because I was happy," he said of the moment.

Natalie Foreman, Foreman's daughter, said her family is "ever grateful" that the city "watched over" her father in their absence. 

"During the time it took to create his headstone, there were periods of uncertainty due in part to distance. We waited. We visited often, but mostly we just trusted, and that is where this community stepped up and stepped in," she said. "The gravity of that responsibility is not lost on us, and we will always be grateful. What may have seemed like an act of care carried even greater meaning for us. You gave us peace of mind when we needed it most." 

George Foreman IV said he was asking himself what his father would say and do if he were here today. 

"And more than anything, he is here. He's here in our hearts, here in our minds," he said, noting his father had a mantra. "He would say, 'George Foreman is the happiest of all time.' ... He would have been so proud for us to be here, because the kindest, most joyful and happy people are right here in Iowa. And I got to see it firsthand. He carried that with him everywhere he went — the kindness." 

Foreman, who was born in Marshall, Texas, first captured the world heavyweight title when he knocked out the then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. He famously lost to Muhammad Ali in the "Rumble in the Jungle" match in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He retired for the first time in 1977 and later became an ordained Christian minister.

At age 45, Foreman became the heavyweight champion a second time by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer. To this day, he is the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. As a third act, Foreman became a successful businessman with his endorsement of the George Foreman Grill, which has done more than $100 million in sales.   

"There are whispers, secondary stories of allegedly losing a fight and being so despondent about losing that fight that his mentor took him driving," Natalie Foreman said of her father, who remarked that the Siouxland landscape reminded him of his East Texas home. "All these things coupled together brought us to this point of recognizing that this is where he needed to be."