'It just hurts': Tributes flow from across sport for boxing icon George Foreman

Australian boxing legend Jeff Fenech has remembered George Foreman as the "biggest puncher in history".

Tributes have flowed from across the sporting landscape since Foreman's family announced his death on social media on Saturday (AEDT). He was 76.

Fenech spent a significant amount of time with Foreman through their involvement in World Boxing Council conventions around the world.

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On Sunday morning, Fenech remembered him as "an amazing human being".

"For the man that he was, for the size of the man he was, he was just a total gentleman," Fenech said on Nine's Weekend Today.

"He was one of the greatest fighters in history and maybe the biggest puncher in history.

"But as a human ... he was just this funny guy who loved everybody."

In a staggering 28-year boxing career, Foreman famously had only one knock-out defeat – to Muhammad Ali in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' bout in 1974.

"I think that he went into that fight thinking 'I'm just going to knock this guy out', and it didn't happen," Fenech said.

"But that fight will be remembered for all time. It was one of the great fights in history, one of the greatest matchups in history."

After retiring from fighting, Foreman became an ordained minister and devout preacher.

But it's for his iconic George Forman grill that he's perhaps best remembered among the younger generation. He released the appliance in 1994 – the same year he defeated Michael Moorer to win his second heavyweight title.

"He made more money out of this grill than he did in boxing ... he was a big man who loved to eat," Fenech said with a laugh.

"It's really, really sad that we've lost a not just a great sportsman, but a really great human being."

Fellow former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who never faced Foreman in the ring, shared two photos of the pair on X.

"His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten," he said.

World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaimán said Foreman was a "legendary boxing champion, life changing preacher, husband, father, grand and great grandfather and the best friend you could have".

"His memory is now eternal, may Big George rest in peace," he said.

Basketball great Charles Barkley admitted Foreman's death had left him "shook up".

"I got to know Mr Foreman a little bit seeing him at all the boxing matches and I always picked his brain about trying to be an entrepreneur when your career is over," Barkley said on TNT's coverage of an NCAA tournament.

"He was obviously one of the greatest boxers ever, but just a gentle man, he was a pastor. It just hurts, man. Plain and simple, nothing else I can say.

"My condolences to his family. I'm shook up right now because that caught me so off guard."