Former heavyweight boxer Jimmy Young, who beat George Foreman and fought Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton in the 1970s, has died.

Young, 56, died Sunday at Hahnemann University Hospital, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported he had died of heart disease after a six-day hospitalisation.

Young compiled a 35-18-3 record with 12 knockouts during a career that spanned from 1969 to 1990.

He was a quick, stylish fighter, but lacked a knockout punch.

"He was brilliant," boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar said. "The problem is that he was in one of the best classes of heavyweights ever, and all the other stars had bigger punches."

Young accepted his April 30, 1976, championship loss to Muhammad Ali in Landover, Maryland, although some boxing experts disputed the decision.

"To beat Ali in those days," Young said, "you really had to beat him bad, you know what I mean?"

And he understood when stories after his 12-round decision over Foreman in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 17, 1977, focused on Foreman, who retired for the first time.

But he never got over a split-decision loss to Norton on November 5, 1977, in a WBC elimination bout in Las Vegas.

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