The prize fight that redefined the boxing world was the October 30, 1974, fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The Ali and Foreman rumbling in African Jungle fight between 32-year-old Muhammad Ali and 25-year-old champion George Foreman was a hyped match that transcended its promotion. In the build-up to the fight, American journalists named the legendary fight in Kinshasa, "Rumble in the Jungle."
More
than a fight
The
duel between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman was more than a fight for the
heavyweight boxing world title. The Ali and Foreman rumbling in African Jungle
was the greatest sporting example that competence and determination, combined
with a good dose of intelligence, can make any result possible.
Foreman
was the outspoken favourite. Seven years Ali’s junior and with an enviable
record of 37 knockouts in 40 wins (against Ali's 31 knockouts in 44 wins), he
was such a brute that he'd won the belt the previous season, knocking champion
Joe Frazier down six times in two rounds.
The
making of boxing godfather
This fight was the first for boxing
promoter Don King, called the Godfather of American boxing, a mythical figure
in the entire world of boxing. He proposed holding the fight in the heart of
Africa—Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), persuading Zairian
dictator Mobutu to allocate twelve million dollars for it (compensation for
both boxers was five million dollars).
Upon learning that the fight would take
place on the Black Continent, Mohammed Ali said that this fight was a fight for
a "big black deed," to which Foreman objected that he was "twice
as black as Ali."
Later,
experts will refer to this tactic as "rope doping"
(rope-a-dope)—pulling back while protecting his head as far outside the ring as
possible. Ali won against Foreman, including the legendary fight against Joe
Frazier and many subsequent fights using this style of fighting.
The
duel
The fight was scheduled for eight in the
morning for the convenience of a huge television audience—mostly Americans. In
the Ali and Foreman rumbling in African Jungle the more powerful and aggressive
foreman constantly attacked. But all the blows came on defence.
Besides, he was not as technical and
thought-provoking as Ali and mainly relied on the crushing power of his punch.
Experts then said that Foreman had only two virtues: a left punch and a right
punch. Ali, competently defending himself, regularly counterattacked, focusing
on the cross to the head.
Ali
bomaye
With his charismatic and talkative ways,
Ali snatched the people of Zaire, who were shouting "Ali bomaye!"
(something like "Ali, kill him!"). To escape the power of Foreman's
blows, Ali spent the entire fight leaning on the ropes and mitigating the blows
he suffered.
At the end of the eighth round, Ali landed
a decisive right hook on an exhausted Foreman and sent him to the floor. The
referee, without counting to ten, decided to stop the fight. Ali and Foreman
rumbling in African Jungle match to date remains one of most memorable boxing
contest in history.
After
the fight, Ali will declare himself the greatest boxer of all time and said
that no one can beat him until the age of fifty. Despite the verbal bickering
in the press between the fighters before and after the Ali and Foreman rumbling
in African Jungle match the relationship between them could not be called
hostile at the Oscar ceremony. During the award ceremony for the film,
"When We Were Kings," dedicated to this fight, Foreman held Ali by
the hand.
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