Keep meaning to post this, and admittedly, it keeps slipping my mind. With all that has been happening, both in the world as well as in my personal life, it has just felt extremely busy.
However, this was a great fight. It occurred just weeks after I was born. Yet, it seemed to have a major impact on both the professional legacies, and even the lives, of the two champion fighters who were involved. Decades later, there was a fascinating documentary movie called "When We Were Kings," which I reviewed for 'The Torch," the school newspaper at Bergen Community College which I was then attending. So clearly, it was well-remembered long after the fact.
Anyway, it took place on October 30, 1974, which was about a week and a half ago or so. Wanted to publish this a bit closer to when the 50th anniversary had actually occurred. But while that did not happen, it still felt like something worth posting anyway.
Here is it:
Not entirely sure how I missed this anniversary when it first came up just days ago.
On the 30th of October back in 1974 - 50 years ago just less than a week ago - was one of the most memorable fights in boxing history. It was on that day that then former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fought the undefeated, and seemingly unbeatable, heavyweight champion and knockout artist George Foreman. The highly billed fight was known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," as it was fought in the capital city of Kinshasa in what was then known as Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Most of the experts heading into the fight believed that Foreman would make quick work of Ali. They said that Ali was too old and washed up, perhaps as much as a decade past his prime. Meanwhile, Foreman looked simply untouchable, and had scored quick and decisive early round KO wins against both Ken Norton and formerly undefeated heavyweight champion Smokin' Joe Frasier. Ali had lost fights to both Norton and Frasier, and so it made sense that most of the experts assumed that this likely meant that Foreman would likely do some serious damage to - and make short work of - the significantly older Ali.
Still, despite everyone feeling that the seemingly invincible Foreman would likely win easily and overwhelm the older ex-champion with his frightening power, Ali kept clowning around. Ali guaranteed a win that would shock the world. He kept that kind of bluster up right through all of the considerable hype and hoopla that surrounded the fight.
Then on the night of the fight - and the story of the fight itself, and how it took place in the wee hours of the morning in local Kinshasa time - Ali took a different approach. He said that he would dance and move around, but he did not.
In fact, Ali took a very different approach to any of his previous fights. After recognizing early, after the first round, that Foreman was indeed incredibly powerful and would not easily be defeated, Ali took a different tack. He leaned up against the ropes and invited Foreman to come in and whale away. it is a strategy which came to be known as the "rope a dope."
It worked. Ali wanted Foreman to tire himself. So he allowed Foreman to throw everything that he had at Ali. Foreman said that he was feeling unusual that night, that he felt fatigued, worn down. That did not help. It took maybe four or so rounds, but by the end, Foreman had largely punched himself out, having expended all of his precious energy looking for an early knockout which simply had not come. by the later rounds, he was visibly fatigued and worn out.
Then Ali started showing signs of taking over the fight. This was especially true of the eighth round, of course. Ali delivered a flurry of punches, and it seemed that Foreman kind of almost tripped over his own feet before falling down on the canvass. He did not look completely out of it, and it seems like he was looking towards his corner, almost awaiting instructions. In the end, he did not beat the count.
Muhammad Ali was the heavyweight champion once again. He already had been considered a great champion, but this fight essentially turned him into a legend. Ali has remained a legend to this day. Most people - even other great fighters (including Foreman) consider Ali the greatest.
Below are some Facebook posts (and the links to them) which I saw honoring the memory of the fight, which seemed worth sharing here.
George Foreman recalls his boxing match with Muhammad Ali 🏆
George Foreman: ''Muhammad amazed me, I'll admit it. He outthought me, outfought me. That night, he was just the better man in the ring. Before the fight, I thought I'd knock him out easy. One round, two rounds. I was very confident. And what I remember most about the fight was, I went out and hit Muhammad with the hardest shot to the body I ever delivered to any opponent. Anybody else in the world would have crumbled. Muhammad cringed, I could see it hurt. And then he looked at me, he had that look in his eyes, like he was saying 'I'm not gonna let you hurt me'. And that's the main thing I remember about the fight.''
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=976175334552503&set=a.560951246074916
Muhammad Ali overcame long odds in "The Rumble in the Jungle" to regain the heavyweight championship with an 8th round KO of "Big" George Foreman at the Stade du 20 Mai in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo #OnThisDay in 1974.
Ali and Foreman spent much of the summer training in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire. The fight was the crescendo of a festival that featured a number of popular musical acts, but Ali and Foreman were the stars of the show.
Foreman, the heavyweight champion, was a 4-to-1 favorite to keep his title, even after the fight was postponed for a month after he was cut in training. But Ali turned in one of the greatest performances of his career.
While Foreman bored in and managed to beat Ali up to the body and occasionally land a big punch upstairs, Ali used his jab at a distance and employed his famed "rope-a-dope" technique to allow Foreman to tire himself out.
In round 8, with Foreman growing visibly exhausted, Ali rocked Foreman from the ropes and followed up with a hard right hand that sent Foreman reeling to the canvas. The champion couldn't quite regain his feet and Ali was declared the new champion.
"I told you, all of my critics," Ali said. "I told you all that I was the greatest of all time when I beat Sonny Liston. I told you today I'm still the greatest of all time. Never again say that I'm going to be defeated. Never again make me the underdog until I'm about 50-years-old."
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=978314291005915&set=a.555921896578492
"Everyone feared for Muhammad Ali. I did too. So, I thought I'd go in there and take him down fast—first, maybe second round—to keep him safe," George Foreman reflects on his iconic clash with Ali in the 1974 *Rumble in the Jungle*. "My corner urged me to end it early, and I threw everything I had. But then, there I was in the fourth round, and I’d hit Ali with every punch I knew. He hadn't budged. In fact, he seemed to grow stronger."
In that historic moment, Foreman wasn’t just fighting Ali; he was battling his own expectations and discovering his limits. Ali’s resilience wore him down, round after round, until the knockout that stunned the world. "I was undefeated, 37 matches in, and nobody had ever beaten me. But I had underestimated the man standing across from me. Losing? I wasn’t prepared for that."
The haunting aftermath stayed with Foreman long after the fight, as he struggled to reconcile his first defeat. "I’d wake up at night, reliving the fight, telling myself I'd get up before the count. But it never changed. Losing to Ali wasn’t just a loss; it was a shadow I had to live with, a reminder of the battle beyond the ring."
The match didn’t just make history—it transformed both men, pushing each to reveal the fighter within. #RumbleInTheJungle
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=548037757875220&set=a.381449217867409
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