Before McGregor vs. Mayweather, before Tyson vs. Douglas, there was a fight which has yet to be surpassed. 50 years ago, “The Rumble in the Jungle” took place, and the boxing world has still never seen anything like it. 

In one corner of the ring stood “Big” George Foreman. In 1974, Foreman was on top of the boxing world. Just two years prior, Foreman had defeated then-heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in just two rounds. Foreman was notorious for his immense strength and punching power, as well as his reputation for being anti-social and silent. In his defense of his title in 1973, Foreman knocked out Jose Roman in just two minutes, which remains one of the fastest knockouts in a heavyweight championship bout. Needless to say, Foreman was a beast.

In the opposite corner was a boxer that was on quite the opposite trajectory, Muhammad Ali. In the ‘60s, Ali was considered by all to be the greatest boxer on God’s green earth. By 1974, Ali was a has-been. An old man. Washed up, some said. His famous 1967 boycott of the draft for the Vietnam War had resulted in his exile from professional boxing for three and a half years and his heavyweight title being stripped from him. When he returned to boxing, Ali had “lost his touch”. He was slow and out of shape, and even lost his comeback fight to Joe Frazier in 1971. For this heavyweight bout, Ali was, for perhaps the first time in his career, the underdog.

“The Rumble in the Jungle” almost never happened. Boxing promoter Don King promised both Foreman and Ali a $5 million purse for the fight, which is about $33 million today. A key issue was that King didn’t actually have the money, he didn’t even have a venue. This resulted in King going to a very peculiar place for funding: Zaire. Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) had just had a change in government. The new dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, was looking to improve his image after his assassination of the former leader, Patrice Lumumba, who had been very popular with civil rights leaders around the globe. Mobutu had been advised that if his country hosted the fight, it would generate positive headlines about Zaire. So, Mobutu helped foot the bill along with Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi, though it would be through an undisclosed method.

“The Rumble in the Jungle” was more than a boxing match, it was a cultural event. Famous musicians performed at a three day music festival called “Zaire 74,” including influential voices like James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners and Bill Withers.

The fight turned out to be everything promoters had hoped for. In the first round Ali got aggressive, scoring several hits on Foreman. But in the second round, Ali debuted his “rope-a-dope” style to the world. Rope-a-dope involves a boxer putting himself on the edge of the ring, using the ropes as a wall to lean on and taking blow after blow in order to tire out their opponent. This tactic would be successful only if Ali was able to withstand Foreman’s powerful blows, which many believed he would be unable to do. Most thought that Foreman’s strength would win him the fight, but Ali had conditioned himself to withstand the assault that Foreman gave him. 

As Foreman began to tire, Ali took advantage of the exhaustion by taking shots at Foreman’s face – punching, taunting and calling him overrated and a poser. In the eighth round, Ali landed a six-punch combination which brought Foreman down, ending the fight in a knockout.

The fight was aired live on pay-per-view in venues all over the world, to an estimated 50 million viewers, grossing an inflation adjusted $620 million dollars in revenue. In addition to the closed-circuit television broadcasts, it also aired on free television and was reportedly watched by an estimated one billion people, a fourth of the world’s population in 1974.

“The Rumble in the Jungle” continues to impact the sport today and is considered to be one of, if not the single greatest fight of all time.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment