Rumble in the Jungle: Remembering the epic George Foreman-Muhammad Ali fight

One of his losses, however, came against the late great Muhammad Ali in 1974, in a legendary fight billed as the “Rumble in the Jungle”. Here’s the story.

Foreman was the favourite to win.

On February 25, 1964 Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, knocked out heavyweight champion Sonny Liston to score an improbable win and become the world heavyweight champion for the first time in his career.

Only three years later, he would be stripped of his title and have his right to box taken away. The reason: Ali’s refusal to be drafted to the Vietnam War. Ali lost nearly four years of what would have been his career peak. He re-entered the ring in 1971. It would take him another three years to get a championship bout. His opponent would be the muscular George Foreman.

Feared for his punching power, size, and sheer physical dominance, Foreman had won his first championship by knocking out Joe Frazier in 1963. He went on to stamp his dominance by defending his belt against Ken Norton.

Foreman entered the 1974 fight against Ali with an undefeated 40-0 record. Two of his scalps, Frazier and Norton, were the only two boxers to have defeated Ali till that time. At 25, the younger and much stronger Foreman was an overwhelming favourite against the well-worn 32-year-old Ali, still struggling to regain his pre-1967 form.

Ali was the people’s champ.

It was not that Foreman was an unpopular athlete. But Ali held a mythical status, not only for his boxing prowess but as a Black icon, a champion of the Civil Rights and Counterculture movements of the 1960s.

This was very much a part of the narrative leading up to the “Rumble in the Jungle”, set to be hosted in Kinhasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). The country’s military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko saw the bout as an opportunity to promote Africa, Zaire, and of course, himself.

“A fight between two Blacks, in a Black nation, organized by Blacks and seen by the whole world; that is a victory for Mobutism,” signs around Kinshasa declared, according to an article in History.com. At the venue of the bout, a place where Mobutu had detained many a political prisoner, a large portrait of Mobutu hung above the two fighters.

Now, Ali did not have any particular allegiance to Mobutu. But he leaned on to the race and Africa angle nonetheless. “I wanted to establish a relationship between American Blacks and Africans… The fight was about racial problems, Vietnam. All of that,” Ali wrote in Ali: Journey of a Holy Man (1999).

To be sure, as did Foreman, who could frequently be seen in colourful dashikis in the lead up to the fight. But that did not turn the crowd in his favour. One of the most memorable aspects of the fight was the crowd chanting “Ali, bomaye” (“Ali, kill him”).

Ali simply tired Foreman out.

So when the two fighters entered the ring, the dynamic was clear. Foreman was the hands-down favourite to win. Some feared that he may even seriously hurt or kill Ali. But the people wanted Ali to do the improbable. And that’s what happened.

As was his style, Foreman came out swinging. So did Ali. But as the bout progressed, the nature of the fight changed. Ali began to retreat, and lean on his defence. He deployed what would later become known as his “rope-a-dope” strategy.

Ali simply leaned back on the ropes of the ring to evade Foreman’s vicious punches to his face, and tire his opponent out in the unforgiving heat. Simultaneously, he would take whatever opportunity he had to land strong jabs of his own. And when Foreman did manage to land one of his punches, Ali did not flinch.

“I thought he was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: ‘That all you got, George?’ I realised that this ain’t what I thought it was,” Foreman wrote in a 2012 article in the ShortList.

Ali knocked his opponent out in the eighth round with a flurry of counter-attacking punches, forever cementing himself as “The Greatest”.

A fight like nothing else.

The ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ is considered to be one of the greatest boxing matches of all time. Some 50 million viewers are estimated to have tuned in to the fight, which grossed a whopping $100 million in revenue (inflation-adjusted to roughly $640 million in 2024). Both fighters were paid $5 million each, more than the career earnings of past greats like Frazier.

From a boxing perspective, the fight was a treat to savour. The techniques used by the former went on to become a part of the combat sport for decades to come. That ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ is still eulogised even by those who might not have seen a fight for decades is because of the sheer narrative brilliance of the fight.

That Ali’s genius trumped Foreman’s “brute strength” made for a compelling story. As did the fight being a culmination of Ali’s struggle against the Vietnam War. “First, Richard Nixon [one of the war’s great proponents] resigned from the presidency… And after that, Muhammad Ali went to Zaire and reclaimed the heavyweight throne,” Thomas Hauser, Ali’s biographer and friend, told CNN. “1974 in Zaire was really the symbolic validation of what the 1960s stood for,” he said.

Foreman initially contested the results. Then he tried (and failed) for years to get a rematch with Ali. Then, in 1977, after losing only his second fight, he retired for the first time. He went on to become a preacher, and later returned to the ring in the 1990s for a triumphant swansong.

Over the years, Foreman and Ali developed a close relationship with each other. “I loved our relationship and to this day I still miss him. I didn’t like the idea that he beat me in Africa, but I love the idea that it made us great friends,” Foreman said in an interview to Sports Joe in 2023.