50 years have passed since Rumble in the Jungle and the jungle, with its jaw broken, continues to rumble. Against all odds, Muhammad Ali, deprived of the title and without a license for more than three years for not enlisting in Vietnam, defeated the champion, George Foreman, in the eighth round.
The Texan boxer was the clear favorite, seven years younger, he had 40 victories, almost all of them by KO, and zero defeats and he had all the possible belts that night of October 30, 1974. As they say in slang, he was a champion undisputed. He had all the power. It was in Kinshasa, formerly Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the history of boxing took an unpredictable shortcut.
The holy trinity of boxing
Since 1970 there have been three notable Ali fights: ‘Fight of the Century’ (Frazier wins), ‘Rumble…’ (KO of Foreman) and ‘Thrilla in Manila’ (Frazier loses)
It was an event seen by a billion people and that invented the pay per view. “Is that all you have, George?” Ali’s big mouth (one thing doesn’t mean the other) snapped at Foreman on the way to the eighth and final round when he could no longer take his soul after mercilessly beating a challenger. who was swinging on the ropes enduring the deadly blows of Big George while saving energy for the counteroffensive.
It was a cunning technique that went down in history as the rope a dope. The challenger, who before the fight had only lost against Tuxedo Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston and Ken Norton. The undefeated champion, accustomed to dispatching his rivals before the third round, fell into the trap. “That wasn’t my night and that’s it,” he admitted years later after throwing away his own conspiracy theories: the ropes were too loose, they put something in the water…
Referee Zack Clayton stops the fight in which, for the first time in his history, Foreman loses a fight (he had 40 victories) and is stripped of all his world titles
In one of the most incredible miracles in the history of sports and after ten years retired without running even three meters in a row, but knowing God, Foreman would win the world championship again 20 years later at the age of 45 after seven years of fighting and two failed title matches against opponents who could be his children. A record of longevity that no one will beat.
The Rumble in the Jungle It is part of the most famous combat triad in the world completed by The Fight of the Century in 1971 (Frazier beat Ali) and the Thrilla in Manila (Alí took revenge this time Smoking Joe) in a fight in which the two miraculously stayed on their feet in the penultimate round.
The best fight in history
After regaining his license, Ali wanted to be champion again. Too soon. Frazier won in 1971 in ‘The Fight of the Century’
The Kinshasa fight went down in history not only because of the surprising result, but because it marked the coronation of an Ali whom no one else would call traitor for not having enlisted. It was in preparation when he let out some of his quips that have gone down in history, such as flying like a butterfly and stinging like a wasp.
After obtaining his license again, Ali wanted to regain the world title, but he was not ready: in his three-fight series against Frazier, he lost the first in the 15th round by unanimous decision. The first defeat of his life. Experts agree that that The Fight of the Century 1971 at Madison Square Garden is the best fight in history.
Double world champion George Foreman, ‘Big George’, tells stories of young Muhammad Ali in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, in 2017
They were both champions. A South African lawyer named Rohilahla, later known worldwide as Nelson Mandela, followed the fight with enthusiasm in his cell and years later confessed in person to Joe Frazier the admiration he had for his courage and person. It was a gesture because both Frazier and Sonny Liston had a bad reputation due to Muhammad Ali’s constant witty… and hurtful rants.
Joe Frazier, Nelson Mandela and promoter Butch Lewis in July 1992 in New York, when the champion gave him his 1971 championship belt in the fight in which he beat Ali
The man who loved Joe Frazier
The day Nelson Mandela was champion
TO Tuxedo Joe Frazier didn’t scare him at all, not even Muhammad Ali, and he didn’t let anyone touch his championship belt, just the one he won against. The Greatest in 1971 on the call The Fight of The Centurand. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. He was there for 27 years and when he was released in 1990 he wanted to fulfill a personal dream; meet both fighters. Frazier did not believe it when they told him. At the meeting, in 1992 in the United States, Frazier gave up the belt, which fell around Mandela’s waist, a tiny figure next to the South Carolina giant. He also met with Ali and they were photographed with their fists raised. The boxer knew perfectly well who was in front of him. Better not to fight with Madiba.
Norman Mailer, great writer, terrible candidate for mayor of New York, was in the front row on the day of The Fight of the Century. Frank Sinatra didn’t make it, but he took photos for a report by life. Ali won the sequel in The Super Fight II in January 1974 at the Garden, ten months before the fight with Foreman (then current champion after beating Frazier).
On March 8, 1971, Muhammad Ali lost the first fight of his career at Madison Square Garden against Joe Frazier. ‘The fight of the Century’ is considered the best fight in history
In 1975, Ali, already crowned after the surprising victory in Africa, defeated Frazier again in 1975 in the famous Thrilla in Manila in which The Greatest He did not invent rap but he did put it on the scene: “It will be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla when I get the Gorilla in Manila.” Ali was sharp and a genius, but he was also racist: education was not his thing and neither was diplomacy.
In his meeting with the Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his ineffable wife, Imelda, the champion presented his lover, Veronica Porsche, as his wife. The real one, Khalilah Ali, saw it on TV at home in the US and took a flight to Manila. Her screams in the hotel room can still be heard.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier during ‘The Thrilla in Manila’, the third and last fight between them: Ali won the last two
Frazier, on the other hand, went to the mountains, where the heat and humidity were less, following a Spartan life. The fight, at 10 in the morning, close to 50 degrees, was an epic. In the fourth and fifth rounds, Frazier beat up Ali, who insisted on the rope a dope.
“Get out of there, get out of the fucking ropes,” repeated Angelo Dundee, his coach, who hated the rope a dope. Ali hated Frazier, and it’s not acceptable: Smoking Joe helped him when Muhammad didn’t have a cent because they wouldn’t let him box. How ungrateful.
To the limit
“It’s the closest I’ve ever been to death,” Muhammad Ali confessed of his victorious fight in Manila against Frazier.
In the eighth, Ali received a somanta again: “It’s the closest I’ve been to death,” he said then in his corner to his team. In the 13th Frazier’s eyes were so swollen that he couldn’t see. In the 14th minute, Muhammad landed 30 blows. There was no last round. The result of the points was adjusted. Alí, years later, confessed to his biographer Thomas Hauser: “Frazier gave up a little earlier than I would have, I don’t think he could have fought more.”
In parallel, Foreman’s story was one of a roller coaster, he became a religious pastor and when he ran out of money for his missions he had to return to the ring with a zillion kilos more than in 1968, when he won Olympic gold in Mexico. He had retired in 1977 after a heart scare after a fight. The following year, Ali would lose a world title against Leon for the first time. Neon Spinks, a title he would recover shortly after.
Foreman did not put on the gloves again until 1987, he was 38. Seven years of traveling in unknown lands, against rivals much finer and younger than him. At first he was in very bad shape, then without the grace of his good years, his fists and faith made him win fights or come close to victory.
He held out until the last round in the super heavyweight title and only lost on points against the almighty Evander Holyfield. In 1993 he had another chance to win the belt of another division against Tommy Robinson. Unsuccessful.
Foreman celebrates Olympic gold in Mexico ’68, 26 years before his second, and incredible, world title in 1994
Foreman (right) was 45 years old and many kilos heavier than in his golden age. To beat Moorer in Las Vegas in 1994 he wore the underwear he wore in Kinshasa
By then, Michael Moorer had taken the honors from Holyfield and chose Foreman to preserve the belt. He was 19 years younger and Big George seemed like an easy contender. Twenty years and seven days after his defeat in Zaire, Foreman appeared in the ring in Las Vegas wearing the same trunks as in Kinshasha.
He suffered the entire fight, but a miraculous blow sent Moorer to the canvas. Foreman went to the corner to pray and then burst out laughing. He had broken all longevity records. At the moment he is 75 years old and a multimillionaire: he has made more money from his famous grills than from hitting swords.
When Ali died, Foreman tweeted: “Hana Ali and family, my heart goes out to you. Muhammad was a great man who will never die. In the image both with Frazier with whom Ali made peace over the years
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