The Rumble in The Jungle: When Muhammad Ali upset the odds to became boxing's world champion for a second time

Muhammad Ali became world champion for the second time when he beat George Foreman in a bout dubbed 'The Rumble in The Jungle'.

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman during the boxing bout dubbed 'The Rumble in The Jungle'. (Image: Twitter)
By Shayne Dias | Oct 30, 2021 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

When discussing Muhammad Ali, it is impossible not to think of ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’. The bout between him and George Foreman has gone down in the annals of boxing history.

After all, the match saw Ali take a win against all odds. There’s no doubting the fact that he was one of the best boxers of all time – maybe even the best. But things were different by 1974.

Ali was no longer at his physical peak, whereas Foreman was the undefeated world heavyweight champion. Yet Ali would manage to win the bout in spectacular circumstances.

Today’s date – October 30 – marks the 37-year anniversary of the bout. Not only was it a spectacular boxing match, it was also a record-breaking event for television.

The match, which took place in the city of Kinshasa in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), saw 60,000 people in attendance. Around the world, over a billion people watched the match on television.

Of those billion, about 50 million were watching on pay-per-view. Overall, the fight grossed around 100 million dollars – adjusting for inflation, that would be worth five times the amount today.

On the anniversay date of the bout, let us now look back at the fight that many remember fondly.

The background

The world title bout between Ali and Foreman had been many years in the making. Ali had lost his first professional boxing match to Joe Frazier in 1971, after which he never got another title shot.

He beat Frazier in the second bout of their eventual trilogy and thus earned himself a shot at Foreman’s title. However, no one expected this to be an easy bout for Ali.

Foreman had risen rapidly to the top of the professional ranks after a gold medal win at the 1968 Olympics. To that point, he was undefeated – and his right hand carried near-mythical status.

He was renowned as a boxer with massive KO power. Indeed, the only two men to ever trouble Ali – the aforementioned Frazier and Ken Norton – were stopped by Foreman in two rounds or less.

And Foreman expected no different this time around. “I took the fight because I could knock him out in two rounds,” he says. “I thought, ‘$5 million for two rounds? Wow!'”

Indeed, the odds favoured Foreman greatly. Ali was 32 and past his prime; Foreman was in his prime and undefeated. Most expected Ali to lose the bout handsomely.

Zaire’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, would help finance the fight which went on to be known as ‘The Rumble in The Jungle’. The two fighters would train for more than a month in the country, in order to acclimatise to the weather.

Come October 30, the fight was on.

‘The Rumble in The Jungle’ – Ali’s second coming

Ali engaged in plenty of trash talk before the bout, as was the norm. However, he also changed tack in a bid to catch Foreman off guard. Most expected Ali to dance around and avoid Foreman early on; however, he came out swinging in Round 1 and managed to land several right hands.

Foreman thought he would knock him out in the second round. However, the battle took a whole different direction in the second round. He stayed back on the ropes, covered his face and body and then let Foreman punch him.

The tactic defied conventional boxing wisdom; after all, you don’t let a feared puncher land several haymakers in succession. However, Foreman’s punches didn’t get him any points. Significantly, throwing so many punches tired him out.

Ali, meanwhile, missed no chance to land punches when the opportunity arose. Buoyed by a partisan crowd chanting “Ali boma ye” (Ali, kill him!), Ali landed precise shots whenever Foreman tired too much.

By the eighth round, Foreman was spent. As he tried once more to pin Ali to the ropes, Ali landed a succession of right hooks.

He followed this with a five-punch combination, culminating in a left hook that straightened Foreman’s head position and a right hook that knocked him down onto the canvas. With Foreman unable to properly answer the count, Ali was declared the winner.

The reaction and aftermath

‘The Rumble in The Jungle’ showed Ali’s tactical genius and ability to take a punch. He also twice managed to twice unnerve Foreman in the ring by engaging in banter with him.

The first was when the fight was about to start. Foreman was staring at Ali, trying to intimidate him. Ali simply said, “George, you were a kid going to high school when I was champion of the world.”

The second came in the seventh round, and is best explained by Foreman’s words. “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 realized that this ain’t what I thought it was.”

The bout is one of Ali’s most celebrated, alongside the ‘Fight of the Century’ and ‘Thrilla in Manilla‘ bouts against Joe Frazier.

Incidentally, Ali and Foreman would go on to become friends afterwards – and they stayed close until the former’s death.