The most magical, incredible and dramatic fight, Rumble in the Jungle saw Muhammad Ali regain the title at thirty two, by knocking out formidable twenty five year old hitherto undefeated George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It`s estimated one billion people around the world saw this epic. Fifty million saw it on pay per view close circuit television. The fight which happened on October 30th 1974 had been postponed for a month, because George had suffered a cut brow in training, via the accidental elbow of sparring partner Bill McMurray. In round one, Ali surged forward and hit George with a booming straight right to the forehead. But after this, he conserved his energy, covered up and restricted George to fighting at short range, in what`s since been dubbed the rope a dope tactic.
Ali caught George time after time with right hand leads to the face and used cat like reflexes to cover up. Yet, George pounded Ali`s body with fearsome punches. George seemed to dominate round five, but in the last thirty seconds Ali spun off the ropes and landed some powerful jolting rights, which momentarily stunned George, who was wilting in the oppressive heat. It was a rehearsal for round eight, when Ali caught George with a five punch combination. A left hook set him up and a short right dropped him. George stumbled and Ali followed him all the way down with his right hand cocked, but never hit him again. Referee Zack Clayton counted George out.
Minutes later the heavens opened and the monsoon started. Ali was champion of the world again. He`d accomplished the seemingly impossible by overcoming George and he even survived the overwhelming ego of author Norman Mailer, who was also there.
WBC Countdown to #FuryWhyte Greatest Heavyweight Fights by OPUS: #RumbleInTheJungle #AliForeman
One of the most magical Heavyweight Fights in all boxing history and the Night Ali became immortal. pic.twitter.com/u7iLg7drtc— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) April 20, 2022
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