Ali Regained Title in Historic Fight 40 Years Ago

Forty years ago, on Oct. 30, 1974, two American heavyweights slugged it out in Zaire - today's Democratic Republic of Congo - in a historic boxing match. The Rumble in the Jungle, as the fight was advertised in the U.S. and abroad, matched former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali against the reigning champ, George Foreman. Ali knocked Foreman out to regain the crown, which he had lost seven years earlier when the U.S. government accused him of draft-dodging and boxing officials revoked his license.

Ali had traveled a long road to reach this point. After a three-and-a-half-year exile from boxing, he was reinstated in 1970. But he lost a heavyweight title fight in 1971 to Joe Frazier, who later succumbed to Foreman.

American sportswriter Jerry Izenberg said the impact of Alis victory in Zaire may be the greatest ever for a heavyweight bout. Alis legacy as a fighter, he said, would have been different had he lost.

It was a fairy tale," Izenberg said. "This guy was chasing a golden fleece and when he finally got within inches of it, someone else held the golden fleece. Frazier was out. It was fits and starts. It was like a morality play.

Ali made news not only by winning the fight, but also in the days leading up to it. Training in Zaire, he tried to endear himself to the country's people. He jogged with fans and spoke to the crowds, and he painted Foreman as the bad guy.

'Ali Bomaye'

Zaire was a Belgian colony before gaining independence in 1960. Knowing that Zaireans disliked Belgians, Ali told the media that the Texas-born Foreman was actually Belgian. Fans started chanting Ali Bomaye, or Ali, kill him!"

So Ali got off the plane, puts his hands in the air and he yells, `I hereby declare George a Belgian," Izenberg said. "Well, the place went nuts. Beyond that, then that chant started, and they asked the interpreter what that meant and he said it meant `Ali, kill him. For the rest of the time that he was there, he was leading those chants all over town and all over the compound that we lived in.

As he had done with other fighters, Ali taunted Foreman, using his wit and penchant for creative word choice. Case in point:

I said last night, I had a dream. When I got to Africa, I had one hell of a rumble. I had to beat Tarzans behind first for claiming to be the king of the jungle. For this fight, Ive wrestled with alligators, Ive tussled with a whale. Id handcuff lightning and put thunder in jail. You know Im bad. I have murdered a rock. I injured a stone, and I hospitalized a brick. Im so bad I made medicine sick. Im so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and dont get wet. When George Foreman meets me, hell pay his debt. I can drown a drink of water and kill a dead tree. Wait 'til you see Muhammad Ali.

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Ali Regained Title in Historic Fight 40 Years Ago