The Rumble in the Jungle
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The Rumble in The Jungle was an historic boxing event that took place on October 30, 1974, in the May 20 Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). It pitted then world Heavyweight champion George Foreman against former world champion and challenger Muhammad Ali, who was looking to become the second fighter ever, after Floyd Patterson, to recover the world's Heavyweight crown.
The event was Don King's first venture as a professional boxing promoter. He managed to get both Ali and Foreman to sign separate contracts saying they would fight for him if he could get 5 million dollars to be their prize. However, King didn't have the money. So he began looking for an outside country to sponsor the event. Zaire's flamboyant president Mobutu Sésé Seko asked for the fight to be held in his country, eager for the publicity such a high-profile event would bring.
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[edit] Build up to the Fight
In 1967, Ali had been suspended from the sport of boxing for three and a half years following his refusal to obey the draft and enter the Army. He also was making a return after his loss against Joe Frazier, called the Fight of the Century, in 1971.
Foreman was listed as almost a three-to-one favorite by most bookies and oddsmakers,[citation needed] a reasonable prognostication given that Ali had lost to Frazier, and subsequently Foreman had gained the heavyweight championship in grand fashion by knocking Frazier down six times before finally knocking him out. Furthermore, Foreman had demolished Ken Norton, who had broken Ali's jaw, in only two rounds.
Foreman and Ali spent much of the summer of 1974 training in Zaire, and getting their bodies used to the weather in the tropical African country.
The fight was originally set to happen in September, but Foreman was injured and cut during training, pushing the fight back off to October.
With Hollywood stars and world boxing champions such as Ken Norton and Joe Frazier present, the fight started at 5 am Kinshasa time, to accommodate American viewers. Bob Sheridan was the commentator, with David Frost occasionally interviewing Jim Brown and Joe Frazier at ringside.
Foreman was easily the favorite to win this fight and retain his championship. Ali's fast fists were not expected to be able to counter Foreman's sheer mass and heavy hands, indeed Foreman was renowned as among the most powerful punchers ever.
Insiders say that, in Foreman's dressing room before the fight, handlers actually prayed that Foreman wouldn't kill Ali, that high was the anticipation that Ali was simply no match for Foreman.
[edit] The Rumble
Ali started the first round attacking Foreman. This was notable, as Ali was famed for his speed and technical skills, while Foreman's raw power was his greatest strength; close range fighting would, it seemed, inevitably favor Foreman and leave too great a chance that Ali would be stunned by one or more of Foreman's powerful haymakers. Ali made use of the right-hand lead punch (striking with the right hand without setting up with the left) in a further effort to disorient Foreman. However, while this aggressive tactic may have surprised Foreman and it did allow Ali to hit him solidly a number of times, it failed to significantly hurt him. Before the end of the first round, Foreman caught up to Ali and began landing a few punches of his own. Foreman had also been trained to cut off the ring, preventing escape. Ali realized that he would tire if Foreman could keep making one step to Ali's two, so he changed tactics.
Ali had told his trainer, Angelo Dundee, and his fans that he had a secret plan for Foreman. Almost right away in the second round, Ali started laying on the ropes and letting Foreman punch him, without any attempt to attack Foreman himself (a strategy Ali later dubbed the rope-a-dope).
As a result Foreman spent all his energy throwing punches (in oven-like heat), that either did not hit Ali or were blocked in a way that would do little damage to Ali. This loss of energy is the key to the "rope-a-dope" technique.
Ali seemed to do little to resist, except to occasionally shoot straight punches to the face of Foreman. (Although this quickly began taking a toll on Foreman's face and it was soon visibly puffy.) When the two fighters were locked in clinches, however, Ali consistently outwrestled Foreman, using tactics such as leaning on Foreman to make Foreman support Ali's weight, or holding down Foreman's head by pushing on his neck, a move which is both disorientating and which can heighten the effect of punches, since it causes a greater snap in the neck when a fighter is hit in the head, and which subsequently increases the chances of a knock out. Ali also constantly taunted Foreman in these clinches, telling Foreman to throw more and harder punches, and an enraged Foreman responded by doing just that.
After several rounds, this caused Foreman to begin tiring. As Foreman's face became increasingly damaged by the occasional hard and fast jabs and crosses that Ali threw, his stamina looked to be draining from him. The effects were increasingly visible as Foreman was staggered by an Ali combination at the start of the fourth round and again several times near the end of the fifth, after Foreman had seemed to dominate much of that round. Although he would keep throwing punches and coming forward, after the fifth round Foreman was very tired and he looked increasingly worn out. Ali continued to taunt him by saying "they told me you could punch George" and "that's it, I thought you punch as hard as Ari Louis."
Finally in the eighth round, Ali landed the final combination, a left hook that brought Foreman's head up into position so Ali could smash him with a rock-hard right straight to the face. Foreman staggered, then twirled across half the ring before landing on his back. Foreman did get up at the count of 9, as Bert Sugar of ESPN Classics has maintained, and as films of the fight clearly show, but the referee inexplicably signaled a ten count. Foreman later claimed that the reason he took so long to get up was that he was looking over at his corner, waiting for their signal to tell him when to get up, and that they were slow to do so.[citation needed]
Some argue this to have been among the greatest demonstrations of strategic planning and actual execution ever displayed in a heavyweight fight. Ali came into the fight with a tactical plan, executed it and achieved an upset for the ages, becoming only the second heavyweight ever to regain a championship.
The fight made clear just how great Ali was at taking a punch and also highlights the different, perhaps dangerous, change that Ali had made in his fighting style, by adopting the rope-a-dope, instead of his former style that emphasized movement. While the style change may have been necessitated due to Ali's age and ring inactivity in the late 1960's, film of the Zaire fight shows Foreman striking Ali with hundreds of thunderous blows, many blocked, but many getting through, mostly to the sides and kidney region, but some also to the head, but seemingly with no effect.
This fight has since become one of the most famous fights of all time, both because it resulted in Ali's regaining the title, but also due to the fact that Foreman would himself one day regain the title and become a popular champion. It is shown several times annually on the ESPN Classic network.
[edit] Reactions
Foreman later claimed that Ali's trainers had loosened up the ropes to benefit Ali, but he apologized for those comments after the fight.[citation needed] He produced a number of excuses over the years to explain his loss. Foreman even suggested that he may have been drugged by his own corner before the fight.
Foreman and Ali became friends after the fight. Ali had trouble walking to the stage at the Oscars to be part of the group receiving the Oscar for When We Were Kings, a documentary of the fight in Zaire, due to the fact he has Parkinson's disease. George Foreman helped him up the steps to receive the Oscar.
[edit] Cultural influence
The fight has had a large cultural influence. The events before and during this bout are depicted in the Academy Award winning documentary, When We Were Kings. The biographical movie Ali (2002) depicts this fight as the film's climax. In addition, Norman Mailer wrote a book (The Fight) describing the events, and placing them within the context of his views of black American culture.
Muhammad Ali was a very endearing figure to the people of Zaire, and his mind games played out well, turning the Congolese people in his favor and against Foreman. A popular chant of theirs leading up to, and during the fight was "Ali bomaye!", which means "Ali, kill him!"
In addition, the events surrounding the fight, such as its musical acts (BB King, and James Brown amongst others), added to its cultural impact.
The historical fiction novel The Poisonwood Bible mentions this event.
Johnny Wakelin wrote a song about this match called "In Zaire".
The Fugees also wrote a song about the event with A Tribe Called Quest and Forté titled "Rumble in the Jungle".
In the 1983 movie Rocky III, Rocky uses a strategy similar to rope-a-dope in his rematch with Clubber Lang (Mr. T).
In 2002, the fight was ranked seventh in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
The incident was covered in an episode of ESPN Classic's The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame..., examining reasons why people shouldn't blame Foreman for losing.
