The Rumble in the Jungle

The Rumble in The Jungle was an historic boxing event that took place on October 30, 1974, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire. It pitted then world Heavyweight champion George Foreman against former world champion and that time challenger Muhammad Ali, who was looking to become the second fighter ever, after Floyd Patterson, to recover the world's Heavyweight crown.

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Foreman later claimed that Ali's trainers had loosened up the ropes to benefit Ali, but he apologized for those comments and has admitted to saying them without any base and in a moment where he was feeling bad because he lost the fight. Having said this, in Norman Mailer's account of the match (described in the book The Fight), he describes quite explicitly that a member of Ali's camp had loosened the ropes in full view of the audience.

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Ali and Foreman have, despite their famous religious differences, become good friends in the years after the fight. They also appear together in the Champions Forever series of video documentaries and games, and both are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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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.

Related Topics:
Academy Award - Documentary - When We Were Kings - Ali

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Johnny Wakelin wrote a song about this match called In Zaire.

Related Topics:
Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire

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