Rumble in the Jungle

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"He did not hit me when I was going down and that to me makes him the greatest of all times".

This remark of George Foreman is indicative of the greatness of Muhammad Ali and the sportsmanship of a worthy opponent who before their tangiest fight on 30 October 1974 never thought he would lose a title fight to an ageing Ali. George Foreman who passed away on 22 March 2025 was in his heydays a veritable killing machine, packing the heaviest punch in the game since Joe Louis. He had beaten Ken Norton and Joe Frazier knocking down the doughty warrior Joe Frazier six times during their eviscerating combat. In his 40 title fights, he had knocked out his 37 opponents and most of them in two rounds.

Muhammad Ali was by then an ageing warrior despite the fact that at 32 he still had the fire in belly and spring in his toes. People thought that he was a spent force and that his contest with Big George, as he was known, would yield a serious injury to Ali, the loquacious windbag. Ali's team had started looking for a suitable hospital in France, in case of his serious brain injury due to absence of a quality hospital in Zaire, where the bout was planned. Ali, however, had other plans and dismissed those apprehensions by telling Don King his manager "worry for George not me".

Long after their fight George Foreman commented, "Muhammad Ali was trying to win a boxing fight, I was trying to kill him." Ali was the challenger and an underdog while Foreman, who was known to finish all fights with a devastating punch, was the expected winner. Muhammad Ali, however, had other ideas as his faith in himself never wavered for a moment. He knew he had a plan and unswerving belief in his ability to last out the fury of Foreman's inhuman punches. His strategy later discussed by warfare experts like T.V. Paul was based on unconventional tactics perfected to a tee wherein the strength of an opponent is rendered irrelevant through a totally unexpected way of fighting.

The boxing promoters in seventies were finding difficulty in getting promoters for the world title bout, hence they appealed throughout the world and got an unexpected sponsor - President Mobuto of Zaire, who wanted to showcase his country as a sports destination. He announced $10 million prize money to be split between the two fighters, and due to that munificent offer the organisers selected Zaire as one of the first African countries to be hosting the world heavy weight title bout. Muhammad Ali was the first to grab the opportunity and reached Zaire early enough to start his conditioning regimen for the big fight. Ali's reputation as an iconoclast and rebel resonated well with the masses in Zaire who daily lined up to see him on his morning runs.

The isolation from distracting environment in America and the single-minded dedication of his team helped Ali acclimatise well with the weather and the local conditions. The hubris of Foreman and confidence in his victory had turned him a little complacent as he reached late in Zaire and then suffered an injury before the scheduled fight in September. The fight had to be moved ahead to October and though he still worked out regularly, he lacked ring practice that Ali benefited from. When the day of fighting arrived Ali's camp wore a lugubrious demeanour worrying about an impending defeat. Ali cheered all up by saying: "Cheer up, you are not going to a funeral."

The bout began in the heat and humidity of Kinsasha with almost all of the 60,000 spectators rooting for Ali. Big George charged in as an enraged bull with his hands pounding furiously at a dancing Ali who pirouetted and pranced while frustrating Foreman who spent his energy landing punches in the air. The razor-sharp reflexes of Ali and his strategy of wearing out Foreman worked fine on loose ropes of the ring that absorbed the weight of Foreman punches. Foreman was continually needled by Ali through his verbal jabs like, "George is that all you have got?" and "George you're not hitting".

T. V. Paul had analysed six case studies of wars including Falklands War, Arab Israel War of 1973, the Japanese offensive against Russia 1904, the Chinese intervention in Korea 1950, Indo-Pak War 1965 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 1941, and had concluded that when the weaker armies employed unconventional tactics against stronger armies the weaker armies always prevailed. Paul's hypothesis was proven correct in Ali vs Foreman bout.

With none of his opponents lasting more than 3 rounds, Foreman was more than sure of a victory against Ali but the old heavy punching stratagem did not work out. Ali had rendered Foreman's big advantage ineffective by crouching and glissading against the elastic ropes of the ring that absorbed the fury of Foreman's punch. The fifth round featured the last hurrah of Foreman who launched a barrage of mad punches, hoping to knock Ali down like all previous opponents. Ali, however, covered his face with punches and stood steadfast, psyching out Foreman all this while with his verbal sparring.

The unconventional rope a dope tactics ultimately tired Foreman who after sixth round started signs of weariness. His reflexes got slow and feet became heavy with fatigue in the cloying heat and humidity of Kinsasha. He later recalled his plight in these words: "They knew that if I couldn't set my feet properly, I couldn't generate my power; I felt like I was fighting in quicksand." The denouement of the boxing drama came in the fateful eighth round when Ali counter-attacked launching a lightening combination of right left punches piercing through the defences of Foreman.

A devastating punch knocked Foreman out and he could not get up in time during the referee's count. The unthinkable had happened as Big George was knocked out and lost his world crown. In the initial heat of the war, he came up with excuses like the quick count of the referee and the softness of the ring ropes but years later Foreman acknowledged that Ali beat him fairly and that the loss to Ali was the best thing that happened to him as it taught him humility, resilience and compassion.

A climactic and poignant moment in their relationship came in 1996 when during the Oscar ceremony where a movie on their lives, When We Were Kings, won the Oscar award, Foreman stepped up to support Ali who was battling Parkinson's disease, on the steps of stage. The world clapped as the two titans stood together lapping up accolades for Rumble in the Jungle and the subsequent achievements in their lives. The world will never forget the two titans of boxing history who left a rich legacy of sports as well as humanism through their conduct inside and outside the ring.