On October 30, 1974, 32-year-old Muhammad Ali [no relation to Ali Ehrman. He was formerly Lew Alcindor. No. That was Kareem Abdul Jabaar. Ali was Cassius Clay] becomes the heavyweight champion of the world for the second time when he knocks out 25-year-old champ George Foreman in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” a match in Kinshasa, Zaire. Seven years before, Ali had lost his title when the government accused him of draft-dodging [he explained that he doesn't kill on the battlefield. Only in the ring. A fetish of his] and the boxing commission took away his license [scarily - he kept his drivers license]. His victory in Zaire made him only the second dethroned champ in history to regain his belt - which he called "My Gartel".
What was most remarkable was that both Foreman and Ali were able to find Zaire!!! And not only Zaire but Kinshasa!!!!! 馃槀馃槼 I mean this was before Google Maps and Waze and they found it!!! And this was after not a small amount of blows to their heads in previous matches and a lot of snakes, lions and tigers on the way.
The “Rumble in the Jungle” (named by promoter Don King, who’d initially tagged the bout “From the Slave Ship to the Championship!” until Zaire’s president caught wind of the idea and ordered all the posters burned. His suggestion of "Ham's Descendants Have A Family Fight" was also summarily rejected) was Africa’s first heavyweight championship match. The government of the West African republic staged the event—its president, Mobutu Sese Seko, winner of the 1974 award for "Best President Name", personally paid each of the fighters $5 million simply for showing up, (he obtained the money in TOTALLY honest ways 馃槈) — in hopes that it would draw the world’s attention to the country’s enormous beauty and vast reserves of natural resources. Ali agreed. “I wanted to establish a relationship between American blacks and Africans,” he wrote later. “The fight was about racial problems, Vietnam. All of that. Black Is Beautiful. And I am the Most Beautiful Black. Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” He added: “The Rumble in the Jungle was a fight that made the whole country more conscious. But it made Foreman unconscious.” He added that he didn't care about the money and was fighting only for altruistic reasons. Black Pride and Unity.
At 4:30 a.m. [after a public Tikkun Chatzos] on October 30, 60,000 [!!!!] spectators gathered in the moonlight (the country didn't have electricity. Organizers had timed the fight to overlap with prime time in the U.S.) at the outdoor Stade du 20 Mai to watch the fight. These are people who CLEARLY had a lot of important things going on in their lives. Yet, they were able to find time at 4:30 AM to watch two angry men trying to punch each other's brains out. They were chanting “Ali, bomaye” (“Ali, kill him”). And if that doesn't work out, then "Foreman, bomaye". The important thing is that there is blood and homicide. Otherwise they would feel they didn't get their moneys worth. The ex-champ had been taunting Foreman for weeks, and the young boxer was eager to get going. When the bell rang, he began to pound Ali with his signature sledgehammer blows, but the older man simply backed himself up against the ropes and used his arms to block as many hits as he could. He was confident that he could wait Foreman out. (Ali’s trainer later called this strategy the “rope-a-dope,” because he was “a dope” for using it. Also, b/c he was on a steady diet of dope.)
By the fifth round, the youngster began to tire. His powerful punches became glances and taps. . And in the eighth, like “a bee harassing a bear,” as one Times reporter wrote. Eventually he started kissing Ali 馃槻馃槻. Ali then peeled himself off the ropes and unleashed a barrage of quick punches that seemed to bewilder the exhausted Foreman. A hard left and chopping right caused the champ’s weary legs to buckle, and he plopped down on the mat. The referee counted him out with just two seconds to go in the round. It was only minutes before the match that the ref had learned how to count, so his timing was good!!!
Ali eventually lost his title and regained it once more before retiring for good in 1981. He died in 2016. But not before getting really sick b/c of all of the blows he absorbed in his career. Foreman, meanwhile, retired in 1977 but kept training, and in 1987 he became the oldest heavyweight champ in the history of boxing. Today, the affable Foreman is a minister and rancher in Texas and the father of five daughters and five sons [from 11 different women], all named George. He’s also the spokesman for the incredibly popular line of George Foreman indoor grills. His greatest pleasure is to have barbeques with all of his Georges and Georgettes.
Ali will be remembered not only for his great skill at breaking noses and fracturing kidneys but as a poet, philosopher and social commentator of no small repute. All crowned with his shining humility.
Some examples:
" .....now Clay swings with a right, what a beautiful swing
And raises the bear straight out of the ring;
Liston is rising and the ref wears a frown
For he can’t start counting ‘til Liston comes down;
Now Liston disappears from view, the crowd is getting frantic
But our radar stations have picked him up somewhere over the Atlantic;
Who would have thought when they came to the fight
That they’d witness the launching of a human satellite?
Yes the crowd did not dream when they laid down their money
That they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny.”
"When I’m gone, boxing will be nothing again. The fans with the cigars
and the hats turned down’ll be there, but no more housewives and little
men in the street and foreign presidents. It’s goin’ to be back to the
fighter who comes to town, smells a flower, visits a hospital, blows a
horn and says he’s in shape. Old hat. I was the onliest boxer in history
people asked questions like a senator.”
"I done something new for this fight. I wrestled with an alligator. I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed lightning, I thrown thunder in jail. Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”
"Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
”I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.”
"I saw your wife. You’re not as dumb as you look.” 馃槀馃槀馃槀馃憤馃憤
"It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila.”
" Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.”
"Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.”
"People say I talk so slow today. That’s no surprise. I calculated I’ve taken 29,000 punches. But I earned $57m and I saved half of it. So I took a few hard knocks. Do you know how many black men are killed every year by guns and knives without a penny to their names? I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.”
"Live every day like it’s your last, because someday you’re going to be right.” [Steve Jobs borrowed that one]
讝讻讜转讜 讬讙谉 注诇讬谞讜 !!!!
