Boxing · 1974 · Kinshasa, Zaire
The Rumble in the Jungle
A 32-year-old former champion, written off by almost everyone, out-thinks an unbeaten knockout machine a decade his junior to reclaim the heavyweight crown.
Ali def. Foreman, KO round 8
Result
40-0
Foreman record entering
~60,000
Attendance
George Foreman arrived in Kinshasa unbeaten in 40 fights, having demolished both men who had beaten Muhammad Ali earlier in the decade, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, inside three rounds apiece. Almost every ringside expert expected Ali to be the third.
Ali's answer was a tactic he had never used before and named only after the fact: the 'rope-a-dope'. He spent round after round leaning back against the ropes, arms up, absorbing Foreman's heaviest punches on his forearms and gloves rather than his body, letting the younger man tire himself out in the humid Kinshasa night.
By the eighth round Foreman was exhausted and Ali went on the attack, dropping him with a combination that ended the fight. The image of Ali standing over Foreman, and the fight's outdoor 4am local start time to suit US television, made it one of the most documented events in boxing history, later the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary 'When We Were Kings'.
Watch the Moment
