Boxing icon Muhammad Ali — “The Greatest” — captured the No. 1 victory of his career in 1974 by knocking out George Foreman to win the “Rumble in the Jungle.”
Ali flattened the previously undefeated champion 2 minutes, 58 seconds into the eighth round in Kinshasa in what was then Zaire, but is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition to an epic effort that displayed his boxing gifts, the triumph touched upon the role of Ali — who died on Friday at age 74 — as a cultural hero. He reclaimed the world heavyweight crown he had not held since being banned from boxing in 1967 for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, a conviction overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1971.
Photo: AFP
Using his now-legendary “rope-a-dope” strategy, Ali played upon fears that at 32 he might be seriously outmatched by the larger, more intimidating and younger Foreman, then a 25-year-old who entered the ring at 40-0 with 37 knockouts.
Ali leaned on the ropes and covered up while Foreman pounded away at him, his deflected blows doing minimal damage while spending precious energy.
Ali taunted the champion into swinging away as the rounds wore on that October night, while the crowd chanted “Ali, boma ye” (Kill him, Ali).
Photo: AFP
Foreman began to tire, while Ali started landing fast jabs and hard punches. In the eighth round, Ali connected with a lightning-bolt right hand and Foreman stumbled to the canvas, beaten for the first time.
“Muhammad amazed me,” Foreman said. “I’ll admit it. He out-thought me. He outfought me. That night, he was just the better man in the ring.”
In the run-up to the fight, Ali uttered some of the most magical of his rhyming quips. Among them:
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee — his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
“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 done something new for this fight. I done ’rassled with an alligator. I done 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.”
Ali was diagnosed in 1984 with Parkinson’s disease, which ended the snappy banter that had been his trademark.
Foreman, who needed 20 years to regain the crown, could not deny Ali’s greatness.
“Muhammad Ali has always been bigger than boxing,” Foreman said in a 2014 essay on his Web site.
“I say Ali was the greatest man because there has never been a man so young and so good at what he did, give up so much,” he added.
“I say boxing is too small for Muhammad Ali. He changes the very world. No other boxer could do that,” Foreman said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS