‘Rumble in the Jungle’ still rings loud

Boxing great Muhammad Ali during a bout in 1974. Ali passed away on June 4, 2016. PHOTO | FILE |

What you need to know:

  • It carried with it a number of scenarios few people could imagine.
  • First, there was George Foreman, the undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion entering the ring a huge favourite against Muhammad Ali, a former world champion.
  • The fight, held in Zaire on October 30, 1974 started with a lot of fury. By the eighth round, Ali had knocked Foreman out.

In the history of boxing “Rumble in the Jungle” will be remembered as the most famous of fairy tales.

It carried with it a number of scenarios few people could imagine. First, there was George Foreman, the undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion entering the ring a huge favourite against Muhammad Ali, a former world champion.

The fight, held in Zaire on October 30, 1974 started with a lot of fury. By the eighth round, Ali had knocked Foreman out.

Before the Zaire fight, Foreman had butchered all 40 of his previous opponents, 37 inside the distance and carried the “invincible” tag from the moment he punched Joe Frazier off his feet. In terms of punching and body power, he could easily be compared to another monster, Charles Sonny Liston, whose fist remains boxing history’s biggest with circumference of 15 inches. Liston had lost the title to the then Cassius clay (later Muhammad Ali) ten years earlier when he failed to continue in the seventh round.

Foreman’s loss to Ali was so devastating he buckled into the state of depression and despair. And as Tom Gray for the Ring magazine had put it a year ago, after a period of convalescing, a rematch was top of the agenda for Foreman.

The hard-hitting Texan wanted to prove that Ali’s magic was an illusion and, habitually, his tormentor loved an encore. At that time, Ali had fought rematches against Henry Cooper, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo, Frazier and Ken Norton. That pattern was about to change.

“Ali called me at home in California, just prior to my fight with Ron Lyle,” Foreman who had taken 15 months off following the defeat, told Ring Tv.com.

“I hear you want a rematch and that is fine, but you must rehire Dick Sadler as trainer. I said that Sadler would never work my corner again and Ali responded angrily, saying there would be no rematch”

Dick Sadler was a man of experience who had a distinguished run as a professional lightweight in the 1940s before turning his hand to training fighters.

It should be noted that in January 1973, under Sadler’s guidance, Foreman knocked out Frazier in two rounds for the championship and also brought an equally brutal conclusion to a title defence against Ken Norton a year later. Frazier and Norton (both deceased) had fought and defeated Ali on points only to be beaten in their rematch.

Like a Kitchen Cabinet, Foreman and Sadler, with former light heavyweight legend Archie Moore in advisory role, seemed like an unbeatable team until the Zaire fight changed everything. In what is seen as a controversial 1995 biography, entitled By George, the Hall of Fame heavyweight alleged that Sadler exhibited strange behaviour prior to and during the Rumble in the Jungle.

Said Foreman: “In the Ali fight Dick Sadler was the chief second. Every round he was telling me to attack, attack, attack. He was slapping my legs in the corner, urging me to get him, telling me I had Ali hurt. Not once did he ask me to stop and let Ali bring the fight to me. I was the champion that night, but it was as though he was burning me out on purpose."

Foreman also claimed that Sadler borrowed US $25,000 from him to bribe referee Zack Clayton. The trainer allegedly said this was to dissuade the official from disqualifying Foreman for striking Ali while he was down.