Ali shocked Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle"
On this day · 30 October 1974
In Kinshasa before a billion viewers, an aging underdog leaned on the ropes, let Foreman punch himself out, then knocked him cold.
On October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Muhammad Ali met undefeated champion George Foreman for the world heavyweight title. The bout had been postponed five weeks after Foreman was cut sparring, and it began near dawn to suit American television.
Ali, 32 and a 4-to-1 underdog against the 25-year-old slugger, abandoned movement for a startling plan. He sagged against the loosened ropes, covered up, and absorbed Foreman’s heaviest blows round after round — the tactic he later christened the rope-a-dope. As Foreman tired, Ali taunted him quietly.
“That all you got, George?”
In the eighth round Ali sprang off the ropes and dropped the exhausted champion with a flurry, reclaiming the title he had lost seven years earlier. Promoted by Don King and paired with a music festival, the fight drew an estimated one billion viewers worldwide, then the most-watched live broadcast ever, and is still cited as a candidate for the greatest sporting event of the twentieth century.
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