The Rumble in the Jungle
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| Date | October 29, 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue |
20th of May Stadium Kinshasa, Zaire |
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| Title(s) on the line | Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship WBC/WBA Heavyweight Championship |
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| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ali won by knockout in the 8th round (2:58) |
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| Boxer | George Foreman | Muhammad Ali | |
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| Nickname | Big George |
The Greatest The Champ |
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| Hometown | Houston, Texas | Louisville, Kentucky | |
| Pre-fight record | 40–0 (37 KOs), age 25 | 44–2 (31 KOs), age 32 | |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | |
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) | 216 lb (98 kg) | |
| Recognition | WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion |
former champion |
The Rumble in the Jungle was a historic boxing event in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30, 1974 (at 4:00 am). Held at the 20th of May Stadium (now the Stade Tata Raphaël), it pitted the undefeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman against challenger Muhammad Ali, a former heavyweight champion. The attendance was 60,000. Ali won by knockout, putting Foreman down just before the end of the eighth round. It has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century". The event was one of Don King's first ventures as a professional boxing promoter.
Don King arranged this fight with the music businessman Jerry Masucci, who took his famed musicians, Fania All Stars, to play at the venue. King managed to get Ali and Foreman to sign separate contracts saying they would fight for him if he could get a $5 million purse. However, as King did not have the money, he began seeking an outside country to sponsor the event. Zaire's dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, eager for the publicity such a high-profile event would bring, asked for the fight to be held in his country.
King had pulled together a consortium that included Risnelia Investment from Panama; the Hemdale Film Corporation, a British company founded by film producer John Daly and the actor David Hemmings; Video Techniques Incorporated of New York; and Don King Productions. Although King is most closely associated with the fight, Hemdale and Video Techniques Inc., with whom King was a director, were the bout's official co-promoters. The fight was broadcast on closed circuit television in theaters in the United States and on over-the-air television throughout the world. The play by play commentary was done by "Colonel" Bob Sheridan. Color commentary was done by Jim Brown, David Frost, and Joe Frazier.
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