THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 5 - ALI VS. FOREMAN IN RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 30 May 2025
Before 'Thrilla in Manila', 'Rumble in the Jungle' was the most significant heavyweight championship boxing match. Held on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), it was the battle between undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The event was witnessed by 60,000 people and was one of the most watched televised events at that time. The bout was scheduled for fifteen rounds.
The fight has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century" and was a major upset, with Ali coming in as a 4–1 underdog against the unbeaten, heavy-hitting Foreman. The bout was also Ali's introduction of the rope-a-dope tactic.
The estimated audience that the fight generated was one billion television viewers around the world, and it was the world's most-watched live television broadcast during that time. The television audience included a record estimated 50 million viewers watching the match on pay-per-view TV. The fight grossed an estimated $100 million (now equivalent to $600 million) in worldwide revenue.
In 1967, then-champion Ali was stripped of his title and suspended from boxing for 31⁄2 years for his failure to comply with the draft for the U.S. Army. In 1970, he regained his boxing license and fought comeback fights against Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena.
The powerful and knockout artist Foreman was a 1968 Olympic gold medalist and surged to the top contender of the heavyweight division. Foreman knocked the champion Frazier down six times in two rounds before the fight was stopped by the referee. He further cemented his dominance of the heavyweight division by crushing the only fighter besides Frazier at that time to beat Ali, Ken Norton, in two rounds. The younger and stronger Foreman, who was 25-year-old, was the overwhelming favorite against the 32-year-old Ali.
Foreman and Ali spent much of the middle of 1974 training in Zaire to acclimate to its hot African climate. The fight was originally set to happen on September 25. But eight days prior to the fight Foreman was cut above his right eye by an accidental elbow thrown by his sparring partner Bill McMurray during their sparring session. Foreman's cut required 11 stitches to heal, and the date of the fight was postponed five weeks later to October 30.
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