page_title: George Foreman
section_title: The Rumble in the Jungle: Foreman vs. Ali
hierarchical_section_title: George Foreman / Professional career / The Rumble in the Jungle: Foreman vs. Ali
caption_attribution_description: George Foreman
context_page_description: George Edward Foreman is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1969 and 1997. Nicknamed "Big George", he is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. Outside of boxing, he is also a minister, author and entrepreneur.
  After a troubled childhood, Foreman took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the world heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. Two successful title defenses were made before Foreman's first professional loss to Muhammad Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Unable to secure another title opportunity, Foreman retired after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977.
  Following what he referred to as a religious epiphany, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister. Ten years later, he announced a comeback, and in 1994 at age 45, he regained a portion of the heavyweight championship by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer to win the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal titles.
context_section_description: Foreman's next title defense, against Muhammad Ali, was historic. During the summer of 1974, he traveled to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to defend his title against Ali. The bout was promoted as the "Rumble in the Jungle".
  During training in Zaire, Foreman suffered a cut above his eye, forcing postponement of the match for a month. The injury affected his training regimen, as it meant he could not spar in the build-up to the fight and risk the cut being reopened. He later commented: "That was the best thing that happened to Ali when we were in Africa—the fact that I had to get ready for the fight without being able to box." Foreman later also claimed he was drugged by his trainer prior to the bout. Ali used this time to tour Zaire, endearing himself to the public, while taunting Foreman at every opportunity. Foreman was favored, having knocked out both Joe Frazier and Ken Norton within two rounds.
  When Foreman and Ali finally met in the ring, Ali began more aggressively than expected, outscoring Foreman with superior punching speed. In the second round, Ali retreated to the ropes, shielding his head and hitting Foreman in the face at every opportunity. Foreman dug vicious body punches into Ali's sides; however, Foreman was unable to land many big punches to Ali's head. The ring ropes, being much looser than usual (Foreman later charged that Angelo Dundee had loosened them, and this story is supported by Norman Mailer in the book The Fight), allowed Ali to lean back and away from Foreman's wild swings and then to clinch Foreman behind the head, forcing Foreman to expend much extra energy untangling himself. Ali also constantly pushed down on Foreman's neck, but was never warned about doing so. To this day,  whether Ali's prefight talk of using speed and movement against Foreman had been just a diversionary tactic or whether his use of what became known as the "rope-a-dope" tactic was an improvisation necessitated by Foreman's constant pressure  is unclear. In either case, Ali was able to occasionally counter off the ropes with blows to the face and penetrate Foreman's defense. 
  Ali continued to take heavy punishment to the body and occasionally a hard jolt to the head. Ali later said he was "out on his feet" twice during the bout. As Foreman began to tire, his punches began to lose power and became increasingly wild. An increasingly confident Ali taunted Foreman throughout the bout. Late in the eighth round, Foreman was left off balance by a haymaker, and Ali sprang off the ropes with a flurry to Foreman's head, punctuated by a hard right cross that landed flush on the jaw, knocking Foreman down. Muhammad Ali was the first boxer to score a knockdown of Foreman.
  Foreman later reflected, "it just wasn't my night". Though he sought one, he was unable to secure a rematch with Ali. In some quarters, Ali suggested to be  ducking Foreman, although he did give a rematch to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Ali fought "minimal risk" opponents, such as Chuck Wepner, Richard Dunn, Jean Pierre Coopman, and Alfredo Evangelista, as well as formidable opponents, such as Ron Lyle and Joe Frazier.
caption: Foreman with a cut in his right eye on September 18, 1974
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