Today marks the anniversary of one of the most iconic, never-to-be-forgotten super fights of all-time: “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic that played out in the heart of Africa, with heavyweight titans Muhammad Ali and George Foreman fighting before an estimated global television audience of over 1 billion. It was, as it remains, THE FIGHT.
Foreman’s Final Farewell
The heavyweight fight. This year, as we all pay tribute and celebrate the “Rumble” on its 51st birthday, things are a little different in a sad way. This is the first anniversary of the biggest fight in the world, where neither warrior is still with us. Because, as we all know, “Big George” sadly passed away, quite unexpectedly, in March of this year, at the age of 76. We all felt that Foreman, as strong as an ox, had years ahead of him.
But no, Foreman passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family members. As a result of George’s passing, there are precious few people who were at the “Rumble” who are still here. Ali passed in June of 2016, while the third man in the ring that night (or early morning local time, so the fight would go on on prime time in the US), Zack Clayton, died in November of 1997.
Ali’s Inner Circle Remembered
Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, passed away in February of 2012, while two other key members of Ali’s entourage have also left us, with unofficial witch doctor Drew “Bundini” Brown dying back in September of 1987, and with Ali’s official doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, passing away in November of 1997. More cheerfully, surviving from Ali’s team is Gene Kilroy, who is still going strong at age 85.
As far as Foreman’s team, head trainer Dick Saddler died in June of 2003, while Archie Moore passed in December of 1998, and Sandy Saddler left us in September of 2001.
Don King, the mastermind behind the whole thing, is still with us at age 94. Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator who bankrolled the fight, died in September 1997.
That just leaves the undercard fighters and the fight writers who were at work that special day. Most notably, as far as the undercard fighters go, Bobby Stewart, the Cus D’Amato fighter who “discovered” Mike Tyson, is still with us, this at age 72.
Surviving writers who were there covering the fight that saw Ali enter the ring as a 3/1 underdog (but was seen as an even bigger outsider by many people, who quite literally feared for the great man’s life as he went in with the fearsome, devastatingly powerful Foreman) include Jerry Izenberg, Ed Schuyler and Ali’s official biographer, Thomas Hauser, who are all still here to talk about that astonishing night and fight.
And we fans, whether we were even born at the time of the fight that absolutely captured the imagination of the entire world, we can still enjoy the fight, along with the recollections of it from those people who are still living or have passed on, via YouTube and courtesy of all the brilliant documentaries that have been made with Ali-Foreman as their subject.
Watching the fight all these years later, with Ali and Foreman now both gone, is somewhat strange, perhaps, but both legends really and truly will live forever.
Ali, with his famed “Rope-a-Dope,” did it; he pulled off THE biggest upset win of his career. Ali, by beating Foreman, really did “shake up the world!”
