Boxing
Rumble in the Jungle: 50 years since the most famous fight in boxing history
Over the last half-century, the world heavyweight title has beaten an increasingly erratic and sadly inconsequential course.
It has traipsed its gaudy cloak through bust casino towns and dead-end leisure centres, pitching up most recently in the Saudi desert, and been contested in one spurious form or another on all five major continents.
It has survived so-called ‘bite nights’ and interruptions by errant paragliders, and been claimed both by those who deserve to be called all-time greats, and others who, in the words of Larry Holmes, were not fit to carry their jockstraps.
Now, as 58-year-old former champions prepare to cash in by lacing on the gloves against YouTuber Jake Paul, it cannot be long before it endures the ultimate indignity of being scrapped out among social-media celebrities.
In the thousands of rounds and hundreds of venues and forest-loads of hype and bluster that have followed it, the so-called ‘richest prize in sport’ has never again reached the heights it scaled on October 30, 1974 in the African nation then known as Zaire.
It was about more than Muhammad Ali’s audacious and some said ill-advised attempt to become the first man to win the heavyweight crown for a third time, three years after his previous bid ended in a savage 15-round loss to Joe Frazier in New York.
More than the expected anointing of a new superstar in George Foreman, the savage-punching Texan who had scored an ominously impressive second-round knockout over Frazier to take the world title in Kingston, Jamaica the previous year.
More than the maniacal ego of a power-crazed dictator in Mobutu Sese Seko, a man so predisposed to splashing his nation’s cash he would also build a Concorde-sized landing strip in the middle of the forest in order to facilitate his wife’s shopping trips to Paris.
More, even, than the outrageous, opportunist vision of a newly shock-haired promoter in the shape of Don King.
It was the sum of all those parts and so much more: part sporting contest, part cultural festival, part global statement of black empowerment. It all added up to the Rumble in the Jungle – the most famous boxing match there was and ever will be.
Set aside the contest’s extraordinary circumstances, and the plain fact of the match-up between Ali and Foreman would have been enough to seize attention across the world.
Ali still split opinion following his conviction for draft-dodging in 1967 and his conversion to Islam. He had lost to Ken Norton – and sustained a broken jaw in the process – the previous year, before a rematch win, and a gruelling decision over Frazier in January 1974, justified his return to title contention.
The surly, brooding Foreman – at 25, seven years younger than Ali – had waged a trail of destruction through the heavyweight ranks since turning professional after his gold medal win at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Ali might have enchanted the media throng who followed him to Zaire with his vows to float like a butterfly, and his tall tales of wrestling alligators and tussling with whales, but few were prepared to predict he faced anything other than a painful career swansong at the behest of Foreman’s powerful fists.
Few, that is, apart from the thousands of locals whom Ali enchanted during a one-month delay to the contest due to Foreman sustaining a cut eye in a sparring session.
While they saw in Foreman a symbol of oppression – he made one ill-advised visit clutching the leash of a German shepherd, the dogs used to contain crowds under the country’s former hated Belgian rule – in Ali they embraced one of their own.
“Ali – booma ye!” they chorused – literally “Ali – kill him!” as he pounded the dust roads in the days and hours that ticked down to the 4am start time demanded in order to beam the fight live back to the United States.
Millions of words have already been written about the way Ali slammed two right hands to send Foreman swirling to the canvas in the dying seconds of the eighth round and win the world heavyweight title back for the third time at the age of 32.
As if the magnitude of that achievement was not enough, Ali’s ‘rope-a-dope’ strategy drew astonished observers to label his performance one of the most audacious and ingenious tactical masterstrokes in sport.
Instead of seeking to impel his ageing limbs to dance away from Foreman’s clubbing shots, Ali invited them in, tempting an increasingly frustrated Foreman to punch himself close to a virtual standstill, before pouncing to claim the most improbable of victories.
Hours later, the rains swept in, subjecting the 20th of May Stadium to such a sudden drenching it was as if the elements themselves refused to be denied their bit-part in such a night of improbable drama.
Ali died in June 2016, aged 74, having clung to life through the awful fog of Parkinson’s disease for many years after being diagnosed in 1984. Meanwhile the vanquished Foreman has made his fortune selling fat-reducing grills.
But the story of the Rumble in the Jungle has been passed down generations and remains just as pertinent and extraordinary – the night Muhammad Ali underlined his status as ‘The Greatest’, deep in the dark heart of Africa.
-INDEPENDENT
Daniel Dubois came back from two knockdowns to deal Fabio Wardley a brutal and bloody first defeat as a professional and take the WBO heavyweight title in a thunderous all-British clash on Saturday.
Referee Howard Foster finally stepped in at the start of the 11th round to signal the end of the fight, with Wardley bleeding heavily from the bridge of the nose and with his right eye almost closed.
Dubois rose twice from the canvas, including being dropped by a right hook in the first 10 seconds of the fight, to pulverise Wardley and become a world heavyweight champion for the second time in his career.
“It was a war. We came through the sticky moments. Thank you, Fabio, for that,” said Dubois, who was previously IBF champion after the belt was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, with the Ukrainian winning it back in July 2025.
“What a great fight. What a great battle, man”.
The win was Dubois’s 23rd as a professional in 26 fights, while Wardley now has a 20-1-1 record.
Veteran promoter Frank Warren, who manages both men, said it was the best heavyweight fight he had ever put on and confirmed there was a rematch clause in the contract.
For some viewers, however, it was also an uncomfortable watch that could have been stopped earlier.
The 31-year-old Wardley, who was promoted to WBO champion last November after Usyk vacated the title, was making his first defence and showed immense heart as he took a tremendous beating yet refused to capitulate.
He had his opponent on the floor, a blow Dubois, 28, later dismissed as a ‘flash knockdown’, almost with the opening bell still sounding.
Dubois was back on one knee in round three but came close to a stoppage in the sixth with the reigning champion bleeding heavily and on the ropes.
The Londoner continued to land blow after blow on Wardley, who wobbled but refused to give up.
His corner inspected the facial wounds after the eighth, and doctors and the referee took a look in rounds nine and 10, but still the fight continued, with Wardley increasingly struggling to stay on his feet and fighting on instinct.
“You witnessed something special tonight,” Warren told the BBC. “Two men baring their hearts and souls in the ring gave everything, didn’t leave one bit outside the ring.
“They were getting hit with bombs that would take people out, and they stood it.”
-Reuters
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World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has backed Anthony Joshua to defeat Tyson Fury in their long‑anticipated clash later this year and has been helping him with his game plan.
Usyk, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBC belts, has been working with former opponent Joshua in recent months and said he has been impressed by the Briton’s development.
He added that 36-year-old Joshua deserves to beat compatriot and fellow ex-champion Fury, 37, after changing his approach.
“Fury is an unbelievable fighter, and Fury is a very dangerous guy, but I look at how Anthony works and how he has changed,” Usyk told the BBC.
“I like Fury, he is my greedy belly’s best friend, he’s an amazing fighter, but I want Anthony to win – he deserves it.”
Joshua, a former two‑time world heavyweight champion, is scheduled to return to the ring against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25. The bout will be his first since a car accident last December in which two close friends were killed.
Usyk said his recent work with Joshua has focused on technical and mental preparation.
“We speak about strategy, boxing skills and psychology. We speak about fights, our fights, and I say ‘champ, come on, don’t stop’,” he said.
The Ukrainian is set to defend his world titles against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt.
-Reuters
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- Summary
- *Joshua to face Kristian Prenga in Riyadh after car accident hiatus
- *Fight marks start of Joshua’s multi-fight deal in Saudi Arabia, announced by Turki Alalshikh
- *Promoter Hearn says Joshua vs Fury is signed for later in the year
Former world heavyweight boxing champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed up for a long-awaited clash later this year, promoter Eddie Hearn said on Monday.
“Signed, sealed, delivered! AJ v Fury is on!,” Hearn posted on Instagram.
The announcement came after confirmation that Joshua will return to the ring against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25 in the Briton’s first fight since he was in a car accident last December that killed two close friends.
U.S.-based Albanian Prenga, 35, is a former kickboxer with a ring record of 20 wins and one defeat since he turned professional in 2016.
The fight, billed as “The Comeback”, was announced by Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alalshikh and will be broadcast live worldwide on DAZN.
Turki also posted on X a message “to my friends in Great Britain – it’s happening. It’s signed” while his Ring Magazine said the fight would happen in Q4 2026 on Netflix.
SIXTH-ROUND KNOCKOUT
Joshua, 36, has a record of 28 wins and four losses with his most recent fight a sixth-round knockout of American Jake Paul on December 19 in Miami.
“It’s no secret I’ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring, and today is the next step on that journey,” said Joshua.
“I’m delighted to have agreed a multi-fight deal starting with July 25th in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m looking forward to competing and picking up where I left off. The landlord will collect his rent. That is certain.”
Hearn told Sky Sports television he wanted a “tune-up bout” in July before facing Fury potentially in November.
“July and November are the two dates that have been presented to us now and we expect to move forward,” he said. “Fury has just had his tune-up fight with 12 really vital rounds to get him sharp for the next one and I expect us to do the same.”
Fury called for a showdown with Joshua after he outclassed Russia’s Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11.
“Next, I want to give you the fight you’ve all been waiting for. I want you AJ, Anthony Joshua, let’s give the fight fans what they want, the Battle of Britain,” he said then.
-Reuters
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