The "Rumble in the Jungle" was 40 years ago today, Oct 30th, 1974

[Auggie]

The heavyweights ruled and America loved them. It wasn't just Foreman and Ali. It was Ken Norton, Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle and a half-dozen more. Enticing matchups were plentiful.

But there was never one like this one. The unbeaten and younger 1968 Olympic champion Foreman, 25, was going against the older 1960 Olympic champion Ali, 32. The elder had been heavyweight champion. Now the younger was.

Would young and strong beat quick and crafty? Could there be any better drama than a fight in which Foreman was a 4-1 favorite and, in strange contradiction to that, millions of fight fans sincerely worried that Foreman might kill Ali?

"I was pretty full of myself," Foreman said Tuesday from his home in Houston. "I had no respect for anyone, and disregard for everything."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ali-foreman-dwyre-20141030-column.html



What spectacle! There's been few since, if any, as big.

[H2O Man]

1. I won a

lot of $$$ betting on that fight! But, to be perfectly honest, I was pretty nervous at the beginning of the fight. George Foreman was a scary man in the ring -- and outside of it, in those days.

(Sorry I missed this on the day you posted it.)