After being released in theaters in April 2023, Sony Pictures’ Big George Foreman was finally released on Netflix on Aug. 26. Looking back at the remarkable life of world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, this drama film includes one of the biggest boxing matches ever, George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali.
Taking place on Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in a match later named the “Rumble in the Jungle,” 32-year-old underdog Muhammad Ali and 25-year-old undefeated champ George Foreman go head to head for the title of heavyweight champion of the world.
Ali had previously had the world heavyweight title, but it was stripped from him in 1967 after he refused to join the United States Army and fight in the Vietnam War. He didn’t return to the boxing ring until 1970. Meanwhile, Foreman had become one of the most promising young boxers in the world. He had entered the match against Ali as an undefeated champion, previously winning against a then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973 for the world heavyweight title.
To make the fight happen, boxing promoter Don King managed to convince Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire, to sponsor the fight. The match is believed to have been watched by as many as one billion television viewers around the world. But who came out as the winner and secured the world heavyweight title in the end?
Big George Foreman: Who won between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali?
What looked to be a boxing match that Foreman would surely win, things turned around quickly when Ali managed to tire him out with a boxing fighting technique that would later be called “rope-a-dope.”
Ali basically leaned against the ropes and let Foreman punch him on the arms and body while he dodged his attacks. This was Ali’s secret plan of tiring Foreman out so that as soon as his energy was depleted, he would come in and knock him out. As the fight reached its eighth round, Foreman was completely tired out, and most of his punches were ineffective. He could barely defend himself as well. Ali sent Foreman crashing to the ground with a left-right combination, and the referee counted Foreman out, signaling the end of the fight. Ali regained the world heavyweight title, with an eighth-round knockout of Foreman.
So, there you have it, folks! Ali won the “Rumble in the Jungle” match against Foreman and reclaimed the world heavyweight boxing title.