Rumble in the Jungle | Ring Talk with Lou Eisen

George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as The Rumble in the Jungle, was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire, between undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The event had an attendance of 60,000 people.

Transcribed:

[ Music, ] hi welcome to ring talk, i’m your host lou eisen and today we cover one of the most iconic fights of all time in boxing history and one of the happiest moments of my entire life.

When muhammad ali regained on october 30th, 1974 in kenzache zaire, which is the belgian congo um, who gained a world heavyweight title by defeating the invincible, george foreman or as or as muhammad himself said, that big bad ugly monster that no one said i could beat ali Was a huge underdog, in fact right before they went into the ring foreman and his handlers, archie moore, dick sadler, they prayed that they wouldn’t take ali’s life.

That’S what most people thought back then that ali stood a good chance of being killed and people were saying to george in the lead up for the fight fans celebrities.

You know you can beat ali, but he’s done so much for african-americans and for all people.

Just don’t don’t kill him, i mean beat him, but don’t take his life and foreman had to hear that every day george foreman was born january 10, 1949 in marshall, texas, which is interesting because muhammad ali was born january 17, 1942, seven years earlier in louisville kentucky, Which is why he was called the louisville lip.

Uh george foreman by his own admission, was a bad kid growing up.

He was physically huge at a young age engaged in a lot of petty crime, mugging stealing thievery, and he really he grew up in the toughest district in the united states.

The fifth ward in houston there’s a lot of tough areas in various cities throughout the united states, especially in new york, california, but los angeles, but um.

Nothing as tough as the fifth ward, and so george was sort of like a leader back then because it was overwhelming physical size.

He went to school for a very short time and he said the turning point in his life came when he told his mother he’s going to school, his mother left for work, and then he snuck back into the house through his side window and went back to Sleep sister walked by and only sister saw him and he looked up and he went uh-oh and she said no, no, it’s all right.

You can go back to bed, we’re all losers.

No one cares about us, we’re not going to be anything anyways and that really upset him, and so he had his mother sign a form for him to get into the job corps and george foreman’s always said that he’s the product of a more compassionate america.

This was in the middle 60s and he went to the job corps, and that was an organization that would train young kids, who didn’t have much education and didn’t have any skills.

They would train them in different different trades, so they would actually have a future and can make a living and support themselves and a family.

So george goes to the job corps.

He flies away to oregon to this plush valley and all these wonderful different places to live and, and he learned how to be a carpenter, george said the turning point.

His life, though, was up up until his mid-teens.

He was illiterate and he said, being illiterate was like living in a dark room and when he got to the job corps center, they taught him how to read and write, and he said it was like this huge light being switched on in his life and from That day forward to today, he’s been a voracious reader.

He can never get enough knowledge.

So george is there, but he’s still surly he still likes to fight.

He he’s happy he’s learned to read, he’s happy, he’s learning the trade, but he still loves to fight and he’s looking for fights and they call in doc, brodis and doc.

Brotis was a a boxing trainer, a veteran boxing trainer and he took george under his wing and he ran him through some workouts in a boxing gym and from the first day he just he said in 40 years in the business he’d never seen anyone with power, Like that, george was hitting a heavy bag, the way he hit his feedback.

I mean he was just so phenomenally strong and he said, sat him down and said: listen if your behavior improves.

I will train you, and this is your ticket out of being poor.

You have to become an amateur boxer which he did, he had a 24 and i think 24 and 2 or 24 and 4 amateur record and he was entered into the olympics.

He made the 1968 olympic team the interesting thing about the olympics in 68.

Of course they were held in mexico, and then you had all this.

This was admit uh when all the civil unrest was going on in the united states.

This was 1968.

allied won the light heavyweight gold medal for the united states.

In 1960, joe frazier won the heavyweight gold medal for united states in 64.

and in 68 george foreman won the heavyweight gold medal and what the guys that he fought.

Uh, johannes cephulis was the guy that he beat for the gold medal, but all these guys super us all of them.

These were were technically amateurs, but really these were grown.

Men in their 30s had been boxing for well over 20 years.

They were, for all intents and purposes, professionals, and they had skill and they’d watched, george foreman, and they said well i’ll slip.

His punches and i’ll counter punch him, but it didn’t work out that way.

Foreign was 19.

and if you watch it and you can watch these fights on youtube, except for one fight that went, went the full three rounds that he won by decision.

He bludgeoned other guys.

He didn’t just beat them up.

He pull axed him.

You know you watch the fight with sepulus, you know within the first couple seconds, george lands, a left, jab breaks, the guy’s nose now his face is faces gushing blood.

This is like 10 seconds into the fight and he hits him with a right hand on the mouth, knocks a bunch of teeth out.

You know the fight’s not 20 seconds old, and this guy is like what on earth is happening here and george just keeps bludgeoning him and punching him, and the guy is trying to do what he’s able to do.

I mean he said he’s a technically skilled fighter, but george’s strength is so overwhelming that the referee stops the fight in the second round.

Just about all of his fights in the olympics were second round knockouts, so george wins the gold medal and he unleashes the controversy because he unfurls an american flag, and this was during the height of the civil rights movement in the united states.

At that time, uh edwards and carlos were the two african-american athlete to held their right hands up in black power, salutes wearing a black glove, so they were supported by the vast majority of african-americans foreman pulling out a flag.

He took a lot of flack for that.

I don’t think it was justified, though, because he was only 19, he wasn’t politically aware and he wanted people to know hey.

I was down and out.

My country gave me a chance to be something it helped me and he just took up this flag and waved it.

He turned pro and he started just on his way up the ladder first 24-25 fights.

I think he won all of them, except one or two by knockout and he’s fighting the regular people and when i mean regular people heavyweights that most people have heard not top tier heavyweights, but still second tier third tier, but guys that can fight informants destroying them.

At that time, muhammad ali is not in boxing he had his title stolen from him in 1967 by the criminals convicted felons who ran the boxing sanctioning bodies and so he’s out and he’s ali at that point’s.

The head of the civil rights movement he’s the head of of the black power movement and he’s the head of the youth movement.

Everything coalescing around muhammad ali, so ali is campaigning to get back in the ring.

This is what he does and he had his title.

Stolen from him 1970, he manages to get a fight in atlanta because they don’t really have a boxing commission, and so he fights in atlanta and he stops jerry quarters.

First fight in almost four years stops corey in three rounds cuts him up really badly next fight.

He fights the bulldog ringo oscar bonovina from argentina and bonavena was a squat, 5 11 6 foot fighter, who had very little skill.

But he would just stay on your chest and hit you from all angles and he was really annoying ally in the pre-fight build-up.

By calling him clay calling him a chicken for not going into the army and alley said, i’ve never wanted to beat a man like.

I wanted to beat bonavena and it was a pretty dull fight until the 15th round ali was winning and ali dropped him three times and stopped him, and then ali gets his chance to fight joe frazier now right at that time.

In 71, the supreme court rules that ali is the free man.

They overturn his conviction on draft evasion.

They recognize the fact that he’s a conscientious objector, so he wins by unanimous decision in the supreme court.

So the supreme court gives him his freedom back.

It can’t give him its world heavyweight title back, so he fights joe frazier.

Now angela dundee told me that they wanted to have two or three more fights before taking frasier on.

Why didn’t they? Because ali had been fighting in court now for four years it costed? Millions of dollars he was out of money, he had to fight frazier and each fighter got two and a half million.

Most of ali’s money went to the lawyers, so he fights frasier.

It’S a close fight.

Ali lands, a fair amount, more punches, but frazier is the effective aggressor throughout the fight.

Frazier wins the unanimous decision.

The first loss of muhammad ali’s career frazier goes on and continues to fight.

You know and he’s fighting a couple of guys that he’s not fighting guys that are up to his standard.

He fights a guy named dave, ziglowitz who’s, basically a bar fighter and knocks him out in 69 seconds.

He fights from council bluffs, iowa ron, sander who’s, a tough sob and he ends up knocking out ron standard, so fragile is cruising along, but he’s not really extending himself in the ring he’s not really taking on more dangerous opponents at that time.

Ali launches a comeback.

Another comeback where, after listening to frazier, he’s winning fights and he’s fighting guys all over the world, he beats canada’s george chavallo, who was ranked number seventh in the world at that time.

He beats him and in 1972 and he keeps fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and he’s fighting every month every couple months, because at that point he didn’t like the train.

So ali is continuing to fight and he fights ken norton in san diego and my friend, art hafey who’s, one of the greatest fighters that canada ever produced or any country who was the best featherweight on the planet for four years fought on the undercard.

And he said you know he shared the dressing room with ali and he said muhammad after the fight said.

I took him too lightly.

I didn’t train norton was not known to anyone.

He was only known to people in san diego.

That was it and in the second round norton who fought out of an archimore type defense, he had a crab like defense.

He would fight with his arms like this.

He was very awkward, herky, jerky fighter and angela didn’t want ali to take the fight because he always had trouble with guys like that and norton broke his jaw in the second round ali somehow managed to last the distance, but he lost a split decision.

So ali loses six months later he fights norton again and he wins so now he’s done that he’s avenged one of his losses.

He continues to fight frazier and ali are talking they’re, going to have a second fight for the world heavyweight title, but frasier has to get past this easy defense against the young george foreman in kingston, jamaica in 1973 and fragile, was the favorite.

You know foreign was looked at as a clumsy slugger, and that was very unfair to him because he was so much smarter in the ring, as we found out later out of the ring than anyone ever gave him credit for.

So you can see when they meet at the center of the ring for the stare down frazier or excuse me.

Foreman has a sonny, listen, look on his face.

He wants to kill joe frater and you know he had trained with liston.

You know as an amateur and when he first turned professional, he had trained with sunny listening.

He knew how to intimidate people and so foreman gets in there and he’s fighting frasier and fraser is throwing these left hooks can’t land there’s such a height differential.

You know just under six: four frasier is barely six feet: foreman’s using that pull axing jab, which looks slow but always lands when it lands.

It does damage and near the end of the first round.

He hits frasier with a quick left hand, a jab and then comes over for straight right and frazier falls against the ropes hits him with the right.

Uppercut and frasier goes down and howard cosell can’t believe it down goes, frasier down goes frasier and he gets up and frazier’s whacking him and bell rings and then come up for the second round and frazier drops him.

Excuse me foreman, drops him.

I think five more times he just keeps pounding him away and it’s just an unmerciful beating frasier keeps getting up instantly every time he gets knocked down, but that’s more out of reflex than courage.

The final knock down or the second last knockdown in the round.

He hit frazier an uppercut, and one writer wrote that it was like watching a fire hydra being ripped from the pavement and he literally knocked frazier a good two to three feet in the air with one punch, that’s so strong, that’s extraordinarily powerful, so strong george foreman Was and angelo dundee who was ringside doing the commentary is screaming.

You can hear him stop the fight.

What are you waiting for he’s going to kill him? Stop it arthur mccanty after the sixth knockdown.

Finally, stops the fight and now allie’s got a big problem, because the fight with frasier goes out the window right.

What are you going to do now? He wants the world title now, foreman.

Has it foreign who’s younger than liston was when liston held the title, and ali is seven years older than farming, so ali fights foreman and her alley fights frasier in a rematch in 1974, matson square garden, it’s a lackluster fight.

Both men aren’t as as hyped up as they were for the first encounter and ally, wins a decision, unanimous decision and then at that time foreman has two title defenses.

He first one is against joe king roman in tokyo, which i don’t know how roman, even i don’t even think he was rated in the top 10 or top 20 in the heavyweight division.

Foreman took him out easily.

I believe in the first round.

Excuse me, and then he fought ken norton ken norton was an interesting fight, because people thought norton because he beat ali had a chance to beat foreman.

Norton was physically the same size and he was physically.

He was like they called him, the black hercules and so norton’s idea at the hall of fame years later he told me what i wanted to do was i wanted to walk him into punches.

I didn’t want to stand in front of him and trade because he’s so strong, so i wanted to back up and back up and as he came forward hit him with my jab and then a right hand, but he said unfortunately, the more i backed up the More, he kept pounding me with his jab and his right hand, and it just didn’t work out.

So the fight starts and foreman just overwhelms.

Norton he’s pounding him.

It’S an even fight for the first minute and a half and then near the end of the first round.

He knocks him down and norm’s out, but he gets up comes out for the second round and foreign knocks him down, gets up and then knocks him out.

Cold and ali was ringside and he’d already signed a fight foreman for the title and bob jared and said to him.

How do you do that? How do you beat a guy like that? You know, norton beat you in your first fight broke your jaw.

Frazier beat you in your first fight and neither of them went a full two rounds with george foreman.

Now you got ta fight foreign and ali said.

I admit i thought a lot of guys that were stronger than me.

Mildenberger was stronger.

George chavallo was stronger than me: um sonny liston was stronger than me.

Oscar bonavino was stronger than me, so was cory, but i can beat him on science.

He said george foreman punches around, which he was doing.

He he loops the shots.

Anyone who throws looping shots can’t beat a guy who punches straight like me, and the thing about boxing is there’s no logic to it, as in other sports.

Just because foreman knocked out norton in two rounds and frasier in two rounds doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to do the same thing to ali.

That’S what people thought would happen, but it doesn’t always work out that way and you can go back through boxing history and see that so they’ve signed a fight in kinzasha zaire and the reason they did that was don king was promoting.

He promised each fighter.

Five million dollars, but he didn’t have five million, so he shopped it around and mobutu.

The bloodthirsty dictator of zaire said he very poor country.

He was wealthy because he’d stolen from the country’s coffers.

He said, he’d put the fight on so they put the fight on insider and the original fight was supposed to be for september 24th, but unfortunately, in training, george foreman caught an elbow on his eyelid cut it open.

So now they had to delay the fight and ali was really upset at first bring joe frazier over bring norton over bring someone over.

They can’t cancel this and they said it’s not as bad as we thought.

It’Ll just be a four-week delay.

We’Ll have the fight october 30th and in that month angela dundee told me was what made ali that month, that extra month of training helped outly, because he he didn’t sit around depressed.

He got up every day and he trained and he trained hard.

He became more acclimated to the very hot and human african climate.

The one thing ali did that for me, didn’t do was ali trained at three in the morning because the fight would be held in africa at three in the morning.

That was so.

It would coincide with uh.

You know the right time in the united states and north america.

It was shown in over 450 close circuit uh venues in canada, united states and i watched it at maple leaf gardens.

Now foreman was a prohibitive favorite.

No one thought ali could go the distance and they thought ali was just going to get destroyed by him, and people were worried about that.

Howard cosell said ali shouldn’t.

Take this fight he’s in mortal danger.

That’S what most people thought most experts, so-called experts thought ali didn’t have a chance, but you know at the press conference in new york when all these reporters white reporters would ask ali a question: aren’t you afraid of george foreman? Haven’T you seen how he hurts? People, aren’t you afraid, he’s going to do that to you and ali sat there and drew brandini brown his witch doctor, his shaman was sitting beneath ali and ali was rubbing his head.

You know just acting silly and ali said you know, there’s something that white people never understand about black folks.

He said to a white guy george forms a big bad ugly monster that no one can beat, but to a black guy he’s just another guy in the ghetto he said you have to understand.

Black people aren’t afraid of black people.

The same way, white people are afraid of black people.

That’S what ali said, and so people laughed at that and ali during his training at deer park, pennsylvania and then over in zaire.

They had spies in each other’s camp and some former smart partners of foreman came over to talk ali and they asked what kind of punches george throws, and they said his most devastating punch is the anywhere punch, which means he winds up.

He hits it.

He hits you and anywhere it lands.

It’Ll do damage and foreman was wearing out sparring partners.

Ali was lying on the ropes taking shots, he was dancing, he was preparing himself mentally for the fight he kept.

He was that’s what he was doing in all of his fights when he was boasting and bragging.

He was building up the gate, but he was trying to convince himself that, yes, i could do this and – and he said you know it’s only fitting, though i go out of boxing 10 years to the day i came into it by beating some big bad ugly Monster that no one said i can beat former was a younger, sunny listener, bigger and a stronger son he listed and a better boxer.

So they get into the ring and of course, ali goes into the ring first, and he turns around and just before they make their entrance into the ring is everyone on his team.

It looks like they’re about to cry and ali says: what do you looks like it’s a funeral? What are you, what are you guys doing? This isn’t a bad night.

This is a historic night.

I reclaim the crown tonight.

This is just another magical night in the wonderful life of muhammad ali and angelo said it calmed everyone down, so they get in the ring and ali is getting time to wait in the ring and foreman’s making him wait.

Five minutes.

10 minutes.

15.

20.

.

It’S almost half an hour now and allie wasn’t upset at all.

He said great, i’m getting used to the ring.

The fans are on my side and by getting used to the ring, i mean he’s walking all over the ring finding out where the soft spots are or or where the canvas is tight.

Where the ring is slow, it was a bit of a slow ring because it was soft and a slow ring, doesn’t favor a dancer like ali and he’s getting used to the ropes where they’re loose where they’re tight.

Finally, former makes his entrance runs into the ring and as they get to the center of the ring, zach clayton gives him the instructions and ali’s talking to former performances, giving that that sunny, liston, look and ally is talking him and and foreigners years later he almost Laughed he didn’t, he almost broke character when ali said you’ve been thinking about me.

Your whole life, you thought about me every day in high school and foreman said he wanted to say, but he didn’t mohammed.

I never went to high school.

I was a petty thief.

You know i never went to high school.

What are you thinking? That’S the reason i’m a fighter, and so they finish the instructions and the bell rings.

The most important moment in the fight happens, although people may not know it at the time when ali comes out and throws a straight right hand and catches foreman before the fight, he called up customato and said: what do i do with this guy? How do i beat this guy and costa model said you know what you want to do.

You want to get his respect? How do you get his respect, you go out and you throw a straight right hand and the reason that was so important a straight right hand with no jab is a sucker punch and it’s a sucker punch because you’re throwing it across your body, you’re telegraphing, the Punch the guy across from you can see the punch coming.

So what you’re saying to him in essence, is: i have no respect for your boxing ability, i’m going to throw this right in and i’m going to land it and that’s how little you talent you have when it comes to technical boxing, skill and allie landed it And then he comes in to throw it left and but foreman has recovered and he retreats and ali’s dancing around the ring and foreman performance chasing him and cutting him off and as this is going on in the first round, ali is thinking to himself.

No one.

Ever told me this, no one ever told me that this guy knows what he’s doing foreman was brilliant at cutting off the ring.

When it came to cutting off the ring.

No one could cut off a ring like george foreman and so ally gets to his corner and they’re administering to him.

Then he stands up when it’s time for the next round to start, but he has a look on his face and i spoke to norah mailer about this on the set of cinderella.

Man and he said it was almost like ali looked within himself here.

It was here it was sunny, listen, much bigger, much stronger, much younger, much much more energy.

This is the mountain i was afraid of and he’s got to figure out a way to beat him and he thinks to himself.

I can’t keep dancing if i keep dancing i’ll tire out and he’ll knock me out in five or six rounds, because i’m taking ten steps to every two or three steps he takes that doesn’t work in my favor and he figures.

What do i have to do? I got ta tire him out and so ally retreats to the ropes and for the second round third round.

Fourth round you can hear angelo dundee screaming, get off the ropes alley move and he keeps screaming on him and in between rounds, he’s saying get off the ropes and finally, mom said shut up.

I know what i’m doing he’s too young.

I can’t dance i’ll tire.

Her out, i got ta make him shoot his wad.

I got ta make him expend all his energy and then i’ll take him out, and you saw in the fight in the third round.

I think fourth round, actually in other rounds ali is staggering.

Foreman he’s hitting him with straight right: hands ali still had that amazing hand, speed, and so when foreman would hit him and ali would clinch and then bend his neck down, which puts a lot of strain on a fighter on his legs and on his back and His neck referee would break them up.

Ally would move off the ropes catch foreman with a quick, four or five punch combination and then move back to the ropes and let foreman wail away on him as ali caught the shots on his arms now allie did take some shots.

I think in the sixth round or fifth round, took a tremendous left hook to the head, but he took him.

You know he took him, he hit the ropes, snapped back to life and he came back and then, as the fight progressed into rounds, five, six and seven what ali was doing was he’d come out at the beginning of the round, he’d whack foreman, a couple of Times and then he’d slowly retreat to the ropes and his foreman came after him, he’d catch him with quick shots coming in and by the time he got to the ropes foreman was losing his energy as the fight progressed, foreman was punching himself out and that’s because Foreman’S mindset was i’m just gon na i’m gon na destroy him.

No one can stand up to my power and, as farmer said, no one had ever beaten him before he beaten everyone easily and so he’s backing up and ali’s backing up.

Taking all these shots and he’s talking to foreman the whole time, is that all you have you call that a left hook you punch like a, i didn’t think you could fight like that.

I didn’t think i i thought you were supposed to be tougher.

I thought you were supposed to be stronger and he kept whispering in his ear.

You know second round he said 13 more rounds.

George 39 minutes, it’s 105 degrees, feel the humidity and he kept whispering it to him and foreman was exhausted.

Foreman had never had to go that long, a distance in a fight and, as ali had said before, to fight.

I want to see how he’s going to react in rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11.

.

I’M telling you right now as sure as we’re at madison square garden for this press conference.

His parachute will not open he’s young.

He believes he’s invincible.

He can’t conceive of a fight going beyond two rounds.

I’M gon na take him into deep waters and drown and that’s what ali did and then we get to the the eighth round and in the eighth round ali is against the robes.

And just before the eighth round started angelo said he looks out of it and and muhammad said yeah.

I think i can get rid of him, but i want to play with him first and angela said no, no, that’s the one agreement.

We have muhammad, you don’t play with the guy.

When you have him ready to go, you never know what can happen.

Get him out get him out now and mohammed goes into the eighth round.

He’S letting george throw these wild punches out the window no steam on them.

No power ali slips to his right off the rope slides off the ropes hits him with a left.

Jab catches.

Him with the right hand, and a quick, four or five punch flurry, hits him with a hard right, bang and then foreman twirls around, and he leans and he’s as he’s about to fall.

Allie his right hand to hit him one more time and then decides it’s not necessary.

It’S almost like he was appreciating the aesthetic of the moment like i don’t want to ruin the moment and so foreman hits the campus foreman and he’s right.

He was right.

He said he, you look at your corner and they tell you when to get up, but his corner screwed up and by the time he’s getting up.

Zach clayton says ten, and then there was bedlam bedlam in the ring bedlam all over the world at toronto’s maple leaf gardens, which was sold out with 18 000 people.

People were screaming, i was jumping on my chair.

I was 14, i was screaming and crying.

I told people at school all week out, they would win, they all laughed at me and ali did it.

Ali had climbed the throne.

He had come back and taken the title that was so unjustly stolen from him and as he’s going to the dressing room he’s talking to people but once he’s being interviewed by david frost, he points his finger and he said i told all of you hypocrites to Write into ring magazine, i told you in 1964, i’m the greatest fighter of all time.

I told you when i beat sunny, listen, i’m the greatest that ever lived now.

You have to give it to me crawl.

All of you, crawl, you’ll! Never get me.

Maybe when i’m 50, but not even then, and so he had done it – everyone was happy ali had regained the throne.

Foreman went into a tailspin.

He was depressed because he’d never been beaten, he’d, never contemplated that and it took him 20 years to get over it until he actually sat up in bed one night and said to his wife.

You know what muhammad beat me and there’s nothing wrong with that.

It happens, ironically, ally kept fighting and fighting as we know and lost to leon.

Spinks won the title again a third time and then fought larry holmes and trevor berbick in two bad fights but retired.

As an iconic world legend, the most famous man on the face of the earth – george foreman, whom i love very much and adore uh, stepped out of boxing for 10 years and after his last fight in 77 against jimmy young, he was dehydrated and he had.

He said a religious moment where he was born again and although they said he was dehydrated, i believe him because i’ve never known george foreman not to be truthful under any circumstance and so 10 years later he makes his tremendous comeback.

Now he didn’t make the comeback.

He made to come back, he said because he wanted to raise money for the george foreman youth center.

That’S partly true, but he made the comeback because he had a 10-year services contract at don king and it was over in 87.

So then he hired a former federal prosecutor.

As his lawyer and the guy spoke to don king george is making a comeback.

How much don said? How much does he weigh 450 or 420 pounds, and you want a part of it? No not interested at all and the lawyer said we’re taking the conversation, we’re having a record, it’s not being interested at all and he said and king said, george will have a heart attack before he gets into a fight and, of course, before his next fight he’s Down 70 pounds to 350.

, the fight after he’s down to 310 finally settles at 260.

.

He fights he gets a chance at tommy morrison for the wbo title.

He loses that he fights evander holyfield and he loses that fight.

He gets one more chance and he fights michael moore.

Excuse me, michael morris of southpaw, who who had beaten hollyfield for the title and during the fight it showed how smart foreign was.

When he’s fighting michael moore, he keeps throwing his left hand.

George keeps turning left and he’s lining it occasionally, but what he’s doing it doesn’t doesn’t really care if it lands he’s moving infantismly baby steps more he’s, making more move to moore’s left right into the pathway of georgia’s right hand and finally, in the 10th round, and All through the fight by the way, teddy atlas in moore’s corner said you’re, not seeing what he’s doing he’s sucking you into a right hand, he’s getting you to move over and morris said, i’m not worried about it.

I’M going to knock him out no you’re not going to knock george for him enough.

That’S not going to happen! You understand that ali did that and it’ll never happen again.

He knows what he’s doing.

I’M begging! You don’t move to your left and more with beating the hell out of form.

He was much younger and quicker, but sure enough.

You know, after eighth and ninth round angela dundee was now in florman’s corner.

All these years later said to george.

You know we’re running out of rounds and george.

So what are you talking about rounds? I can’t beat them on rounds, i’m in my middle 40s.

I can’t beat anybody in rounds power, that’s how i’ll beat them and so in the 10th round he comes out.

Hits him with a jab that tremendous polaxing, jab stuns, more hits him with the right hand, moore’s eyes, roll a bit, hits him with another jab, and then he puts everything his full 260 pounds into a straight right hand and moore is out.

They count 10.

But it’s a formality: george foreman had come back 20 years almost to the day that he lost to ali and reclaimed [ Music ], the world millennial the undisputed world heavyweight champion.

So it’s really a great story.

The two became very close friends.

They were close friends right after their fight ali, never truly despised.

Anyone he fought, and him and george were very close.

George went on, and now of course is one of the smartest businessmen on the planet.

You know he owns a nascar team, he breeds german shepherds.

He breeds horses he’s got the george foreman grill uh, very wealthy man, and he earned it all with its brains.

It was a great fight, it was a historic night in boxing and it’s a great story, because ali reclaims, his throne and then 20 years later, george foreman reclaims, the same throne.

So, in closing i just like to say, if you get a chance watch the fight watch, the ali form and fight it was ali’s best fight in his second incarnation.

In his career, as ali said, the best fight for the fans was the frasier third fraser fight.

The fight i was at my best physically was the cleveland williams, fight and the fight that meant the most to me was when i beat george foreman, he said no one will ever know how much that meant to me.

Thank you for watching.

This has been ring.

Talk, i’m lou eisen enjoy the rest of your day, eric you there.

Well, i guess it’s not the end of ring talk.

I thought it was eric.