George Foreman Debunks Widespread Rumor About His Fight With Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali did something new in 1974. He wrestled with an alligator, tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail, murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick, and made medicine sick. This is exactly what he said at the press conference before stepping in the ring with George Foreman for a ‘rumble in the jungle’ in Kinshasa.

After losing his WBC and WBA heavyweight titles to Joe Frazier in 1971, Ali fought thrice again that same year, six times in 1972, and five times in 1973.

He ended 1973 by beating Frazier in a rematch and redeeming his loss; once he had gained that peace of mind, the only thing left for him was to go after his throne again.

But a 40-0 heavyweight king stood in between Muhammad Ali‘s road to the championship. George Foreman was a force to be reckoned with at the time; he had snatched Ali’s old titles from Frazier in 1973 and had defended against Jose Roman and Ken Norton in 1973 and 1974.

Naturally, the stakes for ‘the rumble in the jungle’ were very high. On October 30, 1974, the world saw one of the greatest heavyweight clashes of all time; Kinshasa stood on its feet as Ali knocked out the undefeated Foreman in round 8.

After this legendary clash in Congo, Muhammad Ali let Harold Bells interview him. It was then when he truly claimed the right to ‘The Greatest’ tag by delivering his most iconic line to date –

“Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see”.

George Foreman trashes baseless rumor about the Muhammad Ali fight

The Foreman vs Ali clash soon became the talk of the hour. Both heavyweights made headlines all over the world. Hours after the mega-fight, quite literally everyone was talking about it.

Then rumors quickly spread that Muhammad Ali spoke directly to Foreman while dancing with him in the ring.

“You have heard of me since you were young. You’ve been following me since you were a little boy. Now you must meet me, your master,” – many believe that this is what Ali said to Foreman in between the rounds.

However, turns out that was just completely baseless and was nothing more than a rumor.

Somebody recently asked George Foreman on Twitter if Muhammad Ali ever really said that to him during the fight.

“That’s not true! Muhammad Ali did not say this, to me,” George Foreman quickly shut down this rumor, 47 years after the Ali fight.

Do you think George Foreman and Muhammad Ali should have fought again back in the day?

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