George Foreman Dies 50 years after Muhammed Ali Knocked Humility into him

George was known for his heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics – ‘still my most treasured memory in boxing’ he pronounced repeatedly until his death on Friday – launched him into the professional ring. A string of quick-fire victories led him to his first winning of a world title – on January 27, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica – by knocking out the great Joe Frazier. A feat he achieved twice against the revered Smokin’ Joe.

Foreman’s golden age was stripped by Muhammed Ali who put a dent in his career till he breathed his last. The famous fight, rumble in the jungle in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (known as Zaire then), Africa on the 30th October 1974 between Muhammed Ali and the unbeatable heavy weight champion George Foreman. Foreman was the favourite to win the fight. According to Christopher McDougall in book, The Best American Sports Writing (2014), it was arguably the best sporting event in History.

Mail Guardian reports, “After Ali rope-a-doped him into punching himself out through a seven-round barrage of massive blows, demoralised him by asking ‘that all you got, George?’ After taking the biggest punch of all from then the most feared of all fighters. And Ali felled him like an oak tree in the eighth.

It was more than a year before a devastated Foreman could bring himself to box again and as he would say down the years: ‘I needed time to find humility in defeat.’

That lesson sent him searching for God but he left as a loser in this world and in the hereafter as he did not find Allah Ta’alaa!

What is rope-a-dope?

The rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting technique in which one contender leans against the ropes of the boxing ring to draw non-injuring offensive punches in an effort to tire their opponent out and, while they are on the ropes, try to execute devastating offensive punches. The rope-a-dope is most famously associated with Muhammad Ali in his October 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match against world heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire.