The 1974, “Rumble in the Jungle” World Heavyweight Championship, which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire, is arguably one of the most famous fights in boxing history. It saw Muhammad Ali, coming back from a three and a half year suspension for refusal to comply with the U.S. Vietnam draft, regain his Heavyweight World Champion title by knocking out the younger, stronger George Foreman. This was achieved through a combination of pioneering tactics and perfect technical skills. However, the fight was also steeped in politics, from its contemporary Civil Rights movement in the U.S., to the relations and legacy established by Zaire’s President Mobutu Sese Soku, a dictator whose regime was greatly strengthened by the hosting of such an enormous event.
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He was unafraid to speak out, indeed seeking the spotlight, instead of allowing his manager to do so, and, through his embracing of racial pride and equality, became a figurehead of not simply the African-American athlete, but the entire struggle of African-Americans against the US Government as a whole. This came at the most crucial time of all, and indeed Ali’s star status helped to bring about the racial equality lacking in the U.S. of the time. More specifically with regards to the “Rumble”, in 1967 Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. army under the draft, famously saying “No Vietcong never called me nigger.”, a statement which not only promoted peace, but further damned both the American government and people’s treatment of African Americans. Ali did not fight until 1970, and his conviction was overturned unanimously by the Supreme Court in 1971, by which time opposition to the Vietnam War had grown exponentially, aided by Ali through many public lectures against the conflict. Therefore the chance in 1974 to recover his former World Heavyweight title was crucial. Not only did Ali represent the underdog in terms of the fight, thus emphasising racial protests, he also fought for his race, his religion, and his anti-war sentiments, all three of which would have gained him an enormous following, and gave his victory huge political …show more content…
Mobutu had overthrown and executed the first democratically elected President of the region, Patrice Lumumba, in 1960 and had built an intense “anti-communist”, centralised regime, through which he and his advisors profited greatly, yet his people starved, and lived in atrocious conditions. Shockingly, Mobutu built extensive ties with the West, and the “Rumble in the Jungle” provided both widespread publicity and diplomatic links with the United States. If we simply look at the timings of the fight, which took place at 4 a.m. local time, simply in order for it to appear at 10 p.m., prime viewing time, on live U.S. cable, we can see that it was a move planned towards international publicity rather than being a national event. While reports in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “The Poisonwood Bible” that political prisoners were imprisoned underneath the stadium where the fight took place, named “20th May Stadium” after the date of Mobutu’s coup, itself are likely exaggerated, Mobutu’s brutal regime in relation to the famous fight has received scandalously little press. Unfortunately, this is still most likely because Mobutu remained an American ally right up until his own overthrow in 1997, nearly a decade after the Cold War had ended, and any excuses of anti-communist alliances had long expired. The “Rumble in the Jungle” which could have been
He was unafraid to speak out, indeed seeking the spotlight, instead of allowing his manager to do so, and, through his embracing of racial pride and equality, became a figurehead of not simply the African-American athlete, but the entire struggle of African-Americans against the US Government as a whole. This came at the most crucial time of all, and indeed Ali’s star status helped to bring about the racial equality lacking in the U.S. of the time. More specifically with regards to the “Rumble”, in 1967 Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. army under the draft, famously saying “No Vietcong never called me nigger.”, a statement which not only promoted peace, but further damned both the American government and people’s treatment of African Americans. Ali did not fight until 1970, and his conviction was overturned unanimously by the Supreme Court in 1971, by which time opposition to the Vietnam War had grown exponentially, aided by Ali through many public lectures against the conflict. Therefore the chance in 1974 to recover his former World Heavyweight title was crucial. Not only did Ali represent the underdog in terms of the fight, thus emphasising racial protests, he also fought for his race, his religion, and his anti-war sentiments, all three of which would have gained him an enormous following, and gave his victory huge political …show more content…
Mobutu had overthrown and executed the first democratically elected President of the region, Patrice Lumumba, in 1960 and had built an intense “anti-communist”, centralised regime, through which he and his advisors profited greatly, yet his people starved, and lived in atrocious conditions. Shockingly, Mobutu built extensive ties with the West, and the “Rumble in the Jungle” provided both widespread publicity and diplomatic links with the United States. If we simply look at the timings of the fight, which took place at 4 a.m. local time, simply in order for it to appear at 10 p.m., prime viewing time, on live U.S. cable, we can see that it was a move planned towards international publicity rather than being a national event. While reports in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “The Poisonwood Bible” that political prisoners were imprisoned underneath the stadium where the fight took place, named “20th May Stadium” after the date of Mobutu’s coup, itself are likely exaggerated, Mobutu’s brutal regime in relation to the famous fight has received scandalously little press. Unfortunately, this is still most likely because Mobutu remained an American ally right up until his own overthrow in 1997, nearly a decade after the Cold War had ended, and any excuses of anti-communist alliances had long expired. The “Rumble in the Jungle” which could have been