Muhammad Ali Told George Foreman To Stay Well Away From One Heavyweight When Making Comeback

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman are two of boxing’s greatest ever heavyweights.

It was October 30 1974 when the legendary duo locked horns for the heavyweight championship of the world, in what is perhaps more commonly known as ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’, which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire.

Ali went into the contest as an underdog, with many fans and pundits predicting a routine knockout victory for ‘Big George’, who had remained unbeaten in all 40 of his professional outings up until that point.

Foreman began plugging away at ‘The Greatest’ from the opening bell, but had spent all of his energy by the eighth round which allowed Ali to capitalise and pull off an extraordinary upset to knock his bitter rival out and reclaim the world heavyweight championship, becoming the first man to defeat ‘Big George’.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, Foreman revealed how he had been warned to avoid one fighter in particular after making a comeback to the sport in 1987, after he had taken a 10-year hiatus.

“Mike Tyson could hit man. Even Muhammad Ali who had not faced him, when I told him I was coming back he said ‘George, that Mike Tyson can hit’, that’s punching power there. Yeah [he warned me not to face Mike Tyson]. It was a caution like my big brother.”

Ali and Foreman put their bitter rivalry to bed when it was revealed that the latter had announced his retirement from the sport after he was beaten by Jimmy Young in 1977. They remained good friends right up until Ali’s death in 2016, although their iconic battle in 1974 remains one of the most influential moments in the sport’s long history.