������ý����

Fifty years after the famed ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ Muhammad Ali is remembered not only as the heavyweight champ, but as a champion of civil rights

It is hard to imagine, but coming off of his more than three-year exile from boxing, Muhammad Ali spent four years regaining his position as the top heavyweight in boxing. He lost everything by��—not just his boxing career and his promotional business, but also derailing his budding advertising and media career.

Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky, winning the�� before turning professional as a heavyweight. A myth emerged that he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after returning to his home city as��.

Jared Bahir Browsh is the��Critical Sports Studies��program director in the CU ������ý������Department of Ethnic Studies.

Jared Bahir Browsh is the��Critical Sports Studies��program director in the CU ������ý������Department of Ethnic Studies.

His experiences negotiating racism and segregation as an Olympic hero would inform his outspoken approach to civil rights and make him a hero to millions across generations.

Ali won his first 20 professional matches—and became heavyweight champion—at age 22, defending the championship across nine challenges before he was stripped of his championship and exiled from the sport in 1966. He appealed his draft reclassification, which happened in spite of his dyslexia and his position as a conscientious objector. Other athletes who were draft-eligible were placed with National Guard units or protected by their teams,��, so it was particularly curious that the most popular athlete in the country was reclassified and drafted.

Conscientious objector

, the boxer then known as Cassius Clay changed his name first to Cassius X and then to Muhammad Ali. He had��, but did not reveal his conversion until he was secure in his boxing career after winning the championship. He fell out with Malcolm X after the civil rights leader left the Nation following revelation that leader Elijah Muhammad had children out of wedlock; Malcolm assumed Ali would support him,��

In 1966, to promote his fights and oversee the closed-circuit broadcasting of his fights. The Nation of Islam held many of the shares in Main Bout Inc., including through Ali’s manager, Jabir Herbert Muhammad, third son of the Nation’s leader; other shareholders included football legend Jim Brown. To help forge relationships, boxing promoter Bob Arum was included and after the company folded due to Ali’s arrest,��

Ali’s religious conversion and his perspective that America should not be involved in the Vietnam War led to his refusal to be inducted. He was arrested and convicted of breaking Selective Service laws, and he continued to protest the war as he appealed. His conviction was , although he returned to boxing in late 1970 as sentiment against him softened and boxing commissions granted Ali licenses to fight again. He fought three matches before the Supreme Court ruled in his favor,

As Frazier and Ali worked toward a rematch, a young boxer rose up the ranks after winning the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. George Foreman entered the fight against Joe Frazier at 37-0, . Ali also lost his second match, this time against Ken Norton, but after Foreman beat Norton,

Defending world champion George Foreman goes down in the eighth round during his Oct. 30, 1974, bout against Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. (Photo: Richard Drew/Associated Press)

King did not have the money on hand, and the huge monetary promise to both boxers led other promoters to avoid working with King to organize the event. King, who had been released from jail in 1972 after being convicted of second-degree murder, forged a relationship with Ali after promoting a charity fight, but was unable to come to agreement with any venue in the United States to stage the fight. As a result, he looked at other countries to stage it. Fred Weymar, who was an advisor to Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, convinced�� support for his regime,��. King also pulled in funding from��, with Hemdale and Video Techniques Inc. as official co-promoters. Color commentators included Brown, Frazier and journalist David Frost.

Rumble in the Jungle

Promoted as the Rumble in the Jungle, the fight was an incredible spectacle, even by today’s sporting standards. Originally scheduled for Sept. 25, 1974 (it would have been broadcast Sept. 24 in the United States due to the time difference), it was pushed back to Oct. 30 due to a��. A three-day music festival called��, originally scheduled to precede the match, which included James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners and Celia Cruz alongside more than a dozen African artists.

Although Ali arrived in Zaire as a 4-1 betting underdog, he was the overwhelming favorite of the Zairean/Congolese people.��, which was the dog breed used by the Belgian occupying forces against the Congolese people, further cementing his status as the villain. Foreman and Ali were polar opposites, with Ali seen by many as unpatriotic in America, but a hero in Africa. Foreman, on the other hand, represented Cold War nationalism after beating Soviet Jonas Čepulis in the 1968 Olympic gold medal match, leading to the famous image of the very large��

. Although the event itself did not go as planned—King assumed hundreds of high-profile boxing fans would travel to Zaire, but only a few dozen ended up making trip—the fight is seen as one of the greatest. The match�� from closed-circuit broadcasts in U.S. theaters and other broadcasts rights globally, leading to an estimated audience of more than 500 million people worldwide.

The legendary status of the fight was cemented by Ali’s upset win against the younger and stronger Foreman. Ali and his trainers understood that he would be unable to outpunch Foreman, so they relied on Ali’s skill and speed. By the second, round Ali was leaning against the ropes, avoiding and absorbing blows with his arms and body, which did not earn Foreman points with the��. Eventually, Foreman exhausted himself and Ali took advantage, knocking out the future grill entrepreneur in the eighth round.

In one of the most famous photos of Muhammad Ali ever taken, the boxer stands over Sonny Liston during a May 1965 bout in Lewiston, Maine. (Photo: John Rooney/Associated Press)

Approaching retirement

In his next bout, Ali fought Chuck Wepner and was knocked down in the ninth round, at least partially due to a light training schedule. Ali still won, and the fight would inspire Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky,

Ali retained the heavyweight title for more than three years,��, the third match in the trilogy between Ali and Frazier that saw the champion employ the “rope-a-dope” again, as both fighters struggled in the heat of Quezon City, near the Philippine capital of Manila. Ali lost to Leon Spinks in February 1978 on a split decision, before beating��

Ali sent his letter of retirement to the World Boxing Association before returning to the ring to face his former sparring partner Larry Holmes for the vacant World Boxing Commission title, reportedly taking the fight��. Before the fight, he was ordered to undergo examination at the Mayo Clinic because there was a concern as to whether he was fit to return to the ring—he had begun to��.

The fight was so one-sided that��Holmes went on to win after Ali’s long-time trainer finally stepped in to stop the fight. Stallone attended the fight in Las Vegas and compared it to�� Ali fought one more time before ultimately retiring.

As time went on, Ali struggled with the impact that Parkinson’s had on his health—a condition related to taking an . He continued to make public appearances, including his inspiring lighting of the Olympic torch in the 1996 Atlanta Games. He continues to be a , considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.

Jared Bahir Browsh��is an assistant teaching professor of��critical sports studies��in the CU ������ý������Department of Ethnic Studies.

Did you enjoy this article?����Passionate about critical sports studies?��

��