Muhammad Ali – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Rumble In The Jungle

The 50th anniversary of this is coming up in 16 days. I thought I would go ahead and post it today. It brings back a lot of memories with my dad. We will get back to music and movies tomorrow. If you ever wondered where the phrase “rope-a-dope” got famous…this is it. This is one of the most iconic events of the 20th Century.

I was 7 years old when this took place but I remember my dad was super excited for this fight. I also remember him griping how it wasn’t on television. It was on closed-circuit TV in theaters back on October 30, 1974, in America. It was later played on television here a week later I believe on Wild World of Sports. I watched it with my dad and he was happy that Ali won so I was as well.

It was George Foreman against Muhammid Ali. Ali, written off by most, faced the seemingly unbeatable Foreman, who was younger, stronger, and terrifying. Foreman had thoroughly beaten Joe Frazier and Ken Norton…the two men who had given Ali serious trouble.

The event took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) Africa, a choice by promoter Don King. King promised both fighters $5 million each (a staggering amount for the time) and found a host in Zaire’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, who saw this as an opportunity to showcase his country to the world.

From the moment Ali landed in Zaire, it was clear… Ali was the people’s champion. He embraced the locals, chanting “Ali, bomaye!” (“Ali, kill him!”). Ali knew the power of spectacle, and he hyped the fight into a clash of good vs. evil—himself, the people’s hero, against the seemingly cold and invincible Foreman. Ali knew all about spectacles and how to create them. No one could hype an event like Ali could. Below this is what happened in the fight.

Foreman, by contrast, kept to himself. He was intense and silent, bringing his deadly reputation but lacking Ali’s charisma and showmanship. As Ali paraded through the streets of Kinshasa, the crowd adored him, feeding his ego and energizing his mission. Foreman? He just looked like a man on a mission to destroy Ali. Foreman threw a hell of a punch. If you got caught flat-footed with him…one punch is all it would take. Ali wasn’t the Cassius Clay a few years before…he was a little older and a little slower (still faster than Foreman)…but smarter.

Before writing this I sat down and watched the entire eight rounds. Ali was 32 years old but Foreman was 25 and the current Heavy Weight Champion of the World. You could still feel the electricity in the air now when you watch it. Ali came out swinging but in the second round Ali would lean against the ropes a cover…all the while Foreman would punch and punch…and punch. He got some hits in Ali’s side but Foreman could not land THAT punch. As this was going on…Ali’s mouth was running as usual…telling Foreman to punch him and punch again. He kept antagonizing him Foreman and it made him do exactly what Ali wanted… use up his energy.

I won’t go through every round but basically, Ali got Foreman to punch and use his energy up on useless punches. Ali knew that Foreman hadn’t gone over 4 rounds since 1971 plus George is a huge guy. By the 8th round, you could tell George was spent. He still was throwing punches but he wasn’t as focused and it cost him. Ali connected on 6 straight punches and the 7th punch knocked Foreman down and Ali was once again…the World’s Heavy Weight Champion. Ali said the famous phrase “rope-a-dope” as the way he beat Foreman…laying on the ropes while Foreman punched himself to a loss.

The local crowd was with Ali because of his hype and the professionals mostly picked Foreman in an easy win over the older Ali. George never got the rematch with Ali and that is a shame. In 1977 Foreman became a Christian Minister and retired and a much nicer guy. On November 5, 1994, at the age of 45 years old George Foreman beat Michael Moorer for the Heavy Weight Champion of the World. He was behind in point until George unloaded that lethal punch and that was it. Moorer was down and he lost the championship. I know it well because our band was playing in a sports bar and I got to announce it to the crowd there.

There is so much more to talk about with this fight but the post has gone on much longer than I had wanted. Hope you enjoyed it! The two ended up being National Treasures and some of that started with this fight.

One commenter named Beth brought up the documentary When We Were Kings about this….it’s worth a watch!

THE ENTIRE FIGHT

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The Super Fight ….Rocky Marciano vs Muhammad Ali

Does anyone remember this? I saw this as a kid in the mid-seventies. It was filmed in 1969. It was released on January 20, 1970, and it grossed 5 million dollars in 1,500 theaters across North America and Europe. This is a fun piece of pop culture. In accordance with the conditions laid down by the distributor, bonded guards collected all prints after a single showing and took them to be incinerated. Obviously, that didn’t happen because prints were found in the mid-seventies.

By the time this was filmed…Rocky had been retired for 14 years and he lost around 60lbs to look the part. Ali was in his prime at the time but this wasn’t a real boxing match…it was fought by a computer and the two boxers mimicked what the computer said would happen.

They filmed two different endings with each winning. The one that was released in The United States, Canada, and throughout Europe showed Rocky winning. A small group in Europe showed the version in which Ali won.

Ali was critical of some people in his career but he never said a cross word about Rocky Marciano. Both boxers respected the other.

Marciano became the only heavyweight champion with a perfect professional record, undefeated in 49 fights, who successfully defended his title six times before retiring on April 27, 1956. He won 43 of his pro bouts by knockouts.

He would never see this film released. Marciano died on Aug. 31, 1969, in a small plane crash near Des Moines, Iowa, the day before his 46th birthday. It was only three weeks after he finished this boxing match with Ali.

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Muhammad Ali and reuniting the Beatles

Just think of the photographs snapped of Muhammad Ali and the Beatles. Put together they would reach the moon and back. Muhammad Ali was probably the most famous person in the world in the 20th century. Kids on remote islands in the middle of nowhere knew about Ali. The two were truly the greatest in their fields.

Muhammad Ali played with the idea of reuniting the Beatles in the 1970s.

The two culture icons would meet on February 18, 1964 right after the Beatles broke through America. The Beatles wanted to meet Sonny Liston because he was favored 7-1 to win the match between him and Ali but Sonny declined to meet them.

By all accounts, Ali had no idea who The Beatles were. But he welcomed the opportunity for some extra publicity with them. Although The Beatles fumed because the soon-to-be-new champ was late and kept them waiting, when he arrived he quickly broke the ice with his opening line, which has since been reported as either: “Hey, Beatles, let’s go make some money!”; or the equally memorable: “Hello there, Beatles! We oughta do some roadshows together. We’ll get rich!”

At one point, Ali used one of his favorite lines at the time, telling the Beatles: “You ain’t as dumb as you look!”

Lennon… but of course… shot back: “No. But you are!”

After a nervous silence…everyone started to laugh. Ali made up one of his rhymes. “When Liston reads about The Beatles visiting me / He’ll get so mad, I’ll knock him out in three!” It actually took 6 rounds for Ali to win on February 25, 1964…Sonny wouldn’t return for the 7th.

Joel Sacher was attending the inauguration gala for President Jimmy Carter. He was there as a personal guest of Muhammad Ali, maybe the most recognizable man on the planet at the time. Ali and Sacher were meeting with one of the few men who was almost as recognizable Ali. They were talking to John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, and while the conversation included plenty of nostalgia about meeting the Beatles in Miami long ago.

Ali was armed with a proposal, one that was the brainchild of Sacher and a business associate that had the potential to stun the world. They wanted to reunite The Beatles.

In 1976 inventor Alan Amron and businessman Joel Sacher partnered with Ali to promote The International Committee to Reunite the Beatles. They asked fans worldwide to contribute a dollar each. Ali said the idea was to use the proceeds to establish an international agency to help poor children. “This is money to help people all over the world”, he said. He added, “I love the music. I used to train to their music.” He said a reunion of the Beatles “would make a lot of people happy.” The Beatles were indifferent to the plan. No reunion happened.

Here is a PDF of a newspaper article describing Ali’s plan. It was a nice gesture. Ali and the Beatles.pdf

The International Committee to Reunite the Beatles released a single called “Get Back Beatles” and it was released by singer-songwriter Gerald Kenny.

The Beatles turned down big-time money in the seventies and didn’t reunite. Personally, I’m happy they didn’t…no way could they have lived up to people’s expectations.

After Muhammad Ali died

Paul McCartney:

“I loved that man. He was great from the first day we met him in Miami, and on the numerous occasions when I ran into him over the years. Besides being the greatest boxer, he was a beautiful, gentle man with a great sense of humor who would often pull a pack of cards out of his pocket, no matter how posh the occasion, and do a card trick for you.

Ringo Starr:

“I taught (Ali) everything he knew!” Starr said, before growing more – and less – serious. “That was a thrill, of course, and I was putting my money on Liston, so I really knew what was happening!”