Intro:

Remembering Muhammad Ali's 'Rumble in the Jungle' forty years on.

Script:

On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in, Zaire, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," to regain his world heavyweight title.

Foreman was considered the big favourite, while Ali, then 32, was thought by many to be past his best.

The fight that followed altered the perceptions and careers of both men, as the result turned out to be one of the great upsets in heavyweight history.

Ali had been previously stripped of his heavyweight crown in 1967 for refusing to be drafted for military service during the Vietnam War.

Ali's fame and style went far beyond the ring and boxing though, which is why he is considered one of the true legends of all sports, with a flair for performance both in the ring and in front of the camera.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Muhammad Ali:

" I said last night, I had a dream, when I got to Africa I had one hell of a rumble, I had to beat Tarzan's behind first for claiming to be the king of the jungle, for this fight I wrestled with alligators, I've tussled with the whale, I done handcuffed lightning and put thunder in jail, you know I'm bad, I have murdered a rock, I injured a stone and I hospitalised a brick, I'm so bad I make medicine sick, I'm so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet, when George Foreman meets me he'll pay his debt, I can drown a drink of water and kill a dead tree, wait 'til you see Muhammad Ali."

Despite facing an opponent who was both bigger and younger than himself, Ali used all of his boxing know-how to engineer a victory.

Using what he later called 'rope-a-dope' tactics, Ali stood against the ropes and soaked up all that Foreman could throw at him before knocking out his opponent - who rapidly wilted in the Kinshasa heat - in the eighth round.

George Foreman was defeated and Ali regained the heavyweight crown in the bout dubbed 'Rumble in the Jungle.'