George Foreman said he and Ali respected each other despite how their relationship was portrayed in the media.
Were George Foreman and Muhammad Ali friends?
George Foreman and Muhammad Ali were once fierce rivals in the ring, but it wasn’t long until they became great friends who spoke almost every day.
In the new biopic film ‘Big George Foreman’, the boxing legend relived the journey where he and Ali went from being enemies, to close companions.
Foreman’s next title defense, on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire, against Muhammad Ali, was historic. The bout, promoted as the “Rumble in the Jungle”, exceeded even its wildest expectations.
When Foreman and Ali finally met in the ring, Ali began more aggressively than expected, outscoring Foreman with superior punching speed. In the second round, Ali retreated to the ropes, shielding his head and hitting Foreman in the face at every opportunity.
Late in the eighth round, Ali came off the ropes with a series of successively harder and more accurate right hooks to the side and back of Foreman’s head, leaving him dazed and careening backward.
After a lightning two-punch flurry squared him up, Ali ended the bout with a combination of solid left hook and straight right flush to the jaw that sent Foreman windmilling hard to the canvas, the first time he had been down in his career.
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