George Foreman yells, October 15, 1974, in N'Sele, Kinshasa, Zaire
A MIGHTY oak has fallen.
On a certain level it could be argued that George Foreman, who died last week at age 76, spent his entire adult life in boxing and beyond as the man who lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974 in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the most epic heavyweight contest ever to take place.
Known to the world and to sports history as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” Foreman filled the role of villain relative to Ali’s sheriff in the eyes of a world desperate for something to believe in as the Vietnam war stuttered on in a post-colonial age. Where before Ali had filled the former role over his stance in opposition to Vietnam, by 1974 he’d been reborn as a fighter-philosopher revered the world over.
Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT
The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT
When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT
In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work
