Editing Muhammad Ali (section)

===World heavyweight champion (second reign)===
====''The Rumble in the Jungle''====
{{Main|The Rumble in the Jungle}}
The defeat of Frazier set the stage for a title fight against heavyweight champion [[George Foreman]] in Kinshasa, [[Zaire]], on October 30, 1974—a bout nicknamed ''[[The Rumble in the Jungle]]''. Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. In assessing the fight, analysts pointed out that [[Joe Frazier]] and [[Ken Norton]], who had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them, had both been devastated by Foreman in second-round knockouts. Ali was 32 years old and had lost speed and reflexes since his twenties. Contrary to his later persona, Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. Almost no one associated with the sport, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

As usual, Ali was confident and colorful before the fight. He told interviewer [[David Frost]], "If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whup Foreman's behind!"<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/1aGHpXt_hMc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140202235829/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aGHpXt_hMc Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aGHpXt_hMc |title=Muhammad Ali – The Rumble In The Jungle(Interview) |publisher=YouTube |date=March 22, 1967 |access-date=September 3, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He told the press, "I've done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/dGk0R63C0eM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130317021119/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGk0R63C0eM Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGk0R63C0eM |title=Muhammad Ali Inspirational Speech (Cassius Clay Boxing Motivation) |publisher=YouTube |date=September 14, 2012 |access-date=September 3, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Ali was wildly popular in Zaire, with crowds chanting "Ali, bomaye" ("Ali, kill him") wherever he went.

Ali opened the fight moving and scoring with right crosses to Foreman's head. Then, beginning in the second round, and to the consternation of his corner, Ali retreated to the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him while covering up, clinching and counterpunching, all while verbally taunting Foreman. The move, which would later become known as the "[[Rope-a-dope]]", so violated conventional boxing wisdom—letting one of the hardest hitters in boxing strike at will—that at ringside writer [[George Plimpton]] thought the fight had to be fixed.<ref name="Hauser 2004" /> Foreman, increasingly angered, threw punches that were deflected and did not land squarely. Midway through the fight, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more frequently and effectively with punches and flurries, which electrified the pro-Ali crowd. In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at center ring; Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali had regained the title by knockout. Reflecting on the fight, George Foreman later said: "I thought Ali was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: 'That all you got, George?' I realized that this ain't what I thought it was."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Foreman |first=George |url=http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/george-foreman-on-ali |title=George Foreman on why Muhammad Ali was so much more than a 'boxer' |magazine=[[ShortList]] |date=January 2012 |access-date=June 6, 2016 |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611144417/http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/george-foreman-on-ali |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Carter.jpg|thumb|President [[Jimmy Carter]] greets Ali, along with his wife Veronica Porché, at a White House dinner, 1977.]]

It was a major [[Upset (competition)|upset]] victory,<ref name="Herald">{{cite news|first=Bill|last=Lee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-herald/138782533/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115100043/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-herald/138782533/|title=Zaire's fight promotion opens new gold mines|newspaper=[[The Morning Herald]]|page=30|archive-date=January 15, 2024|date=November 18, 1974|access-date=January 15, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> after Ali came in as a 4{{ndash}}1 [[underdog]] against the previously unbeaten, heavy-hitting Foreman.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ali Regains Title, Flooring Foreman |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1030.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 30, 1974 |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615140040/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1030.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The fight became famous for Ali's introduction of the rope-a-dope tactic.<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/29/rumble-in-the-jungle-muhammad-ali-george-foreman-book-extract |title=Rumble in the Jungle: the night Ali became King of the World again |date=October 29, 2014 |work=The Guardian |access-date=October 29, 2014 |archive-date=October 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029183605/http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/29/rumble-in-the-jungle-muhammad-ali-george-foreman-book-extract |url-status=live }}</ref> The fight was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1{{nbsp}}billion viewers worldwide.<ref name="usatoday">{{cite news |title=Revisiting 'The Rumble in the Jungle' 40 years later |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2014/10/29/muhammad-ali-george-foreman-rumble-in-the-jungle-40th-anniversary/18097587/ |work=[[USA Today]] |date=October 29, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2018 |archive-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101103836/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2014/10/29/muhammad-ali-george-foreman-rumble-in-the-jungle-40th-anniversary/18097587/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="jet">{{cite magazine |title=Mike Tyson May Fight George Foreman In Biggest Money Match: $80 Million |magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |date=September 18, 1995 |volume=88 |issue=19 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46   |access-date=July 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031224046/https://books.google.com/books?id=fTkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> It was the world's [[List of most-watched television broadcasts|most-watched live television broadcast]] at the time.<ref name="briefly">{{cite news |last=Gitonga |first=Ruth |title=Most-watched television events in the world ever: Top 20 list ranked |url=https://briefly.co.za/facts-lifehacks/top/152256-most-watched-television-events-world-top-20-list-ranked/ |work=briefly.co.za |date=February 7, 2023 |access-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153340/https://briefly.co.za/facts-lifehacks/top/152256-most-watched-television-events-world-top-20-list-ranked/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Fights against Wepner, Lyle and Bugner====
Ali's next opponents included [[Chuck Wepner]], [[Ron Lyle]], and [[Joe Bugner]]. Wepner, a journeyman known as "The Bayonne Bleeder", stunned Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round; Ali would later say he tripped on Wepner's foot. The fight inspired [[Sylvester Stallone]] to create the acclaimed film ''[[Rocky]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/2006/08/10/rocky-stallone-settlement-cx_rs_0810autofacescan04.html#34f600e166bd |title=Stallone Settles With The 'Real' Rocky |first=R. M. |last=Schneiderman |date=August 10, 2006 |work=Forbes |access-date=October 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031224107/https://e.infogram.com/_/PGbi4jGUl7iSfajoEZwo?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2F2006%2F08%2F10%2Frocky-stallone-settlement-cx_rs_0810autofacescan04.html%3Fsh%3D29658a0a66bd&src=embed#34f600e166bd |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Third fight against Joe Frazier====
{{Main|Thrilla in Manila}}
Ali then agreed to a third match with Joe Frazier in [[Manila]]. The bout, known as the "[[Thrilla in Manila]]", was held on October 1, 1975,<ref name="greatath" /> in temperatures approaching {{convert|100|°F|°C}}. In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the "rope-a-dope" strategy, frequently resorting to clinches. During this part of the bout Ali did some effective counterpunching, but for the most part absorbed punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier. In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali scored several sharp blows that closed Frazier's left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Frazier's vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds, at times conducting what boxing historian Mike Silver called "target practice" on Frazier's head. The fight was stopped when Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to answer the bell for the 15th and final round, despite Frazier's protests. Frazier's eyes were both swollen shut. Ali, in his corner, winner by TKO, slumped on his stool, spent.

An ailing Ali said afterwards that the fight "was the closest thing to dying that I know", and, when later asked if he had viewed the fight on videotape, reportedly said, "Why would I want to go back and see Hell?" After the fight he cited Frazier as "the greatest fighter of all times next to me".

After the third fight with Frazier, Ali considered retirement. He said, "I'm sore all over. My arms, my face, my sides all ache. I'm so, so tired. There is a great possibility that I will retire. You might have seen the last of me. I want to sit back and count my money, live in my house and my farm, work for my people and concentrate on my family."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fight-library.com/2019/05/28/history-lesson-thrilla-in-manila/ |title=History Lesson: Thrilla in Manila |publisher=Fight-Library.com |author=Blaine Henry |date=May 18, 2019 |access-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031065245/https://fight-library.com/2019/05/28/history-lesson-thrilla-in-manila/ |url-status=live }}</ref>