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Selecting the greatest fighter in boxing is difficult enough; Choosing the sport’s greatest victory is an even more difficult task. Tony Bellew, however, appeared to have no hesitation when he delivered his own verdict on New Year’s Eve.
The former cruiserweight world champion, now a familiar face on DAZN’s boxing coverage as an expert, didn’t look to the modern era – or even the 21st century – but instead looked back more than half a century.
Responding on X to a clip shared by Vinny’s Corner of Muhammad Ali’s legendary clash with George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle, Bellew delivered a succinct verdict.
“The greatest victory in boxing history [in my opinion]! »
By the time Ali arrived in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974, many thought the former heavyweight king was done. At 32 years old, and after being written out against the seemingly unstoppable Foreman, Ali instead produced one of the most daring and intelligent performances the sport has ever seen.
For much of the contest, Ali positioned himself against the ropes, inviting Foreman to unleash his fearsome power. Blow after blow pounded Ali’s body and arms, but the challenger’s moves, trickery and revolutionary “rope-a-dope” tactics gradually sapped the champion’s strength. When Foreman finally slowed down, Ali seized his moment, unleashing a devastating combination in the eighth round to reclaim the heavyweight title he had lost to Joe Frazier three years earlier in The Fight of the Century.
The psychological advantage was as important as the physical advantage. Foreman would later reveal that during the exchanges, Ali had taunted him on several occasions.
“Is that all you got, George?”
“It was a nightmare because it was all I had.”
Ali went on to defend his title several times before losing to Leon Spinks in 1978, only to defy logic once again by regaining the heavyweight championship in their rematch later that year, becoming the first man to win the title three times. Subsequent defeats to Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick finally brought an end to a glorious and impactful career.
Foreman, meanwhile, would write his own chapter on boxing immortality two decades later. In 1994, he stunned the world by eliminating Michael Moorer becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history – a fitting epilogue to a rivalry that produced one of boxing’s greatest nights.
Foreman’s late-career redemption only adds weight to Bellew’s claims, but nothing that followed has ever eclipsed that night in Kinshasa – when Muhammad Ali outplayed, outlasted and ultimately overwhelmed the most feared heavyweight on the planet to produce a victory that still defines boxing greatness half a century later.
The greatest victory in boxing history, in my opinion! #RumbleInTheJunglepic.twitter.com/2ro4ZRRjTr
-Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) December 31, 2025
