text: Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao will be the biggest fight of all time financially and the most significant this century. Evaluating the greatest ever fights is a complex variable of several factors including not only the quality and excitement of the action but the political, social and cultural undertones, the scale of expectation and outside influences. Where Money Man v PacMan comes to rank among the most important fights in ring history will depend upon what happens that coming night in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. In this, the fourth in a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history, I look back on one of the greatest sporting events of all time. RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE . George Foreman v Muhammad Ali . Kinshasa, Zaire . October 30, 1974 . The fight voted the greatest sporting event of the 20th century. The fight which crossed oceans and continents. The fight which drove boxing through social barriers. The fight which put a shadowy central African republic on the world map. The fight which established Muhammad Ali as the most recognisable human being on Earth. The fight which made George Foreman famous in defeat. The fight about which millions of words have been written and movies made. A photograph taken on October 30, 1974, shows Muhammad Ali (left) and George Foreman (right) USA's  Foreman (right) approaches his compatriot Ali (left)  during the iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 . The Rumble in the Jungle was the brainchild of promotional genius Don King backed by the multi-million dollar investment through which Zaire president Mobuto Sese Seko hoped to excite his people into keeping him in power. King had persuaded Ali and Foreman to sign $5million contracts which he could not afford but would talk President Mobuto into bank-rolling. JOE FRAZIER v MUHAMMAD ALI . March 8, 1971, Madison Square Garden, New York . JACK JOHNSON v JAMES JEFFRIES . July 4, 1910, Reno, Nevada . JOE LOUIS v MAX SCHMELING . June 22, 1938, Yankee Stadium, New York . As the 25-year-old world heavyweight champion with enormous punching power Foreman was odds-on favourite to crush the brilliance of the man they called The Greatest but who, at 32 and diminished by his three-and-a-half-year banishment from the ring for refusing to go to war in Vietnam, was perceived as a fading force. Ali went to work on Foreman’s psyche from the moment the circus arrived in Kinshasa, turning up at his training session to mock Big George for his size and make fun of his intellect. The irritating effect on Foreman was prolonged after he suffered an eye-cut in sparring, the date of the fight was put back more than a month and King, fearful of cancellation, insisted they stayed in Zaire instead of taking a break back in America. Ali also charmed the local population, who happily took to the streets throughout those weeks chanting ‘Ali, boma-ye’ – ‘Ali, kill him.’ The fight developed into a tactical triumph for Ali, albeit a self-punishing one which may have contributed to the subsequent onset of Parkinson’s which afflicts him now. Ali (left) often found himself against the ropes in a strategy which even surprised his trainer Angelo Dundee . Ali spent much of his time against the ropes, inviting Foreman to punch himself out before landing his blow . In a strategy which he later entitled ‘Rope-A-Dope’ – and which came as a surprise to everyone including his fabled trainer Angelo Dundee - Ali spent much of his time lolling against the ropes, inviting Foreman to punch himself out. Big George duly obliged by throwing hundreds of blows in the first seven rounds. Ali evaded many of those punches and blocked numerous with his arms but he had to withstand the brute force of those which got through his defences. The verbal taunting went on. ‘They told me you could punch, George,’ he said as Foreman began to flag. ‘Is that all you got, George?’ he rasped as Foreman connected to the Ali chin with virtually the last of the punches which had knocked out many a former foe. It had not been all negative. Throughout, Ali had peppered the swelling Foreman face with break-out with lightning combinations and the steamy 4 am heat had contributed to the weakening process. Foreman, the world heavyweight champion, is down on count two after being struck by Ali's right-hander . Ali looks on after he knocked Foreman to the canvas with the holy mother of all right-handers during the bout . Come the eighth round, come the coup de grace. A succession of right hooks, a two-fisted burst and then a left-hook which straightened up Big George to receive the holy mother of all right-handers. Foreman staggered to his feet at the count of nine but referee Zack Clayton knew he was finished. Sensation. Bedlam in the jungle. Astonishment around the satellite world. Foreman would eventually emerge from denial to become Ali’s great friend, an inspiring Christian preacher and the seller of countless top-of-the-range barbecues. Ali was still The Greatest. Ali's staff and the referee put their arms around Ali after he settled the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 .
target: Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao is now just nine days away .
  Sportsmail's Jeff Powell has been counting down the greatest fights .
  In the fourth of a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history, we have George Foreman v Muhammad Ali - the Rumble in the Jungle .
  It was a fight which astonished  the satellite world on October 30, 1974 .
  Foreman v Ali inspired movies and millions of words written about it .