Karamba Kebe of Senegal, right, wins the African boxing championship final against Landry Matete Kankonde of Congo in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Kinshasa, Congo — Alfred Mamba remembers the frenzy that gripped the Zaire soccer stadium, now known as Congoas the fierce heavyweight title fight unfolded over eight rounds between the underdog Muhammad Ali and the seemingly invincible George Foreman.

“It was a great party,” Mamba said, recalling that his father, one of the co-founders of the Congo boxing federation, took him to the fight when he was 15.

As Mamba flipped through a stack of photographs he said were taken at the fight, he recalled the stadium erupting when Ali and Foreman came out for the long-awaited “ Rumble in the jungle ”as the contest was known.

“When Foreman threw punches, the crowd screamed,” recalled Mamba, now a boxing referee. “But Ali had surprised everyone with his hook technique. And how he was boxing against the ropes. And voila, that’s how he won the fight.”

The crowd’s hysteria followed the series of punches until Ali’s final punch. It also created a new generation of fighters and fans who were inspired to keep this country on the world boxing stage.

Before the 50th anniversary of the Ali vs. fight Foreman, boxers and fans from across Africa were in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, for the just concluded 21st African Amateur Boxing Championships which saw the Stade des Martyrs stadium and major roads lit up. .

Landry Matete Kankonde, who represented Congo in the men’s heavyweight division, lost to Senegalese Karamba Kebe, but said he still dreams of becoming the next Ali, and credits the 1974 fight with putting Congo on the map.

“The next superstar will be me,” said Kankonde, 24, with a wide smile on his face.

But in this impoverished country of 110 million, mostly young people, people like Kankonde are fighting against all odds to reach the highest levels.

While Congo is one of the most decorated African nations in boxing, it still lacks proper sporting infrastructure, such as a gym for its national team, forcing many to train in open spaces, Mamba said.

In its eastern region, where a deadly security crisis has resulted in one of the world’s largest attacks humanitarian disastersMany can only dream of leaving the conflict zones and displaced persons camps to reach the official competitions in the distant capital.

Even in Kinshasa, amateurs often train on the side of the road and in the streets without equipment, ducking and weaving while their hands throw punches.

“The Congo is a country where people are motivated by the suffering we know here,” Kankonde said. “Every time a Congolese boxer gives his all, seeing everything we suffer here motivates us.”

The 1974 fight was one of the most memorable moments in boxing.

Mobutu Sese Seko, the Congolese dictator who sought to put the Central African nation in the spotlight, had teamed up with promoters to bring the contest to the country, putting up a purse of $5 million for the fight.

Just before dawn on October 30, 1974, with soldiers armed with machine guns watching the crowd from the ring and a huge portrait of Mobuto dominating the Stade des Martyrs stadium, spectators around the world witnessed the fight between the 32-year-old . Ali, looking to make a comeback after being stripped of the world title for refusing to be drafted for the Vietnam War, and the then-undefeated 25-year-old Foreman.

Many believed Ali had no chance against Foreman, as he had been out of the ring for years after the ban.

“People were praying before the fight that Ali wouldn’t die,” said Bill Caplan, who was Foreman’s public relations man in Zaire.

“I think it was one of the 10 biggest upsets in boxing,” Ed Schuyler Jr., the veteran Associated Press boxing writer who was in the Congo to cover the fight, said of Ali’s victory.

The fight ended with Ali knocking Foreman to the canvas in the eighth round, but that was just the beginning of the passion for the sport among many Congolese. After that, everyone wanted to learn to box, Mamba said. He himself was as inspired by the contest as he was by his father, also a referee.

And for fifty years, the Congo has continued to rumble, producing great boxers such as Sumbu Kalambay, the Congolese-Italian champion who held the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight world title in the 1980s, and Junior Ilunga Makabu, who held the WBC cruiserweight title in the early 2020s.

And people still fall in love with the sport in the country, including Josué Loloje, who was among the spectators at the Kinshasa stadium during the African championship.

“The Ali vs. Foreman fight is the foundation (for) these emerging talents in Congolese boxing,” Loloje said between the fights. “It all started there.”

Alfred Mamba, who witnessed the Ali-Foreman fight “in the jungle” as a child 50 years ago, poses for a photo in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

FILE – Challenger Muhammad Ali, right, watches as defending world champion George Foreman falls to the canvas in the eighth round of their WBA/WBC championship match, Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE – Sweat pours from George Foreman’s head as he lands a right hand on challenger Muhammad Ali in the seventh round of their Rumble in the Jungle fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, on Oct. 30, 1974. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky, Archive )

FILE – This is a Sept. 22, 1974, file photo of Zaire’s President Mobutu Sese Seko (center) as he raises the arms of heavyweight champion George Foreman, left, and Muhammad Ali, right, in Kinshasa, Zaire . (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

FILE – Muhammad Ali looks at George Foreman during their fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974. (AP Photo, file)

FILE – Challenger Muhammad Ali is hit with a left jab by defending world champion George Foreman during their WBA/WBC championship fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, Oct. 30, 1974. (AP Photo, File)

FILE – Challenger Muhammad Ali watches as defending world champion George Foreman struggles for balance during the WBA/WBC championship fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, Oct. 30, 1974. (AP Photo, File)

FILE – Challenger Muhammad Ali raises his arms in victory after referee Zack Clayton counted out defending champion George Foreman, ending the WBA/WBC championship fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, Oct. 30, 1974. (AP Photo, file)

FILE – In this Oct. 30, 1974, file photo, referee Zack Clayton, right, intervenes after challenger Muhammad Ali looks on after knocking down defending heavyweight champion George Foreman in the eighth round of their fight for the championship in Kinshasa, Zaire. (AP Photo/File)