Still king of the ring

IT is 50 years on Wednesday since The Rumble in the Jungle as Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain the world heavyweight title. Half a century on, we speak to two people who were there on that special night...

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FEW knew Muhammad Ali better than Gene Kilroy.

He was the first man in the ring when George Foreman failed to beat the count in that eighth round. And Kilroy has no doubt where the Rumble in the Jungle stands in the annals of the sport's history.

He said: "When you ask older people, 'Where were you when John F Kennedy was assassinated?' they can tell you. And when you ask them where were you when Muhammad Ali won the fight in Zaire? They can tell you too.

"It is the most significant fight of Ali's career and the most significant fight in boxing history. It felt like I'd come back from the dead myself. I was so happy. I knew we didn't have to go to hospital."

Kilroy was one of Ali's closest confidants. He was his business manager. His main concern that night was not if Dhis friend would lose to feared puncher Foreman, who had recently flattened Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, but what would happen if they needed to go to hospital. He said: "The medicine was not very advanced over there.