Dammum Foreman-Lie, which changed their career and the Congo

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The African nation was naive. Its president, Moboto Sis Siko, concluded a deal in 1974 for the country to host the largest boxing competition in history: Muhammad Ali, a legend in retreat, opposite George Foreman, a fierce and high world champion in heavyweight.

Mr. Mobutu, AutocratHe saw an opportunity to present Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the world as a stable nation that includes 22 million people on the road to become a sophisticated power.

Then, early in promoting the battle, Mr. Ali, who turned Bravado into art, made a threat to the journalists who questioned it. In Zayer, “We will put you in a bowl and cook you,” he said, according to Jane Keelwi, his business manager.

After a short time, Mr. Keeloy said, they received a call from one of the aides of Mr. Moboto.

“We are trying to promote tourism, we do not kill it,” the assistant Mr. Kieroi recalls, saying, as he is back away from a cup of human meat in Africa.

However, Mr. Ali’s provocations helped convert the battle into a global scene with traces that exceed the boxing, which reshaped the profession of Mr. Foreman and Hayat, Who died on Friday in 76.

Mr. Ali won a stunning knockout in the eighth round, after employing the “Rope-A-Dope” strategy of relying on ropes while Mr. Foreman himself exhausted punches.

Mr. Kelry said that Mr. Foreman, who was not defeated, was modest. His average plan faded, and he became more friendly, who said Mr. Kelroei may help him develop a Grein figure who allowed him to become a pole.

Mr. Kelry said that Mr. Ali and Mr. Fourmann have developed a close friendship in the years that followed the battle.

Known as the Dammuma in the forest (early logo, “From the slave ship to the championship,” It was quickly ignored), the event helped to remove mystery of Africa to some Americans. He raised the joint cultural ties between African Americans and Africans. Zaire was placed on the map, united the country, which includes more than 200 ethnic groups – but failed to provide economic prospects promised by Mr. Mobutu.

“He was obsessed with recognition in the world as a global leader.”

After the Congo fell in years of violence after its independence from Belgium in 1960-the violence that helped Mr. Mobutu to perpetuate, first by carrying out a coup, then through its brutal and deadly suppression-Mr. Mobutu was determined to reformulate the war torn by the country. Ali Foreman’s battle was a large part of that task.

Dr. Kikaya, who recalled that he was watching Mr. Ali’s victory on a large screen in a football field near his home in the eastern Congo in the eastern Congo, said that the president expected everyone to start with the project of building the nation.

In the accumulation of the battle, the citizens were taught in the school with the words of praise of Mr. Mobutu and Zaire Natural Riches, Dr. Kikaya, who was twenty years old, remembers that time. He said that the government printed promotional clothes with pictures of fighters and Mr. Mobutu and distributed them for free. .

Dr. Kikaya said: “We were all proud to be Congolese,” said Dr. Kikaya.

The national stadium of 38,000 seats has been expanded to carry more than 100,000 people. Finally, the government invested 12 million dollars in the battle, and it retracted the collapse even by $ 4 million, according to what it said. Article in the New York Times From that time.

Almost at the same time, Mr. Moboto was preventing a program that required many companies to own it by the local population. Dr. Kikaya said that this forced many foreign citizens to abandon their work and hand them over to people without experience in their management.

This, he believed, contributed to the fall of the economy in the following years. The Congo is among the poorest countries in the world, according to the World Bank, which is obtained by inequality and decades -long civil war that killed millions.

But Dr. Kikaya said he saw a positive impact to fight for Zaire after about a decade after he went to study in the United States.

He said: “Whenever I say that I am from Zaire, people of a specific generation, the first thing they will ask me,” Odemma in the woods! “

The Fight also made a three -day music festival several weeks before the fighting that attracted the best African descent artists from all over the world, including James Brown, BP King and Miriam Makiba. This helped reduce the event not just a fight, but also a cultural scene.

But, of course, it was Mr. Ali who was born an unparalleled noise.

When they landed in Zayer several months before the fighting, Mr. Kelri, the business manager, said that Mr. Ali asked him, “Who do not like here?”

“I think the white people,” said Mr. Kelryi.

“No, I can’t say that,” Mr. Ali told him. “Who is another?”

“The Belgians,” said Mr. Keelawi.

So when he addressed a crowd of Congolese when he arrived, Mr. Ali, George Foreman Belgian, told them, Mr. Kelry recalls.

Then he said, everyone started what became the cheering of the entire event: “He, blouse!” Or, “Ali, kill him!”



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