![]() It was partly, Foreman replied, because Ali came to that African country as a figure beloved for his outspoken courage both in and out of the ring: “He heard them chanting his name and said, ‘I’m not going to lose.’ That’s where the stamina and taking my punches came from: They loved him, and I love him too. ![]() In 2003, a boxing writer asked Foreman why he thought he’d lost that epic battle to Ali, who had missed three and a half years in the ring because of his refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War. Years later, however, that would not be the case, and Foreman himself would give some insight into why Kincaid had been so charmed by Ali up on that screen. By contrast, she is pretty hard on Foreman, saying that he “fell into the un-appealing low-tone category.” And that night, at least, Foreman and Ali fought with all the bad blood in the world between them. Kincaid, like much of the planet’s population, was clearly enamored of the handsome and charismatic Ali. The piece displays the future award-winning novelist’s pungent prose style and insightful ear for dialogue. ![]() The fight was being broadcast live around the world from Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), to an estimated one billion viewers, the largest audience in history at that time. [Archivist’s note: For the November 7, 1974, issue of the Voice, the rising young writer Jamaica Kincaid filed a report on going to the Victoria Theatre in Harlem to watch a simulcast of the heavyweight bout between challenger Muhammad Ali and reigning champion George Foreman.
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