Heavyweight icon George Foreman once admitted that he rejected a rematch with legendary rival Muhammad Ali.
Foreman and Ali locked horns back in October of 1974 in Kinshasa, a bout that would go down in boxing folklore as ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’.
‘Big George’ went into the bout as the heavy favourite, with many boxing fans and analysts backing the reigning world heavyweight champion to knock Ali out in impressive fashion.
Despite this, Ali was able to weather an early storm from the champion before stopping his countryman in the eighth round of their historic clash to capture the heavyweight championship and hand Foreman the first defeat of his career.
In an interview posted on YouTube, Foreman claimed that Ali would only agree to a rematch with him if he opted to team up with former coach, a condition that ‘Big George’ respectfully declined.
“He called me once and we talked on the phone about doing a match. I’ll do the match but you’ve got to hire Dick Sadler. I said I’ll never work with Sadler again.
“[Ali said to Foreman] ‘That’s your problem you never work with anybody that’s why you’ll never fight for the title’ and hung up on me. We got that close to a boxing match but it was about taking Dick Sadler back. Once is enough.”
A rematch between Ali and Foreman did not end up coming to fruition before the end of their respective careers, although the legendary American duo would go on to become close friends during their later years prior to the death of ‘The Greatest’ in 2016.
