Sulaiman Says Foreman Was Not Drugged

By James Blears

World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman says that George Foreman is mistaken in thinking he was drugged before the Rumble in the Jungle slugfest in Zaire.

Don Jose suggested that although George remains sincere in this belief, he might possibly have had a rumble in the tummy. This would have made him feel unwell, prior, during or after the fight. But drug tests clearly showed nothing untoward in his system.

George forwared the doping claim not long after the fight, which resulted in his eighth-round knockout, by Muhammad Ali on October 30, 1974. And all these years later, he’s repeating it.

What was evident then, was that George went all out for a quick knockout and expended vast amounts of energy in intense heat and humidity, trying to achieve it in the first few rounds. And that Ali who whiplashed him with the accurancy of a cluster of guided missile weapons systems, launched via his famous rope a dope strategy, paced himself far better, fighting conservatively and cleverly with cunning contained bursts, instead of flat out.

Don Jose also reveals that he regrets that Ali didn’t give Foreman a re-match, which would have again had the world enthralled with boxing fans on the edge of their seats.

He recalls : “Ali and I met in 1976, and he said to me,  you definitely want me to fight Foreman again?  I replied, you must. It’s mandatory. He said…let me get one or two  money bouts and then fight George again…why not! But it never happened.”