Boxing legend Muhammad Ali Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The sound of blows echoed through a gym in the Congolese capital Kinshasa as Tshibanda Wata Judex trained a young boxer, both ducking and weaving in the same building where Muhammad Ali warmed up before the "Rumble in the Jungle" fight 50 years ago.
As the 30 October anniversary of the legendary 1974 match against George Foreman approaches, 71-year-old Judex recalled the thrill of crowding into the stadium to watch the showdown between the heavyweights that was beamed around the world.
The event spurred a whole generation to take up boxing in what was then known as Zaire, he said, after strolling through the empty Tata Raphael stadium.
"Since 1974, all Congolese started pushing forward to work in boxing. Before, our fathers thought it was a form of banditry, but it was a job. We worked at it," he said.
"I'm proud because Muhammad Ali inspired this country."
The fight, hyped for months and scheduled for 4am local time for maximum television exposure in the United States, attracted some of the world's most prominent figures to a country known by most westerners at the time only for its periodic bouts of instability.
Judex appeared to recall every punch, recounting how the underdog Ali emerged triumphant after eight dramatic rounds in front of a crowd of 60,000.
Muhammad Ali and George Foreman meet in the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire in 1974. Photo: AFP
In victory, Ali regained the world title seven years after it was stripped from him for refusing to be drafted to fight in Vietnam, fueling his iconic status which has endured to this day.
"Muhammad was a stylist, and Foreman was a hard-hitter. There were tense moments because Foreman threw a lot of punches, and Muhammad endured them." But in the end, Foreman "went down with a crash like a falling elephant," Judex said with glee.
Back in the working-class district where he lives, Judex stores memorabilia of the contest that changed the course of his life by inspiring him to pursue a career as a coach and establish Democratic Republic of Congo's first boxing club for women.
He paged through a well-thumbed magazine to show off photos from the day of the fight and pulled on a t-shirt with Ali's photo on the front, his arms raised in victory.
"I've kept this souvenir to show my children and grandchildren that I was there at the battle of the century," he said, describing how an encounter with Ali at the gym ahead of the match made him a life-long fan.
"We were his fan club on the day of the fight of the century," he said. "Ali Boma ye ('Ali, kill him!' in the local Lingala language) - it was us who were chanting that."
- Reuters