‘I didn’t really plan it’: what Ali told me when we rewatched The Rumble in the Jungle

Fifty years on from the famous fight in Zaire no athletic contest in history has inspired as much global joy as Muhammad Ali's win over George Foreman

Thirty-five years ago, I sat on the sofa in my living room watching a tape of The Rumble in the Jungle with Muhammad Ali beside me. I was researching the book that ultimately became Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. Over the course of a year, Ali and I watched tapes of every one of his fights together.

Time plays funny tricks. Ali v George Foreman seemed like long ago history on that afternoon in 1989. And now ...