Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao will be the biggest fight of all time financially and the most significant this century . Evaluating the greatest ever fights is a complex variable of several factors including not only the quality and excitement of the action but the political , social and cultural undertones , the scale of expectation and outside influences . Where Money Man v PacMan comes to rank among the most important fights in ring history will depend upon what happens that coming night in the MGM Grand Garden Arena . In this , the fourth in a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history , I look back on one of the greatest sporting events of all time . RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE . George Foreman v Muhammad Ali . Kinshasa , Zaire . October 30 , 1974 . The fight voted the greatest sporting event of the 20th century . The fight which crossed oceans and continents . The fight which drove boxing through social barriers . The fight which put a shadowy central African republic on the world map . The fight which established Muhammad Ali as the most recognisable human being on Earth . The fight which made George Foreman famous in defeat . The fight about which millions of words have been written and movies made . A photograph taken on October 30 , 1974 , shows Muhammad Ali ( left ) and George Foreman ( right ) USA 's Foreman ( right ) approaches his compatriot Ali ( left ) during the iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 . The Rumble in the Jungle was the brainchild of promotional genius Don King backed by the multi-million dollar investment through which Zaire president Mobuto Sese Seko hoped to excite his people into keeping him in power . King had persuaded Ali and Foreman to sign $ 5million contracts which he could not afford but would talk President Mobuto into bank-rolling . JOE FRAZIER v MUHAMMAD ALI . March 8 , 1971 , Madison Square Garden , New York . JACK JOHNSON v JAMES JEFFRIES . July 4 , 1910 , Reno , Nevada . JOE LOUIS v MAX SCHMELING . June 22 , 1938 , Yankee Stadium , New York . As the 25-year-old world heavyweight champion with enormous punching power Foreman was odds-on favourite to crush the brilliance of the man they called The Greatest but who , at 32 and diminished by his three-and-a-half-year banishment from the ring for refusing to go to war in Vietnam , was perceived as a fading force . Ali went to work on Foreman ’ s psyche from the moment the circus arrived in Kinshasa , turning up at his training session to mock Big George for his size and make fun of his intellect . The irritating effect on Foreman was prolonged after he suffered an eye-cut in sparring , the date of the fight was put back more than a month and King , fearful of cancellation , insisted they stayed in Zaire instead of taking a break back in America . Ali also charmed the local population , who happily took to the streets throughout those weeks chanting ‘ Ali , boma-ye ’ – ‘ Ali , kill him. ’ The fight developed into a tactical triumph for Ali , albeit a self-punishing one which may have contributed to the subsequent onset of Parkinson ’ s which afflicts him now . Ali ( left ) often found himself against the ropes in a strategy which even surprised his trainer Angelo Dundee . Ali spent much of his time against the ropes , inviting Foreman to punch himself out before landing his blow . In a strategy which he later entitled ‘ Rope-A-Dope ’ – and which came as a surprise to everyone including his fabled trainer Angelo Dundee - Ali spent much of his time lolling against the ropes , inviting Foreman to punch himself out . Big George duly obliged by throwing hundreds of blows in the first seven rounds . Ali evaded many of those punches and blocked numerous with his arms but he had to withstand the brute force of those which got through his defences . The verbal taunting went on . ‘ They told me you could punch , George , ’ he said as Foreman began to flag . ‘ Is that all you got , George ? ’ he rasped as Foreman connected to the Ali chin with virtually the last of the punches which had knocked out many a former foe . It had not been all negative . Throughout , Ali had peppered the swelling Foreman face with break-out with lightning combinations and the steamy 4 am heat had contributed to the weakening process . Foreman , the world heavyweight champion , is down on count two after being struck by Ali 's right-hander . Ali looks on after he knocked Foreman to the canvas with the holy mother of all right-handers during the bout . Come the eighth round , come the coup de grace . A succession of right hooks , a two-fisted burst and then a left-hook which straightened up Big George to receive the holy mother of all right-handers . Foreman staggered to his feet at the count of nine but referee Zack Clayton knew he was finished . Sensation . Bedlam in the jungle . Astonishment around the satellite world . Foreman would eventually emerge from denial to become Ali ’ s great friend , an inspiring Christian preacher and the seller of countless top-of-the-range barbecues . Ali was still The Greatest . Ali 's staff and the referee put their arms around Ali after he settled the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 .
Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao is now October 30 , 1974 away . Sportsmail 's Jeff Powell has been counting down the greatest fights . In the fourth of a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history , we have George Foreman v Muhammad Ali - the Rumble in the Jungle . It was a fight which astonished the satellite world on just nine days . Foreman v Ali inspired movies and millions of words written about it .