On February 25, 1964, in Hall C of the Miami Beach Convention Center, a 22-year-old, 8-1 underdog from Louisville, Kentucky, won the heavyweight title. Forty-three of 46 sportswriters had predicted Cassius Clay would lose, but he used a speed and agility never before seen in the heavyweight ring to vanquish a menacing, mob-connected bear of a fighter named Sonny Liston. Thoroughly outclassed, Liston refused to come out for the seventh round. The sportswriters had been wrong. The new champion, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, was cocky, preening, and magnificently gifted. Boxing was changed forever; it had become high entertainment as well as sport.

Ten years later, on October 30, 1974, came the most celebrated bout of the modern era: “The Rumble in the Jungle.” More than 600 accredited journalists—including Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, and Hunter S. Thompson—traveled to Kinshasa, Zaire, to see Ali fight another world champion: George Foreman. Just 25, the Bunyanesque Foreman had already fought and won 40 professional fights, including one where his uppercut had lifted the reigning heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, completely off the canvas. He knocked Frazier down an unheard-of six times in just two rounds and claimed the heavyweight title.