The Greatest (1977 film) The Greatest (1977 film) The Greatest is a 1977 film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali, in which Ali plays himself. It was directed by Tom Gries and Monte Hellman. The film follows Ali's life from the 1960 Olympics to his regaining the heavyweight crown from George Foreman in their famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight in 1974. The footage of the boxing matches themselves are largely the actual footage from the time involved. The movie is based on the book "" written by Muhammad Ali and Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison. The song "The Greatest Love
George Foreman vs. Gerry Cooney Foreman. However, Foreman's opponents had ranged from complete unknowns to career journeyman (including Martin, David Jaco and Bert Cooper) with few notable victories, with his most decorated opponent being former light heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion, as well as future hall-of-famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi, who was dwarfed by Foreman and had never fought in the heavyweight division prior to that fight. With Cooney, however, Foreman was taking on a former heavyweight title contender who held victories over former contenders and Foreman advisaries Ken Norton, Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young, whose victory over Foreman in 1977 sent him into a 10-year