When We Were Kings When We Were Kings When We Were Kings is a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30, 1974. The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim Brown, B.B. King, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Spike Lee and Thomas Hauser. "When We Were Kings" was released in 1996 to strong reviews, and won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It took Gast
The Rumble in the Jungle during the fight, was: "Ali, boma ye!", which means "Ali, kill him In addition, the events surrounding the fight, such as its musical acts (BB King, the Fania All Stars, and James Brown, amongst others), added to its cultural impact. In a 2002 UK poll conducted by Channel 4, the British public voted the fight #7 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. The robe worn by Muhammad Ali in this fight are part of the collections of National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution together with a pair of gloves he used in training for