J. M. Johnson collaboration with London-based world-renowned boxing promoter, Jack Solomons, staged the very first world boxing title fight in Africa, In Ibadan, Western Nigeria between Tiger and Fullmer, in 1963, well before the much publicized The Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman in Zaire, in 1974. In 1963 he retired from politics by declining to contest the General Elections. This was, as he put it, to make way for the young, which endeared him to many Nigerians. Born into Lagosian & Brazilian families in Lafiaji, Lagos, he was described as tall, handsome, flamboyant, gregarious and renowned as
Hunter S. Thompson right now, in the belly of a hammerhead shark.' There was however one passion shared by Thompson and Nixon: a love of football, discussed in "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72". Thompson's journalistic work began to seriously suffer after his trip to Africa to cover "The Rumble in the Jungle"—the world heavyweight boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali—in 1974. He missed the match while intoxicated at his hotel, and did not submit a story to the magazine. As Wenner put it to the film critic Roger Ebert in the 2008 documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work