Muhammad Ali several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the Liston fights; the "Fight of the Century", "Super Fight II" and the "Thrilla in Manila" against his rival Joe Frazier; and "The Rumble in the Jungle" against George Foreman. At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He was known for trash-talking, and often freestyled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, both for his trash-talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism, anticipating elements of rap and hip hop
George Foreman the ropes with a flurry to Foreman's head, punctuated by a hard right cross that landed flush on the jaw, knocking Foreman down. Muhammad Ali was the first boxer to stop Foreman. Foreman later reflected that "it just wasn't my night". Though he sought one, he was unable to secure a rematch with Ali. It has been suggested in some quarters that Ali was ducking Foreman, although he did give a rematch to Joe Frazier and to Ken Norton. Ali also preferred to fight such "minimal risk" opponents as Chuck Wepner, Richard Dunn, Jean Pierre Coopman, and Alfredo Evangelista. Foreman