“The Rumble in the Jungle” was not the original promotional hook Don King intended to use for the Ali-Foreman fight. His original promotional brand was “From Slave Ship to Championship.”
When Don King arrived in Kinshasa he had his people put the (original) poster up all around the city only to awaken the next morning and discover that the Zairian army was tearing all the posters down. Don King raced over to the royal palace to find out what was going on. What he found was a very angry King Mobutu*; when Don King asked why his posters were being taken down, King Mobutu was succinct and blunt in his reply, he told Don King: “You lost that war, not us.” – Don King got the message and changed the hook to “The Rumble in the Jungle,” which the king approved.
* King - dictator - president - 'all around scumbag' - I am not really sure what this guy was called, I went with king.
