From Slave Ship to Championship
So the story goes . . .***
"The Rumble in the Jungle" was not the original promotional hook Don King intended to use for the Ali-Foreman fight in Zaire. 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 Sese Seko; asking why his posters were being taken down, the King's reply to King was succinct: "You lost that war, not us." Don King got the message and changed his hook to the now famous "The Rumble in the Jungle," which the Zairian King approved.
*** Take eveything you hear about prize fighting with a grain of salt.
