I could have been there!
At the Ali vs Foreman battle I mean, but then the stupid German Embassy in Kinshasa gave out a warning that the event would be "racially charged" so my parents wouldn't let me go (I was 13 at the time, but "
two weeks close to 14" as I stressed with them to no avail!). The Ali fans had been chanting "
Ali, bomaye!" (
Lingala for Ali, kill him!) in the streets for a while and they outnumbered the fans of Foreman (perceived as a white man's "Uncle Tom") greatly.
But I rode an elevator with George Foreman (in dungarees and with his two German shepherd dogs which did not go down well at all in Zaire at the time as they were viewed as a colonial symbol) at the
Intercontinental Hotel.
That's exactly what he wore, minus the cap.
I also saw Ali around the same time, but not as close. He was staying at the
Hotel Okapi (the other top tier hotel in Kinshasa) and was always surrounded by an entourage of at least a dozen people. Ali bathed in the masses,
Foreman kept to himself - and the two shepherds made sure of that! (Though they didn't strike me as aggressive in the elevator, but then I was used to guard dogs and unafraid of them.)