David Haye
Former world heavyweight champion on BBC Radio 5 live

"It doesn't look like Ali's got a problem in the world - he's going to turn the world upside down. Foreman wants to keep Ali in the ring for as long as possible, it's psychological warfare. But Ali loves Africa and its people, he'll stay there all night if he needs to."

Carl Froch
World super-middleweight champion on BBC Radio 5 live

"Look at Ali walking to the ring, he's smiling, looking relaxed because all the work's done. What a formidable man he is to keep his mind strong and that composure together…"

BBC Radio 5 live

BBC Radio 5 live are on air and here comes the challenger, Muhammad Ali. Ali wearing a white robe with African print and he gets on his toes after climbing through the ropes, bouncing around, throwing out jabs, but he might have to wait a while, the champion won't be in any hurry...

Carl Froch
World super-middleweight champion on BBC Radio 5 live

"Foreman is a massive puncher, a big, heavy, strong guy, he looks like someone who could punch down brick walls. I'm a bit nervous for Ali already…"

Image source, Getty Images

Despite the early hour and the very real threat of rain, an estimated 80,000 people are crammed into the Stade du 20 Mai for the first heavyweight world title fight to be staged in Africa. Many millions more will be watching on TV and closed circuit broadcasts around the world. The third man in the ring tonight is Philadelphia's Zach Clayton, who was the first black man to referee a world heavyweight championship fight, when Jersey Joe Walcott retained his title in controversial fashion against Ezzard Charles in 1952. Almost time to rumble...

Image source, AP

Muhammad Ali: "I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick!"

As well as the cream of the sportswriting fraternity, this event has attracted some of the mightiest men of 20th Century letters. Norman Mailer, author of The Naked and the Dead, is ringside and rumoured to be penning a novel about the fight, although he's not letting on what he'll call it. George Plimpton, founder of The Paris Review, will also be laying down the fight in his elegant prose, no doubt placing his adjectives like sneaky right hands...

Image source, AP

Jerry Izenberg, American boxing journalist: "I went out to Deer Lake [Ali's training camp in Pennsylvania] shortly before Ali left for Africa. I walked in the gym and couldn't believe what I was seeing - Ali was hitting the heavy bag, and he hadn't hit the heavy bag for about a year-and-a-half.

"Gene Kilroy [Ali's business manager] had taken him to a doctor in Philadelphia, who'd told him to forget injections for arthritis and to bathe both hands in hot paraffin three times a day instead. And as he was banging this bag, he looked over his shoulder and said: 'I'm gonna knock the sucker out!'"

Muhammad Ali: "It is befitting that I go out of boxing like I came in, meeting a big, strong bully who knocks out everybody and everybody's afraid of. Like when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky came up to stop Sonny Liston. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George's. He's a better boxer than George. And I'm better now than I was when you saw that kid running from Sonny Liston."

Earlier we spoke to Larry Merchant of the New York Post, who said he expects Ali to fall in 13. Of the corps of intrepid journalists over from the UK, only The Sun's Colin Hart has picked Ali to win this. Hart expects Ali to dance and dance and wear Foreman down in the African heat. It's 80 degrees in Kinshasa, despite it being 4 o'clock in the morning...

Image source, Getty Images

Ricky Hatton
Former two-weight world champion on BBC Radio 5 live

"This fight is supposed to be Muhammad Ali's funeral, they've given him absolutely no chance. Foreman has blasted everyone away, walked through Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, who have both beaten Ali.

"Muhammad Ali is probably the only man who thinks he's going to do it. But when people doubt you, you wouldn't believe what that can do to you. But he'll still be terrified."

Jim Brown, NFL legend and US TV fight co-commentator: "Before the fight, I was supposed to do a news piece with George, where I would put some gloves on and get in the ring with him. But I saw George hitting the heavy bag and said: 'Nope, I'm not getting in the ring with that.'

"When I got to Ali's camp, I said: 'Hey, you're my friend and I love you but I don't think you can beat that guy.' Ali and Angelo Dundee [Ali's trainer] looked at me and said: 'You're crazy, we're gonna knock him out!'"

... after being stripped of his title in 1967, for refusing to be inducted into the US Army, Ali spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning to the ring in 1970. Despite victories over the tough Jerry Quarry and the even tougher Oscar Bonavena, it was clear Ali wasn't the butterfly he used to be. In 'The Fight of the Century' against Frazier in 1971, the new champion prevailed after 15 barbaric rounds of boxing and Ali didn't look too pretty at the end of it...

Image source, AP

Gene Kilroy, Muhammad Ali's business manager: "President Mobutu [of Zaire] came up with the idea of staging the fight to show off his country and promote tourism. He put up a big amount of money and promoter Don King went to Seattle, met George and told him how easy a fight it was going to be. And Foreman went for it."

The bookmakers have the fearsome Foreman as a heavy favourite, with one reportedly offering odds of 40-1 on an Ali victory. And why not? Foreman has won all 40 of his professional contests and 37 inside the distance. He won the crown with a savage mauling of Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973, knocking the champion down six times en route to a second-round stoppage. In his first defence he saw off Jose Roman in one, before bludgeoning Ken Norton in two. Both Frazier and Norton, remember, have beaten Ali...

Image source, Getty Images

Good evening and welcome to our coverage of The Rumble in the Jungle, the world heavyweight championship battle between champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. This is a simulcast with our BBC colleagues on Radio 5 live, where from 19:30 you can hear BBC boxing correspondent Mike Costello talk through the fight with British boxing greats Carl Froch, Ricky Hatton and David Haye. Their comments will also be appearing on this page. Nobody ever said The Rumble in the Jungle wouldn't be surreal... We're expecting the fight to commence in about 30 minutes... here's a short clip to get you in the mood...