On October 30, 1974, under the Kinshasa night sky, Muhammad Ali stepped into the ring at the 20th of May Stadium to fight George Foreman for the heavyweight championship of the world — the bout billed as the Rumble in the Jungle. Foreman was undefeated and fearsome, a four-to-one favorite, and sixty thousand people packed the stadium to see him hold on to his crown. The fight had been staged by Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, to put his country on the world map — and the world was watching, up to a billion people across the globe.

Ali had a plan that looked, at first, like surrender. He leaned back on the ropes and let Foreman come at him, absorbing the champion’s thunder round after round while Foreman punched himself out. It became known as the “rope-a-dope.” By the eighth round, the storm had spent itself. Ali struck — knocking Foreman down, reclaiming the heavyweight crown he had once held, and sending the stadium into a roar that carried far beyond Kinshasa’s walls.

That is why October 30 still matters. It was the night the underdog out-thought the unbeatable champion, and the night Kinshasa became famous across the globe.