Main Event: The Ali/Foreman Extravaganza Through the Lens of Howard L. Bingham

2000

Poignant, knowing, rich with insights and tributes, 130 photographs chronicle Muhammad Ali’s legendary trip of 1974 to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to fight a heavily favored George Foreman in the first world heavyweight boxing championship held on the African continent. Ali’s reclamation of the heavyweight title in the fierce and dramatic match stunned critics and sparked joy throughout the world. While the match serves as thematic nucleus, Howard Bingham’s photography covers Ali’s entire eight-week stay, recounting the event in all its dimensions, including a star-studded musical festival, buzzing paparazzi, and impinging politics. A renowned photographer, who is also Ali’s longtime personal photographer and close friend, Bingham documents this event as both a cultural extravaganza, and as a landmark in American and Zairian life.