He meets his entourage, among them Bundini, and the sparring partners such as Larry Holmes, Eddie Jones, and Roy Williams.

Mailer glows in the admiration of the black Americans: "A man of wisdom" (Ali), "the champ among writers" (Foreman), "a genius" (Don King).

Foreman works with Sandy Saddler, Dick Sadler, Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Terry Lee.

He notes that Angelo Dundee loosens the tightness of the ropes to allow Ali to lean back more when doing his "rope-a-dope".

During the fight Foreman grows increasingly weary, allowing Ali to take control of the bout and knock him out.

After the fight, the tropical rain starts, the parties depart, and Mailer goes to Nsele to bid goodbye to Ali.

When flying back, Mailer's plane is briefly detained at Dakar, as the jubilant crowd expects Ali to be aboard.

The presentation and behavior of both Muhammad Ali and George Foreman leading up to "The Rumble in the Jungle" is a major focus of the book.

George Foreman was portrayed as the antithesis of Ali as he was not big on the theatrics of sports entertainment and as a whole was a more subdued human being.

Foreman's interactions with the press were not ones born of arrogance but from a humble perspective in which he trained to his pop music and "hoped" to knock out Ali.

This evaluation was in staunch contrast to Muhammad Ali who he states had to have some “white blood” in him due to his personality, in Mailer's opinion, being reminiscent of a Southern college fraternity president.

“Ali was like nothing so much as a white actor who had put on too little make up for the part and was not wholly convincing as a Black,” Mailer states in his typical problematic fashion.

[1]: 47  Remarks like these hang over the narrative of the book as the reader is left to interpret whether Mailer is racist while also getting to know both fighters through a racialized lens.

Mailer comes across the text after a visit to the University Place Book Shop in New York, where he wanted to learn a little bit more about Africa before he returned to Zaire to cover the fight.

Without putting it into words, he always believed that.” [1]: 38  Once Mailer gained a better understanding of Bantu philosophy he began describing Foreman and Ali not as fighters but as forces.

All that spirit and all that prick.” [1]: 130  Mailer's use of Bantu philosophy to describe Bundini as a character that holds tremendous n’golo (force) as Ali's assistant trainer and cornerman, which has turned him into a “prick”.

"[3] Michael Wood believes that "every page of the book … speaks implicitly of Mailer's dislike of blacks, converted into fascination and even affection by an act of sheer liberal will".