Heavyweight Boxing Championship History

Copyright (C) 1994 by Don Sibrel

September 24, 1953 in New York:  Marciano defended against Roland 
La Starza.  The first six rounds were even with Marciano the 
aggressor missing more than he was hitting La Starza, and the 
challenger countering his charging opponent. In round seven 
things began to change.  La Starza started to tire and Rocky 
seemed as fresh as ever.  With two minutes to go in the round La 
Starza was hurt when several of Marciano's punches fell full 
force on the face of the challenger.  The rest of the round 
Marciano pounded Roland about the ring at will. 

In the next three rounds La Starza took a beating.  Blood was now 
flowing from a cut near his right eye from a blow in the first 
round.  Roland also had a cut on his nose.  The hard charging 
champion did receive a number of solid shots to his head, but 
none appeared to slow him down in the slightest.  Marciano was 
now connecting on most of his shots.  In the 10th round Marciano 
fell near the challenger's corner after missing a wild right.  
But that was his style. 

Early in round eleven after pushing his bloodied opponent against 
the ropes, Marciano connected on a left-right-left to the jaw and 
floored La Starza.  Roland easily made the count but was badly 
hurt.  Marciano was now all over him and pounded his defenseless 
opponent until referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight midway in 
round eleven.  This was the first time in 57 bouts that La Starza 
had been stopped. 

June 17, 1954 in  New York:  Marciano decisioned a game Charles.  
Marciano, cut badly, finished strong and wore Charles down. 

September 17, 1954 in New York:  Marciano KOed Charles in 8th 
round.  This time Rocky received a very bad cut to the nose from 
a Charles elbow.  Again he was just too strong for the much 
better boxer Charles. 
 

September 27, 1955 at Yankee Stadium:   Marciano KOed Archie 
Moore in the 9th round.  This was pretty much a one-sided fight 
except for the 2nd round.  After Rocky missed with a sweeping 
right, Archie countered with a short right to the head of the 
champion.  Marciano went down but was able to recover and 
continue his attack.  Marciano had received six additional 
seconds to recover from the referee.  The mandatory eight count 
had been waived, but the ref. forgot and gave it anyway.  
Marciano  retired several months after this fight. 

A series of elimination bouts were held to pick the next 
heavyweight champion. 


November 30, 1956, Chicago:  The 39 year old, 187 lb Archie Moore 
fought the 21 year old, 182 lb Floyd Patterson for the title.  
Patterson easily won with a 5th round KO from a left hook to the 
jaw.  In 1952 Patterson had been a golden glove champion and had 
won a gold medal in the Olympics.  He then turned professional.  
Although slow of foot, he had tremendous hand speed.  In June 7, 
1954, he did lose to Joey Maxium in a close fight. 

July 29, 1957 in New York's Polo Grounds:   The 22 year old, 184 
lb champion Floyd Patterson defended title against 25 year old, 
192 lb Tommy (Hurricane) Jackson.  At the time, this fight was 
called the "Slaughter on 8th Avenue". Jackson called "the animal" 
because of his tremendous stamina and ability to absorb 
punishment took a terrible beating.  So much so, that he was 
whisked to Meadowbrook Hospital at 4:40 in the morning the day 
after the fight. 

In the very first round Jackson was sent to the canvas right 
before the round ended.  In round two he went down for a three 
count.  In round four he was doubled over in pain from a 
Patterson left hook to the body.  In the 9th he was down for a 
count of four.  In round ten referee Ruby Goldstein finally 
stopped the fight at the 1:52 second mark.  Jackson, bleeding 
from his nose and puffed around both eyes, protested but was 
wobbly on his feet and couldn't defend himself.  This was 
Patterson's 19th straight victory. 

All three officials had Patterson leading at the time nine rounds 
to zip.  The AP had it the same with only the 5th round being 
close.  Jackson asked after the fight why he did a jig in his 
corner between several rounds said, "to make my legs untired". 

August 22, 1957 in Seattle:  Patterson fought the 1956 Olympic 
heavyweight medal winner Pete Rademacher.  This was Pate's first 
professional fight.  He knocked the champion down with a right to 
the head in the 2nd round.  Patterson was able to score a 6th 
round KO after the challenger went down a total of seven times. 

August 18, 1958  in Los Angeles:  Patterson fought the "Educated 
Hillbilly" Roy Harris.  Again, as in his previous bout, Patterson 
went down in the second round from a right to his head.  
Patterson won the fight with a TKO in the 12th round. 

At this time many people wanted Floyd to fight the number one 
contender, Eddie Machen.  His record was 24 and 0.  But ....... 

In September 1958 in Sweden, Machen was knocked out in the first 
round by the European champion, Ingemar Johansson.  Ingemar, 
little known to most Americans, was a favorite of Europeans.  
Although having been disqualified in the 1952 Olympics for not 
fighting, he had won all 21 of his professional bouts including 
13 KOs.  He had knocked out the English champion, Henry Cooper. 

May 1, 1959 in Indianapolis:   Patterson had a tune up match 
against Brian London, a second rate English fighter.  Ingemar 
said his sister could have beat him.  Patterson scored an 11th 
round KO. 


June 26, 1959 in New York:  The 182 lb Patterson fought the 198 
lb Johansson.  Patterson was a 5 to 1 favorite.  Only 19,000 
people saw the fight at Yankee Stadium. The first two rounds were 
fought cautiously by both fighters.  In the third round Patterson 
was dropped for a count of nine from a right to the jaw.  The 
fight was stopped after Johansson knocked him down six more 
times. 

June 20, 1960 At the Polo Grounds:   Before 32,000 fans, the new 
champion Johansson fought Patterson for the second time.  The 
Swede was an 8 to 5 favorite.  This time Patterson was much more 
aggressive.  Patterson was staggered from a hard right in the 
second round, but Johansson failed to follow it up.  In the 5th 
round, a hard left put Johansson on the canvas for the first time 
of his career.  Patterson then KOed the champion with another 
left hook.  Patterson became the first heavyweight to regain the 
title. 

March 14, 1961 In Miami Beach:  The 195 lb Patterson fought the 
206 lb Johansson for the third time.  15,532 fans watched the 
match with Floyd as a 4 to 1 favorite.  Twice in the first round 
Patterson was dropped for short counts from rights to the head.  
Later in the same round he decked Ingemar with a left hook.  In 
the 4th round, Patterson switched his attack to the body.  In the 
6th round, Johansson caught Patterson with a solid right.  But 
the power in Ingemar's punches was gone.  Patterson won the fight 
in the 6th round with a right.

December 4, 1961 In Toronto:  Patterson knocked out Tom McNealey 
in the fourth round.  McNealey was down eight times in the fight. 

For some time now,  people in boxing complained that Patterson 
defended his title against mostly second raters.  Clearly the 
best heavyweight was Charles (Sonny) Liston.  Born in Little 
Rock, Arkansas around 1932, Sonny had a professional record of 33 
and 1 scoring 23 KOs.  He stopped Nino Valdes and Cleveland 
Williams twice within three rounds.  He  decisioned  Eddie 
Machem, stopped Zorro Folley in three and Roy Harris in one.  
Liston's toughest opponent had been the police.  Since 1950, he 
had been arrested 19 times, with two convictions - armed robbery 
and assaulting a policeman with intent to kill.  Finally, after 
much pressure, Patterson signed to fight Liston for a gross of 
six million dollars. 

September 25, 1962  at Chicago's Comiskey Park:  The 189 lb 
Patterson fought the 214 lb Liston.  Liston appeared much, much 
bigger that Patterson.  Liston was a 9 to 5 favorite.  The fight 
was a farce.  Floyd had no chance whatsoever.   Sonny became the 
new champion in two minutes and six seconds of the first round by 
knocking  Patterson out with a left hook. 

July 22, 1963 In Las Vegas:  Champion Liston fought Patterson a 
second time.  Liston, favored  4 to 1, won easily again.  
Patterson was able to hit the champion a few times, but the blows 
appeared to have no effect.  Liston KOed Patterson, again in the 
first round, after flooring Patterson three times.  This time it 
took two minutes and ten seconds.  Many people thought Liston to 
be easily the best heavyweight around.  However ... 

Cassius Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942.  He 
started boxing at the age of twelve.  By 1960, when he turned 
professional, he had an amateur record of 108 and 8 with two 
national golden glove and AAU titles, and a gold medal in the 
Olympics as a light heavyweight.  The 200 lb six feet three inch 
fighter had extremely fast hands with even faster feet.  He 
fought the aging Archie Moore, and easily scored a fourth round 
knockout. 
Ali

In 1963, with Liston as champion, boxing experts ranked the 
fighters as Patterson number one followed by Clay and then Doug 
Jones.  In 1962 Jones had lost a unanimous decision to light 
heavyweight Harold Johnson. 

On March 13, 1963 in Madison Square Garden, Clay won a close 
decision over Doug Jones.  Neither fighter looked good.  But 
after Patterson lost his second fight to Listen, Clay appeared to 
be the best choice to fight Liston. 

February 25, 1964 at Convention Hall in Miami Beach:  The 218 lb 
Liston fought the 210 lb Clay.  Liston was a 10 to 1 favorite 
even though he had fought less than six rounds in three years and 
was probably older than his listed age of 32.  In the first two 
rounds Clay would jab, land a few combinations and move away from 
the forward moving, much slower champion.  People couldn't 
believe that Clay could hit Liston so easily.  In the third and 
fourth rounds Clay was able to get in some hard shots to Liston's 
head that had Sonny moving backwards.  In the fifth round, Clay 
became partially blinded from some of the caustic used to cover 
Liston's cuts.  Clay was able to avoid Liston in that round with 
his foot speed.  

In the sixth round, with his eyes now clear, Clay now fighting 
flat-footed and landing combinations, had the champion in full 
retreat.  Liston, sitting in his corner expressionless at the 
start of the seventh round, did not get up.  The fight was over.  
Cassius Clay, who changed his name to Muhammad Ali, was the new 
heavyweight champion of the world. 

May 25, 1965 in Lewiston, Maine:  Ali fought Liston for the 
second time.  As in their first fight, Liston was pressing the 
attack while Ali moved and countered.  While still in the first 
round, Ali, while moving back, caught Sonny with a chopping right 
to the head.  Most people at the fight claimed they did not see 
the punch.  Films do show that it was a punch and that Liston's 
head did move back from the blow.  But it was clearly not a 
knockout punch.  To the surprise of all, Liston went down.  Ali 
stood over the fallen ex-champion shouting, "Get up, nobody is 
going to believe this".   The referee, old Jersey Joe Walcott, 
was trying to pick up the count and get the dancing Ali to go to 
a neutral corner.  Meanwhile, Liston was rolling around the 
canvas.  It was a circus.  Finally Liston got up.  Walcott, who 
at that moment, was standing between the fighters, went over to 
the time keeper.  The fighters started to fight again with Ali 
the aggressor.  After about eight seconds, Walcott stepped 
between them again and declared Ali the winner.   

November 22, 1965 in Las Vegas:  Ali beat Patterson with a TKO in 
12th round.  This was a very one-sided fight against the ex-
champion.  Patterson's hand speed was equal to that of Ali's, but 
Floyd had very little foot speed.  This had been abundantly clear 
in his two pathetic showings against Sonny Liston. 

March 29, 1966 in Toronto:  Ali decisioned Canadian, George 
Chuvalo.  Chuvalo, whose record was 34-11-2, fought a game fight.  
While  never retreating, he took a beating.  His best round was 
the third, where at one point the prodding challenger forced the 
champion into a corner.  For about 15 seconds George threw a 
number of punches, but most blows fell on Ali's arms and 
shoulders.  Throughout the fight, Chuvalo landed a few good 
shorts, mostly to the body.  Ali meanwhile avoided most of the 
blows while moving in and out and scoring punches in bunches to 
the face.  The bout ended with Ali not hurt or marked, while 
Chuvalo, not in any danger of being knocked out, was bleeding 
from several cuts around his eyes.  The decision was unanimous, 
with scoring of 73-63, 74-63, and 74-62. 

George was Ali's first opponent since Doug Jones in March 13, 
1963 to go the distance against the champion.  Ali called Chuvalo 
his toughest opponent yet. "He took my best shots and kept 
coming." 

May 21, 1966 in London:  Ali defended Heavyweight Crown against 
England's Henry Cooper. This was London's first heavyweight 
championship fight in 58 years. The 32 year old challenger had a 
32-11-1 record and a good left hook. The two fighters fought 
previously in 1963 when Cooper almost beat the then Cassius Clay 
by knocking Clay down with a solid left hook in the 4th round.  
The bell and a cut glove, which delayed starting the next round, 
may have prevented Clay from being knocked out. 

In this 1966 fight, Ali seemed to pace himself for the first five 
rounds.  He pretty much kept skipping around and moved counter 
clockwise against the much slower challenger.  Near the end of 
the second round, Henry landed a hard two left hand combination 
to the champion's head.  This was the high mark for the 
challenger.  While he did land several more solid shots, none 
were in combination, and none appeared to have any affect on Ali.  
Cooper received several warnings from the referee for hitting 
low, and Ali received several warnings for pushing and holding.  
Ali was content in these rounds to stick with short two punch 
combinations and then avoid most of Cooper's blows. 

Things changed quickly in the sixth round.  Ali turned tiger.  He 
quickly pressured Henry into a corner and landed a stiff right-
left combination to Cooper's head.  This caused an immediate flow 
of a large amount of blood from above the challenger's left eye.  
The referee stopped the fight, examined the cut, and then let the 
fight continue.   Ali then begin peppering the eye with a number 
of long left jobs which increased the bleeding.  The referee 
stopped the fight giving Ali a TKO. 

August 6, 1966 in London:  Ali fought England's Brian London who 
had a 35-12 record.  Ali toyed with the very slow challenger for 
the first two rounds.   Midway in the third round, Ali with a 
series of eight or nine punches in succession, forced his 
opponent into a corner.  He then landed a hard left-right 
combination to the head that caused Brian to sink to the canvas 
and be counted out.   After the fight Ali announced he would 
fight one opponent a month until he was called into military 
service. 

September 10, 1966 in Frankfurt Germany:  Ali, a ten to one 
favorite, defended title against Germany's 28 year old, 194 lb, 
Karl Mildenberger.  For the first four rounds the challenger gave 
Ali major problems.   The left handed fighter landed a number of 
hard lefts to Ali's head and body.  But starting in the fifth 
round, Ali was able to land with his right hand to the German's 
head.  Just before the round ended Ali crashed  a right cross to 
the head that floored the challenger.  From this point on it was 
Ali who effectively landed hard rights to his opponents face.  
Karl had problems seeing from cuts after the seventh round.  

Karl was floored with a left hook in round eight, and for the 
third time from a right in the closing seconds of round ten.   
The referee stopped the fight in the 12th round as Karl was 
taking major punishment, and was about to go down again.   After 
the fight, Ali claimed  that the German was is toughest title 
defense so far, and his opponent was hard to get to and had a 
good punch. 

November 14, 1966 in Houston Astrodome:  Ali, a five to one 
favorite, defended against the muscular 33 year old Cleveland 
Williams. A crowd of 35,460 saw this fight.  A record attendance 
for a fight under a roof.    Williams had a record of 65 and five 
with 51 KO's.  He had lost previously to Sonny Liston, but had 
handed out punishment before being KOed.  
        
Ali came out dancing in round one.  A hard combination by Ali 
late in the round seemed to daze and confuse the challenger.  
With one minute remaining in round two, Ali scored with a jolting 
left that floored Williams.  He got up, and with 46 seconds to 
go, the challenger was floored again.  He got up and as the round 
was ending, Ali knocked Williams down for the third time with a 
left hook.  The bell prevented Williams from being counted out. 

Ali came out fast in round three and immediately started landing 
effectively.  After less than a minute gone, a right cross downed 
Williams for the forth time.  The challenger gamely beat the 
count, but was on queer street.  The referee rightfully stopped 
the slaughter. 

February 6, 1967 in Houston:  Ali defended against the tall and 
strong Ernie Terrell.   Ali won a hard but unanimous fifteen 
round decision.  In the fight, Terrell used an effective long 
left jab that caused blood to come from the champion's nose.  The 
challenger ended up with a left eye that was half closed. 

Ali, at this time in history, was appealing his 1-A draft status, 
claiming he was a Muslim minister. 

March 22, 1967 in New York's Madison Square Garden:  Ali, 25, 
defended title against 34 year old Zoro Folley.  Folley looked 
good in the first two rounds, as he was able land most of the 
heavy blows against the champion, who took the blows without 
hardly a flinch.  Ali didn't do much fighting until the third 
round.  In the forth, Ali open up with a number of quick punches 
leading up to a crisp left-right combination that knocked Folley 
down.  He laid on his stomach for a few seconds, then rose 
weakly.  The challenger quickly cleared his head and fought back 
gamely, and scored with a solid right that drove Ali to the 
ropes. 

But from the fifth round on it was all Ali.  He landed punches in 
bunches while receiving little in return.  In the seventh round, 
Zoro was in bad shape with a knot under his left eye and blood 
flowing from his nose.  As the onslaught continued, the 
challenger tired and at 1:48 into the round, the fight ended. A 
right to the head by Ali knocked Zoro down prone on his stomach, 
he got to his feet at seven, but fell back to his knees as the 
referee counted ten.  Going into the last round, two officials 
had the fight 4-2, Ali.  The other official had it even. 

April 28, 1967:   Title was stripped from Ali by WBA and New York 
State Athletic Commission for refusing to join the military.  Ali 
had fought and clearly beaten the best fighters in the world as 
Jeffries, Louis, and Marciano had done ahead of him. 


February 16, 1970 in New York:  Joe Frazier, an Olympic 
heavyweight gold medal winner, KOed Jimmy Elis and became the 
heavyweight champion.  This was after a series of elimination 
bouts of the best fighters.  Patterson had lost a close decision 
to Elis in Sweden. 

November 18, 1970 in Detroit:  Frazier, 209 lb, defended 
heavyweight title  against light heavyweight champion Bob Foster.  
The six feet three inch stringbean fighter weighed 188 lb, but 
appeared much lighter against the stockily built Frazier.  Round 
one was even with both fighters landing stinging jabs.  Round two 
hardly started when Frazier floored the challenger with a jarring 
left hook to the jaw.  Foster got up but was quickly tagged with 
another left, and this time he was counted out laying on his 
back. 

After Frazier's previous fight in February with Elis, he broke a 
bone in his hand during a night club act.  During the layoff, he 
put on weight and had to loose 30 lbs before the Foster match. 

March 8, 1971 in New York:  Frazier won a fifteen round decision 
against Ali, who appeared to have slowed down somewhat after his 
forced layoff from boxing. Ali was knocked down in the 15th from 
a left hook to the jaw.  Many thought Ali looked good in his two 
previous tune up bouts: a third round KO of Jerry Quarry, and a 
15 round KO of Oscar Bonavena.  

January 15, 1972 in New Orleans:  Frazier TKOs Terry Daniels in 
4th round. 

May 25, 1972 in Omaha:  Frazier TKOs Ron Stander in 4th round. 


January 22, 1973 In Kingston:   Frazier defended his title 
against George Foreman who had been another heavyweight Olympic 
medal winner.   Foreman easily won the match, knocking Frazier 
out in the second round.  Foreman, who looked awesome, was now 
the world champion. 

In a non-title match on March 31, 1973, Ali fought the lightly 
regarded Ken Norton.  To the surprise of many, Norton won the 
twelve round match by a decision.  During the match Ali had his 
jaw broken.  At this time the best four fighters in the world 
were Foreman, Frazier, Ali, and now Ken Norton. 

September 1, 1973 in Tokyo:  Foreman defends his title for the 
first time against "King" Roman.  This was the first ever 
heavyweight title bout in Japan.  Foreman had a 22 lb weight and 
a six inch reach advantage against the fighter from Puerto Rico 
who was not ranked in the top ten.  Roman started the round by 
weaving to left and right.  The first punch Foreman threw was a 
wild left that missed the head of his opponent.  Following this, 
Foreman shook Roman by landing a right to the his rib cage.  
Another right to the body and the "King" when down.  He got up, 
but a left and a right to the body forced him into the ropes.  
Another two punch combination to the body by the champion, and 
Roman went down again.  He got up again but was pushed against 
the ropes, and was KOed with a right uppercut to the jaw. 

Another non-title match was held between Ali and Norton on 
September 10, 1973  in Inglewood, California.  Ali won a very 
close split decision.  This kept both fighters in line to 
challenge the champion. 

In another non-title match, on January 20, 1974, the second 
Frazier Ali fight was held at the Garden.  Ali won a unanimous 
twelve round decision.  Frazier's blows seemed to have lost some 
of their power.  He couldn't come near to putting Ali away. 

March 26, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela:  Foreman KOed Ken Norton in 
the second round. The champion beat Norton as easily as he had 
beaten Frazier.  It was rumored that Foreman avoided fighting in 
America because he had previously sold more than 100% of himself 
to investors.  He thus avoided U.S. court orders. 

October 30, 1974 in Zaire:  George Foreman, 26 years old, 220 
lbs, defended his title against Muhammad Ali, 32 years old, 216 
lbs at 3AM. It was unbearably hot and humid.  Foreman was a heavy 
favorite.  Even some of Ali's handlers thought he would loose.  
But Foreman had not fought a fight lasting more than two rounds 
in four years. 

Round one:  Ali, dancing most of this round, was able to hand a 
number of combinations to Foreman's head.  Many of these started 
with right leads.  Foreman, always the aggressor, missed most of 
his punches. He was only able to land one hard left hook to Ali's 
head with no noticeable affect. 

Round two:  In this round Ali let Foreman push him against the 
ropes, and then, to the surprise to everyone, continued to fight 
from the ropes for most of the rest of the match.  Foreman, 
continuing to press the attack, was never able to hit Ali with 
any consistency.  Most of his punches, especially the harder 
ones, either missed or were blocked by Ali who kept covering up 
and tying up Foreman when he could.  Foreman did land about four 
hard hooks with both hands to the body in this round.  George 
could not land any straight punches, so he resorted to mostly 
round house lefts and rights to get around Ali's gloves and arms.  
Meanwhile, during this round as Foreman was working from the 
outside, Ali was scoring on a number of sharp straight two and 
three punch combinations to the head.  Ali clearly won round two. 

Round three:  The first two minutes were a continuation of what 
happened in round two.  Ali was landing many more clean shorts.  
With 55 seconds remaining, Foreman lands two hard rights to the 
body and one to the head of Ali.  Ali fought back with three, two 
punch combinations to Foreman's head.  This was the best action 
of the fight.  Foreman appeared tired and unsteady on his feet as 
he returned to his corner. 

Round four:  For the first two minutes of this round Foreman was 
clearly tired.  While still the aggressor, many of his blows were 
more pawing than punching.  Ali continued to land a number of 
quick, sharp jabs and two punch combinations to the head of 
Foreman.  As the round wound down, Foreman appeared to get his 
second wind, and started to throw many hard shots mostly to the 
body.  A number of these did land solidly.  George ended the 
round appearing strong. 

Round five:  Foreman continued strong for the first part of this 
round.  But now he had puffing around his right eye.  With 40 
seconds remaining in the round, Ali initiated a series of about 
20 punches of which most landed in Foreman's face.  These were 
quick, hard, straight, two punches at a time, including a very 
hard right to the side of Foreman's head.  A dramatic round for 
Ali. 

Round six:  Early in the round, Ali continued to score to 
George's head. Many straight hard left jabs.  Foreman was now 
throwing no hard punches.  His right eye was partially closed.  
He now had trouble hitting Ali with anything.  Late in the round, 
Ali scored on another series of left jabs, not hard, but many in 
number.  Foreman was very tired. 

Round seven:  Ali opened this round by leaning against the ropes 
without even waiting for Foreman to attack.  In the middle of the 
round, Ali was again able to connect to Foreman's head with a 
series of stiff punches.  But this time, with less than one 
minute remaining, Foreman fought back.  He started throwing hard 
punches, landing several hooks to the body, and one right 
uppercut to the jaw of Ali.  George finished strong. 

Round eight:  Ali started the round by landing a large number of 
mostly stiff left jabs to Foreman's jaw.  With over two minutes 
remaining Foreman landed a hard left hook to Ali's jaw and 
followed this up with many hard hooks to the body with both 
hands.  Some of these were clean shots.  With 20 seconds 
remaining, Ali landed a hard straight right to Foreman's jaw.  As 
George lunged into the ropes he received another right to the 
head.  Back away from the ropes, Ali landed a quick four punch 
combination, ending with a right hook that landed flush on the 
jaw of the champion.  Foreman, spinning off balance, went down on 
his shoulder and ended up with his back on the canvas.  He was 
regaining his feet has he was counted out.                    

Ali became the second heavyweight to regain the world title. 

March 24, 1975 in Cleveland:  Ali defended against liquor 
salesman Chuck Wepner.  The challenger looked much older than his 
35 years.  The first four rounds were close as Ali apparently 
didn't take this fight seriously.  Wepner hit Ali several times 
in the back of the head and Ali returned the favor.  The referee 
twice went to the corners between rounds to issue warnings to the 
fighters. 

By the seventh round Wepner was bleeding from a cut above his 
left eye as Ali was taking control.  Chuck had lost seven 
previous fights due to cuts.  In round nine Ali tripped over 
Wepner's foot retreating from a right to the body.  The referee 
called it a knockdown and gave Ali an eight count. 
     
Up to this point Ali had been content to use mostly his left jab, 
but now as the fight was continuing, he switched to combinations 
with both hands. He hit his opponent with a lot of good, crisp 
combinations.  But Wepner, now clearly losing the fight, kept 
coming.  In the 15th round, Ali caught Wepner with a four punch 
combination to the head that had his opponent reeling like a 
drunk.  One more hard right floored Wepner.  As the count reached 
eight the referee stopped the fight with only 15 seconds 
remaining. 

As he was declared the winner Ali himself fell to the canvass.  
He appeared very groggy.  In the dressing room after the fight, 
his trainer Angelo Dundee said Ali was exhausted.  Going into the 
15th round  the three officials had Ali ahead 135-128, 136-129, 
and 138-129. 

This same night in Madison Square Garden, Ken Norton stopped 
Jerry Quarry in the fifth round.  This pretty much eliminated 
Quarry from any future title hopes. 

May 16, 1975 in Las Vegas:  Ali defended against the hard hitting 
Ron Lyles. Ali was such a prohibitive favorite for this match 
that there was no betting line.  Ron, whose record was 31-2-1, 
had previously lost to Jerry Quarry.  It was a very tough and 
close fight from the first round.  Lyle was very smart in picking 
the right spots where he wanted to fight.  He conserved his 
energy the best he could, trying to expend energy only when 
needed.  He would not be lured into following Ali to the ropes 
for the champions "rope a dope".  He would stay in the center of 
the ring and make Ali come to him.  This is not to say that it 
was a dull fight.  Ron could hit hard, and did, especially with 
his very good right hand. 

Ali had predicted the he would KO Lyle in the eighth round, and 
he tried very hard to do it.  In this round he hurt the 
challenger twice.  The first was a five punch combination to the 
head and the second was a sharp left-right to the head shortly 
before the bell. 

In rounds nine and ten, Ali looked tired and Lyle was clearly the 
aggressor, and was scoring effectively.  But things quickly 
changed in the 11th round.  The champion, whose energy had been 
restored, suddenly took command from the apparently exhausted 
challenger.  Ali must have connected on 35 shots to the head of 
Lyle while receiving very little in return.  Landing at will he 
had his opponent helpless in a neutral corner when the referee 
stopped the bout.   Going into the 11th round, one judge had the 
fight even and the other two judges had Ron Lyle ahead.  So, it 
had been a very hard fight for Ali, indeed. 


July 1, 1975 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:  Ali defended against the 
25 year old, 230 lb European champion from Britain, Joe Bugner.  
Ali at 33 years of age and 225 lbs was in remarkably good shape.  
He needed it because the fight went the full 15 rounds in intense 
heat.  Ali started fighting flat-footed, then later changed to 
his familiar stick and dance.  By round eleven Bugner was out of 
steam, but he still continued gamely. 
       
In the 13th round, Ali had a slight cut above his left eye. The 
champion clearly was much the better fighter in the later 
portions of the fight and obtained a unanimous decision. 

October 1, 1975 in Manila:  Ali and Joe Frazier met for the third 
and last time.   The "Thrilla in Manila" was one of the hardest 
fought fights in recent history.  The 33 year old Ali and the 31 
year old Frazier both took severe punishment.  Both were probably 
never quite the same fighters afterwards.  In the early rounds, 
Ali landed many hard combinations that almost ended the fight 
several times.  In the middle rounds, Frazier came back.  His 
constant attacking style was taking its toll on Ali.  After the 
11th round, both fighters, particularly Ali, were in serious 
trouble. They both kept on fighting, with Ali winning when 
Frazier did come out for the 14th round. 

February 20, 1976 in San Juan:  Ali defends against the 29 year 
old Belgian Jean-Pierre Coopman.  The challenger, with a 24 and 3 
record, weighed 20 lbs less than the champ.  Ali started the 
fight dancing and moving in circles.  He increasingly was able to 
land sharp left jabs to the jaw of Coopman.  By the forth round, 
Coopman's face was covered with red marks from  Ali's lefts.  Ali 
took most of his opponents blows on his elbows and arms, and 
consistently was able to man-handle his lighter opponent.  

At this point Ali started fighting flat-footed throwing 
combinations with both hands.  Still his opponent kept coming 
forward, but was paying dearly for it.  Ali ended the fight with 
a KO at 2:46 seconds of round five with a jarring left right 
combination to the head. 

In the semi-final match Jimmy Young won a unanimous ten round 
decision against "King" Roman. 

April 30, 1976 in Landover, Md:  Ali defends title against  Jimmy 
Young. Young, a light hitter, but a clever boxer, held his own 
against the champion. Ali, who appeared under trained, won most 
of the early rounds by moving forward and landing the harder 
punches.  Several times when Young was getting the worst of it, 
he would take standing eight counts by leaning his head outside 
the ring ropes.  Ali seemed confused and frustrated.  He wrestled 
his opponent a number of times hoping to set him up for a hard 
punch.  He was never able to do it. 

As the match went on, the 230 lb champion slowed down.  Too much 
weight and too old a body to stay up with Jimmy.  Ali did rally 
in the ninth round, when he stayed on his toes and landed a large 
number of stiff left jabs.  This was the champions high water 
mark.  Young turned aggressor in the later rounds and carried the 
fight to Ali.  In the last three rounds he landed a number of 
hard right hand punches to Ali's head.  In the 15th round Young 
landed a hard left- right combination to the champion's head that 
had him backing up as the match ended. 

Most ring side fans thought that the title had changed hands.  
The AP scorer had Young winning 69 to 66.  But the three 
officials all gave the fight to Ali 70-68, 72-65, and 71-64.  Ali 
said after the fight that he under estimated his opponent and 
didn't train hard enough. 

May 24, 1976 in Munich:  Ali defends against Richard Dunn.  The 
European champion was 31 years old, 206 lbs, and a British 
southpaw.  Ali 34 years old and 220 lbs looked very trim.  The 
aggressive Dunn gave Ali problems for a couple of rounds.  Ali 
solved his opponents southpaw stance by being able to land many 
hard, effective overhand rights.  In the forth round Ali knocked 
Dunn down with a short right.  Dunn got up but was knocked down 
two more times in the round with more rights.  The fifth round 
was even worse for the challenger.  Another right and down he 
went.  Up again, but then down again from still another right.  
Dunn with great courage got up again and staggered into the 
ropes.  The referee then stopped the fight 2:05 seconds into the 
fifth round. 

Ali looked in much better shape at 220 lbs than he did three 
weeks before in the Jimmy Young fight at 230 lbs. 

September 28, 1976 in New York:  Ali fought the 31 year old ex-
marine Ken Norton for the third time.  For the first part of the 
fight Ali stood flat- footed with Norton and traded power 
punches.  Ali's famous "rope a dope" that had worked so well 
against Foreman, proved ineffective and brought boos from the 
crowd.  Norton had much the better of it in these rounds, and 
kept landing solid punches to Ali's ribs and temple.  After six 
rounds Ali started dancing and jabbing and started winning the 
rounds.  But this took energy. 

In round eleven Norton again took command when Ali quit dancing.  
The last few rounds appeared to go Norton's way as the fight went 
the distance. Ali never really hurt Norton, but Norton hurt Ali a 
number of times, especially with hard rights to the body.  Ali, 
as usual, only went for the head. 

Norton and most people at ringside thought he had won.  Ali 
looked dejected as he went back to his corner.  In this close and 
hard to judge fight, UPI scored it 8 to 7 Norton.  But the people 
that count, the officials, gave Ali a close but unanimous 
decision.  Two had it 8-6-1 and the other 8-7. Even though Ali 
won the decision he said that he could feel retirement. 

In a non title fight in San Juan on March 17, 1977, Jimmy Young 
decisioned George Foreman in 12 rounds.  What a contrast in 
styles!  One could box but not hit, the other had dynamite in his 
gloves but was no boxer.  Foreman chased after the elusive Young 
for 11 rounds.  Foreman couldn't solve Jimmy's excellent boxing 
techniques and land a telling blow.  Foreman became very tired by 
the 12th round, just as he had in the Ali fight. 

In the 12th when Foreman pressed Young into a corner, Jimmy 
launched a series of six shots to Foreman's head.  Foreman reeled 
back obviously hurt.  At this instant, Young turned tiger, chased 
after George and landed a quick left-right to the head and down 
went Foreman.  He got up immediately but the referee held an 
eight count.  Foreman lasted out this 12th and last round. 

The officials gave Young a unanimous decision  118-111, 116-112, 
and 115-114.   Foreman now had no hope of getting another fight 
with Ali.  Many people think that Ali wouldn't have fought 
Foreman again, anyway. 

May 16, 1977 in Landover, Md:  Ali defended against Alfredo 
Evangelista. The 22 year old, 209 lb native Uruguyan, living in 
Spain, had a 16 and 1 record, but had never fought a ranked 
heavyweight.  The "Spanish Rocky" was not a skilled fighter, but 
could take a punch.  

Ali, clowning in the first half of the fight, couldn't put the 
relentless Alfredo down.  Ali scored a large number of solid 
lefts to the chin of his opponent, but Alfredo kept coming.  The 
fight went the distance.  Ali winning an easy decision with two 
officials scoring it 72-64, the other 71-65, all for Ali. 

September 29, 1977 in New York's Madison Square Garden:   Ali 
defends against the old but very tough Earnie Shavers.  Shavers 
had KOed 52 opponents with 19 occurring in the first round.  For 
the first 12 rounds Ali was pretty much able to stay away from 
his old and prodding  opponent.  Shavers was able to conserve 
energy by not following up the several times when it appeared he 
had Ali in trouble.  In round 13, Ali was shaken when he received 
four solid rights to his head, but Shavers wasn't able to follow 
them with any effective punches as Ali danced away.  Round 14 was 
similar with Ali in retreat and Shavers not quick enough to do 
any real damage.  

The last round was by far the best of the match.  A real 
slugfest.  With quick combinations to Shavers' head, Ali forced 
him into a corner.  Shavers was extremely tired and almost out on 
his feet.  Just when it appeared the fight was over, Ali was 
rocked  with a looping left hook to his head.  This bought time 
for Shavers and he was able to finish the round.  What for the 
most part was a slow fight, with Shavers never able to launch a 
sustained attach against the evading champion, ended with real 
excitement.  The officials gave Ali a unanimous decision.  Two 
gave Ali nine rounds to six, the other ten rounds to five.   A 
win for Ali, but clearly he was past his prime. 

It was now three years since Foreman had lost the title to Ali in 
Zaire.  Ali had remained champion, although his skills had 
declined.  Foreman only fought exhibitions in 1975.  In 1976, he 
KOed Ron Lyle in the 4th round and KOed Frazier in the 5th.  But 
on March 17, 1977 he lost the 12 round decision to Jimmy Young.  
He retired after that.  How could he have done against Ali in 
1977?  We will never know. 


February 15, 1978 in Las Vegas:  Ali lost his title to Leon 
Spinks by a decision.  Spinks, the light heavyweight Olympic 
champion, had only fought professional seven times. Spinks, 
although not a great fighter, was just too strong and aggressive 
for the aging Ali, who fought sluggishly. 

On November 5, 1977 in Las Vegas:  Ken Norton won a close 
decision over Jimmy Young.  Future events would make this bout 
significant. 

March 18, 1978:  WBC strips Spinks of title for signing to fight 
Ali, rather that defending against Norton who was judged to be 
the number one contender.  Norton was given the championship for 
his victory over Young. 

June 10, 1978 in Las Vegas:  Larry Holmes decisioned Norton in a 
very brutal fight.  Each fighter appeared several times to be on 
the verge of being KOed, but each time a rally would turn the 
tide.  A very exciting match. 

September 15, 1978 in New Orleans:  Ali won back the "title" from 
Spinks in a close decision.  Ali, in better shape than in the 
first fight, was able to avoid most of the hard blows thrown from 
Spinks.  Ali now became the first heavyweight to ever regain the 
"title" a third time. 

Larry Holmes was to be Ali's next opponent.  In 1979 he KOed both 
Mike Weaver and Earnie Shavers.