Jimmy Young (boxer) March 1977, Young then fought George Foreman in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Foreman was on a five bout win streak since losing the title to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle", earning victories over top contenders Ron Lyle and Joe Frazier. The Young-Foreman fight was somewhat steady until the sixth round. The early rounds were punctuated by complaints from Young and his corner about the use of elbows by Foreman, who was punished by the referee with a point deduction. For the first half of the fight, Young used his somewhat unorthodox boxing skills and good defense to
The Rumble in the Jungle by Larry Holmes in 1980 and Trevor Berbick in 1981. Despite repeatedly calling Ali out, Foreman was unable to secure a rematch with the champion before Foreman abruptly decided to retire after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977. Ali did not hurry to set up a rematch, making title defenses against unheralded opponents such as Jean Pierre Coopman and Richard Dunn. However, he would repeatedly state that his rematch with Foreman was one of the major fights he wanted to get to before retiring. Foreman later made an unlikely comeback, culminating in his regaining the world heavyweight championship at