George Foreman vs. Joe Frazier II Norton by knockout in the first and second rounds respectively. Foreman, however, lost his titles to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in October 1974, by KO in the eighth round. The following year, Frazier finally got his first chance to regain the heavyweight titles, challenging Ali in a fight dubbed the "Thrilla in Manila", though he lost by technical knockout in the 14th round. After his defeat at the hands of Ali, Foreman was out of boxing for over a year, sitting out all of 1975. He returned in January 1976 to defeat Ron Lyle and capture
The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium of the event evokes the 1974 boxing match the Rumble in the Jungle; each participant was given a "championship belt" by the moderator following the debate. The format of the debate was broken up into two sections: the first half followed the usual "presidential debate" format, while for the second half, the three took seats closer to the audience and answered questions posted by the audience and viewers on the Internet. While the discussion topics were essentially the same as the presidential debate a few days prior, much of the event was laced with humour: an oft reused gag was