Boxing in the 1970s was world champion when Ali returned. Former world champions Jimmy Ellis and Floyd Patterson as well as George Foreman, Oscar Bonavena, Jerry Quarry, Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, Ken Norton, as well as Larry Holmes, Ron Stander, Chuck Wepner, Jose King Roman, Light Heavyweight champ Foster, John Tate, Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Joe Bugner, Scott LeDoux and many others added intrigue to the division. Don King surged as a leading boxing promoter, and champions Duran, Monzon and Ali had historic rivalries with Esteban De Jesús, Rodrigo Valdez and Frazier, respectively. Boxing in the 1970s During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version) Mills. Lou Thesz won the title on May 21, 1952. Thesz unified three championships to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion in wrestling: the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship (which he won on July 20, 1948 by defeating Bill Longson), the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship (which was awarded to him on November 27, 1949) and the Los Angeles version of the world title (the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium World Heavyweight Championship, which he won on May 21, 1952 by defeating Baron Michele Leone). Whipper Billy Watson won the title on March 15, 1956 by defeating Thesz by