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 Colored Heavyweight Championship African World Championship, which would be open to boxers of African descent from any country as well as boxers of any race living in Africa. This proposal was met with worldwide criticism, and the World Boxing Council ultimately abandoned the idea. Eighteen men were recognized as World Colored Heavyweight Champion, combining for 28 total reigns. World Colored Heavyweight Championship The World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a title awarded to black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized heavyweight championship available to blacks prior to Jack Johnson winning the world heavyweight title in 1908.