George Foreman vs. Ken Norton hard-hitting champion and given little chance of obtaining a victory. A week before the fight had happened, promoter Don King, banking on a victory by Foreman, had already inked a deal that would see Foreman make his next defense against Ali in the "Rumble in the Jungle." A 3 to 1 underdog, Norton was back in a familiar position, promised less money than Foreman ($200,000 to the $500,000 George was guaranteed), and deemed a solid underdog to the hard-slugging Texan. If Caracas seems like a strange destination to hold a heavyweight boxing event, there was a practical reason it was
Muhammad Ali had too much to drink. Ali biographer Thomas Hauser, who was present, recalled that for the next 10 minutes Larry Holmes positioned himself between Ali and Frazier, preventing Frazier from reaching Ali. George Foreman then took over and acted as Ali's shield for the next 10 minutes. Throughout this incident, Ali remained oblivious to what was going on. In his 1996 autobiography "Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World", in which he always refers to Ali as Cassius Clay, Frazier wrote: Commenting on Ali lighting the Olympic flame in 1996, Frazier stated that it would have