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
George Foreman Rican Heavyweight Champion José Roman. Roman was not regarded as a top contender, and it took Foreman only 2 minutes to end the fight, one of the fastest knockouts in a Heavyweight Championship bout. Foreman's next defense was against a much tougher opponent. In 1974, in Caracas, Venezuela, he faced the highly regarded future hall-of-famer Ken Norton (who was 30–2), a boxer noted for his awkward crossed-arm boxing style, crab-like defense, and heavy punch (a style Foreman emulated in his comeback), who had broken the jaw of Muhammad Ali in a points victory a year earlier. Norton had a good