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
George Foreman later charged that Angelo Dundee had loosened them, and this story is supported by Norman Mailer in the book "The Fight"), allowed Ali to lean back and away from Foreman's wild swings and then to clinch Foreman behind the head, forcing Foreman to expend much extra energy untangling himself. Ali also constantly pushed down on Foreman's neck but was never warned about doing so. To this day, it is unclear whether Ali's pre-fight talk of using speed and movement against Foreman had been just a diversionary tactic or whether his use of what became known as the "rope-a-dope" tactic was