When Muhammad Ali lost to Ken Norton in March 1973, there was a growing sense that the best of the floating butterfly and stinging bee might be gone.
Norton earned a split-decision victory in San Diego, a verdict that arguably flattered Ali, who also suffered a broken jaw in the opening round.
Ali narrowly avoided a second defeat in the rematch, rallying late to secure a split decision of his own after winning the 12th round. With the rivalry locked at 1-1, a rubber match would have to wait.
What troubled ‘The Greatest’ so badly against Norton proved no obstacle at all for George Foreman. A year later in Caracas, Venezuela, the reigning heavyweight champion demolished the chiselled challenger in less than two rounds, flooring him with sledgehammer blows. The 6ft 3ins, 224¾lb juggernaut later declared that he would beat Ali in two rounds.
Instead, Ali went on to do the unthinkable. In 1974, during The Rumble in the Jungle, he stopped Foreman to reclaim the heavyweight crown. Two years later, Ali and Norton met for a third time at Yankee Stadium in New York. ‘The Greatest’ again got the nod, though the decision proved controversial and Norton immediately called for a fourth bout.
It never materialised. Years later, however, Foreman revealed on The Jim Lampley Show that his old foe had approached him for help after Foreman’s retirement in 1977. Ali, keen to avoid a fourth meeting with Norton, believed his old rival could do him a favour.
“I do not know how he got my number. He called me and complimented me for about twenty minutes, then he said, ‘George, would you do me a favour?’ I said, ‘Certainly.’ He said, ‘Please come back and beat Ken Norton and fight him for me… I can’t beat him. George, you can. He’s afraid of you. I’ll let you use my training camp and everything, but please come back and beat him for me.’”
Who knows how history might have shifted had that scenario played out. Had Foreman granted his rival’s wish, he may have earned the chance to avenge his most humiliating defeat.
Instead, Foreman remained retired until the 1980s, before carving out a different kind of immortality in 1994 when he stopped Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
