Boxing in the 1970s

During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the 1970s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.

At least six divisions had world champions who could be considered dominant: The Bantamweights had Carlos Zárate; the Super Bantamweights, (a division created in 1976) had Wilfredo Gómez winning the title in 1977 and keeping it until he left it vacant in 1983; the Lightweights had Roberto Durán, who won the title in 1972 and vacated it in 1979 to seek championships at other weights; the Jr. Welterweights had Antonio Cervantes, who reigned twice; the Middleweights had Carlos Monzón, sometimes referred to as King Carlos because of his seven-year reign as champion; the Light-Heavyweights had Bob Foster. The Heavyweights had Muhammad Ali, who ruled twice between 1974 and 1979.

Another aspect of boxing in the 1970s is that the decade is considered by a few to be the best ever for the Heavyweight division: Ali returned in 1970 from his forced retirement, and Joe Frazier 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, José 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.

1970 February 16 – Joe Frazier becomes world Heavyweight champion by knocking out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds at New York City's Madison Square Garden. April 18 – Rubén Olivares begins his trilogy of world championship fights with Chucho Castillo by defeating Castillo with a fifteen-round unanimous decision in Inglewood. May 9 – Vicente Saldivar returns to the ring, with only one fight in the last two years, to win the WBC world Featherweight championship with a fifteen-round unanimous decision over Johnny Famechon in Rome, Italy. August 4 – George Foreman beats George Chuvalo by a technical knockout in round three in New York. September 26 – Ken Buchanan wins the world Lightweight title with a fifteen-round split decision over Ismael Laguna of Panama at San Juan, Puerto Rico. October 16 – Chapter 2 of Olivares-Castillo, as Chucho Castillo conquers the world Featherweight title with a fourteenth-round technical knockout of Rubén Olivares in Inglewood. October 26 – Muhammad Ali returns from his forced exile with a three-round stoppage of Jerry Quarry in Atlanta. November 7 – Carlos Monzón becomes world Middleweight champion by knocking out Nino Benvenuti in twelve rounds in Rome. November 18 – Joe Frazier retains his world Heavyweight crown with a two-round knockout of reigning world Light Heavyweight champion Bob Foster in Detroit. December 3 – Billy Backus beats José Nápoles by knockout in four rounds, winning the world Welterweight title in Syracuse. December 7 – In the 15th and final round, Muhammad Ali knocked down Oscar Bonavena 3 times and earned the win at Madison Square Garden.

1971 March 8 – The Fight of the Century: before a jet-set crowd that included Cher, Frank Sinatra, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Diana Ross and others, Joe Frazier drops Muhammad Ali in the fifteenth round and wins a unanimous decision to retain the world's Heavyweight title, at New York City's Madison Square Garden. March 16 – In what turn out to be Henry Cooper's final fight, he lost to Joe Bugner in a controversial 15-round decision as Bugner became the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion in Cooper's hometown of London, England. April 3 – In the last chapter of the Olivares-Castillo trilogy, Rubén Olivares recovers from a knockdown to regain the world Featherweight title with a fifteen-round unanimous decision over Chucho Castillo in Inglewood. May 9 – Carlos Monzón retains his title with a three-round knockout of Nino Benvenuti in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It is Benvenuti's last fight. June 4 – José Nápoles recovers his world Welterweight title with an eighth-round knockout of Billy Backus in Inglewood. July 26 – Former world Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali beats his friend and gymmate, former Heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis, by a knockout in round twelve in Houston. August 9 – Rodrigo Valdez beats Bobby Cassidy by ten round unanimous decision in New York, but gets infected with Hepatitis, which Cassidy did not know he had before entering the ring. Both boxers then enter quarantine. September 25 – Carlos Monzón retains his world Middleweight championship with a fourteen-round knockout of multiple time world champion Emile Griffith in Buenos Aires, Argentina. November 5 – Pedro Carrasco becomes Spain's second world boxing champion, beating Mando Ramos by an eleventh round disqualification in Madrid, Spain to take the WBC's vacant world Lightweight title. This bout was extremely controversial; Ramos was disqualified because, after Carrasco hit the deck in round eleven, the referee decided to declare Carrasco the winner because he didn't know if Carrasco had been felled by a punch or a push.

1972 January 15 – Joe Frazier retains his world Heavyweight title with a five-round knockout of Terry Daniels in New Orleans. April 7 – Bob Foster recovers the WBA world Light-Heavyweight title, unifying it once again with his WBC championship, knocking out Vicente Rondon in two rounds at Miami. Rondon had become the second Latin American world Light Heavyweight champion when the WBA recognized him after Foster refused to defend the championship against him, but the WBC had kept Foster as world champion. May 1 – Muhammad Ali defeats George Chuvalo by unanimous decision May 26 – Joe Frazier retains his world Heavyweight title with a five-round knockout over Ron Stander in Omaha. June 26 – Roberto Durán wins the first of four world titles, knocking out WBA world Lightweight champion Ken Buchanan in thirteen rounds at New York City. The fight has a controversial ending: many believe that the blow with which Duran ended the fight was actually low and that he should have been disqualified. June 27 – Muhammad Ali knocks out Jerry Quarry in the seventh round of their Las Vegas rematch. September 20 – Muhammad Ali beats Floyd Patterson by a knockout in round seven of their rematch, held at New York. It is Patterson's last professional fight, he retires with a record of 55–8–1 with 40 knockouts. October 28 – Antonio Cervantes wins the WBA world Jr. Welterweight title for the first time, with a tenth-round knockout of defending champion Alfonso Peppermint Frazer in Panama City, Panama. November 17 – Esteban De Jesús begins his trilogy of fights with Roberto Durán by defeating the world Lightweight champion by a ten-round unanimous decision in New York. Durán suffers his first career defeat in the non-title fight. November 21 – Muhammad Ali defeats Bob Foster by 8th-round KO.

1973 January 22 – George Foreman becomes world Heavyweight champion, defeating Joe Frazier by knockout in round two at Kingston, Jamaica. It is the first fight televised on HBO Boxing. January 24 – WBA world Flyweight champion Masao Ohba dies after his car collided with a truck in Tokyo, Japan. He left a record of 35 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 15 knockouts. March 31 – Ken Norton becomes the second boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali's jaw en route to a twelve-round split decision in San Diego. May 5 – Eder Jofre wins the WBC world Featherweight title three years after his first retirement from boxing, defeating world champion Jose Legra by a fifteen-round majority decision in Brasília, Brazil. May 19 – Antonio Cervantes retains his WBA world Jr. Welterweight title with a five-round knockout of Alfonso Peppermint Frazer, in their Panama City, Panama rematch. June 2 – Carlos Monzón retains his world Middleweight title with a fifteen-round unanimous decision over Emile Griffith, at their rematch, held in Monte Carlo, Monaco. July 2 – Former world Heavyweight champion Joe Frazier returns to the ring, beating Joe Bugner by a twelve-round decision at London. September 1 – George Foreman retains his world Heavyweight title with a first-round knockout over José Roman, who becomes the first Puerto Rican to challenge for the world Heavyweight championship, in Tokyo. September 10 – Muhammad Ali avenges his loss to Ken Norton, beating Norton by a twelve-round split decision in Inglewood, California. November 3 – Arnold Taylor survives four knockdowns to knock out WBA world Bantamweight champion Romeo Anaya in fourteen rounds, winning the world title in Johannesburg, South Africa, in what boxing writer Chris Greyvenstein called probably the most murderous and dramatic (fight) in South African history. December 1 – In the first boxing fight pitting a Black man against a White man in South African history, Bob Foster, an African-American, retains his world Light Heavyweight championship with a fifteen-round unanimous decision over Pierre Fourie. It was, in addition, Foster's second fifteen-round decision win over Fourie.

1974 January 28 – Muhammad Ali avenges his defeat to Joe Frazier, beating Frazier by a unanimous decision in twelve rounds at New York City. February 9 – Carlos Monzón retains the world's Middleweight title with a seventh-round knockout over world Welterweight champion José Nápoles in Paris, France. February 16 – Alexis Argüello's first world title fight: he loses a fifteen-round unanimous decision to WBA world Featherweight champion Ernesto Marcel in Panama City, Panama. Marcel never fought again. March 16 – Roberto Durán avenges his loss to Esteban De Jesús, recovering from a first round knockdown to knock out the Puerto Rican in round eleven and retain his world Lightweight championship in Panama City, Panama. March 26 – George Foreman retains his world heavyweight championship with a second-round knockout over Ken Norton in Caracas, Venezuela. July 9 – Rubén Olivares conquers the vacant WBA world Featherweight championship with a seventh-round knockout over Zensuke Utagawa in Inglewood. July 17 – Bob Foster is knocked down in round thirteen, but retains his world Light-Heavyweight title with a draw (tie) with Jorge Ahumada in Albuquerque. It is Foster's last championship defense. August 24 – WBA world Jr. Lightweight champion Ben Villaflor, a Hawaiian-based Filipino, retains his world title with a second-round knockout of Japan's future world champion, Yasutsune Uehara, in Honolulu. October 30 – The Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali regains the world Heavyweight championship, joining Floyd Patterson as the two only boxers to achieve such a feat, by knocking out George Foreman in eight rounds at Zaire. November 23 – Alexis Argüello wins the first of three world titles, knocking out Rubén Olivares in the thirteenth round at Inglewood. He also becomes the first Nicaraguan world boxing champion. December 7 – Victor Galindez becomes the third Hispanic world Light-Heavyweight champion. The Argentine beats Len Hutchins by TKO in round thirteen to claim the vacant WBA title, in Buenos Aires.

1975 March 2 – Roberto Durán defeats Ray Lampkin to retain the WBA and The Ring lightweight titles. March 24 – The fight that inspired the movie Rocky: With a young Sylvester Stallone sitting at home and watching, Muhammad Ali retains his world Heavyweight championship with a fifteenth-round knockout over underdog Chuck Wepner, but not without suffering a ninth round knockdown first, in Cleveland.