Heavyweight Robberies?

Do you really think Norton was robbed in the 2nd fight? I've discussed Norton, Young, and Shavers. The second Frazier fight is being discussed below.
Ali looked light and quick on his feet in the early rounds. He constantly circled to his right away from Frazier’s dangerous left hook. And when Frazier got close, Ali cut loose with rapid fire combinations to take the first two rounds. Moreover, in the final twenty seconds of the second stanza, Muhammad landed a straight right cross that made Joe do a little jig in the center of the ring. Ali moved forward and landed several combinations that put Joe on the ropes. Then the referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell and gave Joe a 10-15 second respite. When he realized his mistake and had the fighters resume the action, there were only ten seconds remaining in the round and Frazier had sufficiently recovered.

Joe, perhaps knowing he had dropped the first two rounds, became more aggressive in rounds three through five. But whenever Joe was able to get off a left hook, Ali would tie him up, and dance away to the center of the ring. To my eyes, Ali was dictating the pace and tempo of the fight in these rounds. His jab was missing a lot, but he was punching whenever he wanted to punch, and breaking off the action whenever Frazier tried to put up a counter offensive. Frazier’s best moments were early in rounds three and five when he landed hard left hooks to Ali’s face. But Ali never allowed him to land twice, and often landed two or three fast shots before Frazier could get off one of his own. So after five rounds, I had Ali up 5-0.

Ali also had a good round in the sixth. Joe’s face was beginning to look puffy from the flurries and combinations that Ali was landing.

But Frazier turned the tide in the seventh round. He landed several jarring left hooks that swiveled Ali’s head as the crowd roared. As the round went on, Ali landed some good combinations, but Frazier’s harder shots were enough to give him the round. He continued his attack in the eighth, including an overhand right at the end of the round which propelled Ali into the ropes.

Ali came back strong in the ninth round, landing lefts and rights to Frazier’s head as Joe tried to make his way inside. But Frazier regained command in the tenth round, beginning and ending the stanza with his potent left hook. Ali returned the corner with a tiny slice on his right cheek, and a drip of blood coming from his nose. He looked tired and winded.

But somehow, he summoned the energy to finish with what Ferdie Pacheco called ‘a fighting retreat,’ landing swift combinations and sharp punches as he circled away from Joe’s dangerous left hook.

The judges scores were 8-4, 7-4-1, and 6-5-1, all in favor of Ali. I scored the fight 9-3 for Ali. What made this fight night and day from their first battle was that Frazier was unable to dictate the tempo of the fight. He only connected sporadically with his left hook, and he spent most of the time trying to duck and slip and roll with Ali’s flurries. When he did get inside with a short chopping shot to the hips or to the body, Ali tied him up so that he could not press his advantage.

I tried to score this fight as objectively as I could, and I could not see where Frazier deserved this decision. Ali’s second fight with Norton was close, but the second fight with Frazier was not because Frazier had a hard time coping with Ali’s fast hands. Frazier would go on from this to win return matches with Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis. Then he would meet Ali in a rubber match in what turned out to be one of the greatest fights of all time.
Source:http://www.boxing247.com/weblog/news.php?p=1813&more=1
Norton-Ali 2. From watching the fight on television, I thought that Ali narrowly took the first five rounds. He danced continually to his left and to his right. He never allowed Norton to corner him. And in a reversal from the first fight, Ali was outjabbing Norton. And he jolted Norton with a good left hook as Norton was coming at him in the fourth round. While it is true that Norton was the aggressor, he just wasn’t in the same zip code as Ali in the early going.

But Ali appeared to tire in the sixth round. Norton began to score with left hooks and overhand rights. Ali got off his toes for the first time in the fight and landed his most meaningful punches. He scored with a couple of great right hand leads as Norton swung and missed with his left hook. I gave the round to Ali, but Norton was definitely coming on.

In the seventh and eighth rounds, Norton was beating and battering Ali all over the ring. He had him hurt in both rounds. Furthermore, a hook by Norton as the bell sounded ending the eighth round sent Ali back to the corner on rubbery legs. Norton won these two rounds more convincingly than Ali had won any of the first six. But Ali was still ahead on points.

The two of them went toe to toe in the ninth round. Ali planted his feet and began to beat Norton to the punch. A great right hand lead jarred Kenny. But Kenny pushed his way forward and slammed Ali against the ropes with a fusillade of punches. It was a great round of action, and Ali had his moments. But I had to give the round the Ken Norton.

Norton won the next two rounds as well. He threw some tremendous body punches early in the eleventh round that had the crowd on their feet. But he seemed to peter out as the round progressed. By the end of the round, Norton was against the ropes and Ali was landing. But because Kenny dominated the bulk of the round, I scored it for him.

Through eleven rounds, I had Ali up 6-5. A case can be made that the 6th round was even or for Norton. Moreover, Norton won his rounds far more convincingly than Ali had won his rounds. I can certainly see why some people could have had Norton out in front after eleven rounds.

But there can be no doubt that Ali took the twelfth round. Norton had pretty much shot his wad in the eleventh round, and Ali sensed it. Muhammad landed some fast combinations to start the final round, to which Norton had no answer. Midway through the round, Ali landed a good right uppercut that snapped Norton’s head back. And even though a weary Norton won the final twenty seconds of the round, it wasn’t enough in my eyes. I gave the round to Ali, and the decision seven rounds to five.

In conclusion, can a case be made that Ken Norton got robbed in Los Angeles that day? I don’t think so. What people have to remember is that even though Norton won his rounds by a wider margin than Ali won most of his rounds, Ali still won at least half of the rounds, and in my view, he took seven of them. Norton would go on to lose to George Foreman in a bid for the heavyweight title, then he would come back with wins over Jose Luis Garcia, Jerry Quarry, and Ron Stander before losing to Ali in a controversial loss at Yankee Stadium. Norton would then fight Duane Bobick, Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes, Earnie Shavers, Tex Cobb, Scott Ledoux, and Gerry ****ey with varying degrees of success and failure. Of course, Ali would go on to win the heavyweight crown a second and third time. But this close decision win over Norton was one of the most important wins of his career. It meant a return match with Joe Frazier, and a shot at the title against George Foreman.
Source:http://www.boxing247.com/weblog/news.php?p=1789&more=1
You are the 1st person i've seen call Norton-Ali 2 a robbery. Do you really think Norton won so decisively it was a robbery?

 

Actually I don't think Holmes-Spinks I was a robbery. It was just a very close fight that went to the wrong guy imo. I also want to add Patterson-Ellis as a robbery.