Why does everyone think Norton was robbed against Ali?

It was not just the 15th. There were at least one perhaps two rounds where Norton allowed Ali to hit him as he rolled with his punches pretty much giving away the round. It was a very close fight and I am sure Norton tortured himself afterwards that one round lost him the title.

 

It was not 50-50 if you look at all ringside scorecards.

 

Because, in the 1960s and 1970s, even though he went deep in many bouts, Muhammad Ali didn't lose too many rounds.

So, if rounds got close, fans in the audience and watching on TV tended to give them to the other guy. But the judges sitting a couple feet away tended to score them for Ali because he usually landed more.

 

Any mention of the fact Norton was the aggressor all fight, landed the much harder punches and landed ninety more punches than Ali in the overall punch stat? Also Ali saying later thatbyear that he lost ?

 

he grant pretty much nailed it. The ol' Ali mirage --circling and flicking jabs that don't land-- was at work. Norton outlanded Ali all night, plus his shots were much harder. He won ten rounds in my opinion. Stop making excuses for Ali....he sucked and did nothing in this fight, and he also didn't win that 15th round despite what people say.

 

It was a close fight for the hwt championship of the world. Norton and his team were stupid not going all out to grab that title. He threw away two to three rounds and that's HUGE in a fight such as this. Norton later on when asked if he would have done anything different said that he would have fought that last round as he did previous rounds. With that mindset he would have become hwt champion of the world.

 

Can you please give us a rundown how Norton won the 15th round? I'll be in for a long wait, I guess...

 

Vince...the "Mirage" was NOT Ali flicking jabs.

As mentioned two weeks after this fight a panel of boxing experts...pep, Louis, Graziano, many other past greats and writers scored the bout live on CBS TV. All scores were then tabulated at the end of 15 rounds. The result was a draw. So what you have is the three officials one of which was probably the greatest referee ever gave the fight to Ali by one round and this panel called it a draw. Close fight!

 

The British and American ringside reporters scored it for Ali on balance.

 

Sorry that simply is not true. A tally of all ringside unofficial scorecards showed that Norton had the decided edge.

I really am amazed that what is common knowledge from that time period can be distorted so readily.

 

What is your source?

 

Norton blew the last round of a close fight. Cardinal sin.

Ken was the best heavyweight in the world at that time but he still let Ali con him out of beating him the way he could have. This was kens chance! Ali was old. He had reached the point where he could no longer convincingly beat any world class fighter. All Muhammad had left was 15 round experience, knowing that all he had to do was contain a fighter and defend the champions advantage over the championship distance.

A champion defends his title. The challenger is there to take it away. You don't give the champ the last round.

At least Leon spinks took it away from Ali. Watch the last round of Spinks first fight with Ali!!!

 

I don't believe any fighter is robbed when a fight is that close ,not Norton,Young,Hagler ,or Holmes.

 

I personally have NEVER been able to give this fight to Ali, no matter how many times I watch it. It was a clear victory for Norton by my account. Sure it was close enough that it wasn't a robbery, per se, but it's certainly odd that I can never give the fight to Ali on my card and yet he won.

 

I generally score it for Ali. Almost always 8-7.