Norton vs punchers

Good post.


Ali and Holmes may not have been big bangers but hardly feather fisted either. I've often thought that a prime Norton would have been a 50/50 bet in a Shavers fight. Although he did n't punch as hard as Earnie,if he'd got his big shots in first he could have stopped 'The Acorn' A prime for prime match up with C00ney could also have gone either way.

George Foreman's power was freakish so nobody can really knock Ken for that one. Joe Frazier went the same way as we all know.

 

Spot on .Norton was only KOed by forman in his prime no disgrace about that.Norton is a very underrated fighter .

 

Lol a fact is a myth now and norton is underrated..yes sure... a man who looked well against type boxer that he had stylistical advantage over but was bombed out by every big puncher that he fought,he got an excuse for every ko,garcia pre prime,foreman was an ultra mega puncher,shavers súper ultra hiper puncher and past Prime,****ey shot norton.

Ron lyle would have cleaned the floor with norton.( Yes yes, i know i know,the ranked contenders argument). bonavena also would have stopped him,frazier the same.

In a era dominated by punchers you never would have listened the name ken norton

 

Did ok against quarry?didn't he .Would have beaten ringo and lyle IMO.as for Frazier will never know but they must have spared hundreds of rnds.

 

I've always felt the same way and that the notion that he'd get sparked by EVERY man who has power was absurd. As one poster put it a few years ago " being a hard puncher was not a guarantee to beating Norton.. There would always be some who'd get the Bobick treatment. "

 

But WHO were these punchers and WHEN did he fight some of them?

 

The bottom line is that Norton simply never overcame a world level puncher. If he had beaten say, Lyle or Bonavena or Chuvalo, we'd have something to go by. But he didn't. He matched Ali and Holmes, two great fighters who weren't known for their power, and a pillow fisted Jimmy Young. That's it.

You also need to take the fashion of his knockout losses into account. Sure, Shavers and Foreman had sledgehammers in their gloves, but Norton made them look damn near superhuman. He didn't take a big amount of punishment, or even a moderate amount. He literally folded like a lawn chair the moment they connected with a solid shot. I don't care whether Foreman is the biggest hitter in history or not, if you're put on your ass by the borderline arm punches that floored Norton the first time, your chin just ain't solid.

 

"Past prime Quarry" only had a 10 day notice for the Norton fight.....and hurt Norton early, but shot his bolt to try to put Norton away quickly.

I always disregard that fight on both quys' records as "not representative".

 

since when was quarry considered even a puncher? and he was in his peak when he fought norton, no question about, please...

no he would not, he would lose badly to both specially vs lyle.[/QUOTE] IMO

we will never know who would win between ali and tony galento neither

 

With his footwork, if a guy backs up Kenny, he is in big big trouble. The hitters can make him do that. And that cross armed defense is wide open for a left hook.

 

It is not just that he lost to the big punchers he fought.

It is also that he never won against such a fighter.

When you put the two things together, it is hard to back him against big punchers in fantasy fights.

The argument would have to be something like “well he never showed that he had it, but I still think that he did”.

 

Ken Norton had the misfortune of facing and existing alongside three of the hardest punchers of all time, and fought two of them while being well past prime. It's also worth noting that the type of "style" he utilized may have had just as much to do with his failure against these men as his chin, given that it allowed for them to land their best punches often... Despite These bad defeats to three sluggers who were truly among the elite in punching power ( and whom he was tailor made for ) he did manage to beat a few fighters who could certainly crack in Tex Cobb, Duane Bobbick, Jerry Quarry and Pedro Lovell. Taken into account his success against intermediate level punchers and failures against only the very best of them, I can reasonably conclude that "no", Ken Norton should not ALWAYS be picked to lose against EVERY big hitter in fantasy match ups.

 

I have to stop you there.

He might have been unlucky to share an era with Foreman, but he was not unlucky to share an era with Shavers or C00ney.

There are fighters like that in every era.