I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who gave Ali that third fight... What if Ken had received the decision he deserved? To me this is really interesting because of the state of the division at the time.
Ali was generally considered very past prime at that point, so probably not much? Might help his ledger a little bit by going 2-1 against Ali, but really that'd only place him 1&2 rankings higher Now if he had beaten HOLMES........
Had he (correctly) gotten the nod his confidence likely soars. Norton was a different animal when he was both mentally and physically fit and it showed in his fights. Had he gone on to get the nod against a prime holmes, outpointed young like he originally did, and avoided getting brutally demolished by shavers and cooney we might very well be calling him a top 10 or even dare I say top 5 HW. Its similar to the question of where we'd rank Roy Jones had he retired after Ruiz and avoided all those embarassing losses. Knowing when to retire is just as impprtant as fighting the best to have a good resume.
Probably have 3 title defenses against Bobick, Zanon, and Young, then loses the title in the thriller to Holmes. I've always believed if Ken had the chance to have a real title reign like he deserved, that he might have retired after Holmes and continued with acting and being a guest commenatator at fights.
This sounds like a good call, with Young being the big thorn in his side still. If we push the what ifs further, had Young lost to Foreman than George probably would have gotten the belt back...until Holmes outpoints him in '78 (make it a stoppage pretty much any time 1979-1983).
You sure your not thinking of Landover Md? Ali couldn't lay glove on Jimmy. Norton I thought won over Jimmy close but clear. More importantly had Kenny got the decision Ali may have bowed out gracefully and perhaps not gotten as sick. He didn't need any of that late 70s punishment.
For Ali, the only thing I would have missed was that 15th round against Shavers. He was pretty sensational there, after all those rounds where he aggravatingly goofed around (and got his head bashed in on several occasions). It was probably the last glimpse of Ali as a great fighter (yeah I know the third Ali and Norton fights were amazing).
Kenny was an independant and did things on a fight by fight basis w/ Biron. I think DKP makes a huge offer to the Norton camp for a Foreman rematch. They & really Kenny, would just not turn that much money down. And DKP could not get the Ali camp to sign the rematch but I think he offers Kenny 10 or $12 million for a Foreman fight and Ali is on the outside looking in.
In this scenario Norton gets his head smacked off again by George, and Ali at this stage has significantly more trouble with but ultimately stops Foreman round 12 at the very latest. If Ali loses to Foreman than Larry flies around and peppers the living yee-haw out of Foreman, dropping him late in the fight and winning a unanimous decision. Just conjecture of course.
You've met him now. I think Ali won, and at the very least I think it was close enough that to call it a robbery is a massive stretch. I also think Holmes beat Norton in an almost totally one-sided shutout, and I don't seem to have too much company there either.
Most fighters are the same. The opponent is what makes the difference. It is odd how a great fighter can make another great look ordinary. or a great can make a good fighter look bad.
