Ezzard Charles vs. Ken Norton

Ok then, sorry about that.

 

No worries, its probably my fault!

 

Norton takes this, Charles is by far the better fighter, but he ain't the better heavyweight. He doesn't hit nearly hard enough to back up Norton so he's going to be in exchanges constantly. Norton by stoppage late probably

 

Too close to call I'd say.

 

I'ma go with this. In the last 2 hours I've swung either way with this fight.

Norton to me, is similar to Marciano, although less of a physical freak, but more skilled with a better trainer. That would lead one to believe that Norton would win, but Charles showed he knew how to deal with Marciano's bullishness, offence and pressure early on in that fight, he just couldn't keep up with Marciano in the long haul whilst past prime. So Charles would be able to block Norton's body asault and has the skill in his prime to counter and outmanoeuvre Norton, much like he did Marciano, early on.

Charles was also an amazing infighter, and Norton would've had issues with the the head-movement and prowess of Ezz, but the workrate and presence of Norton would really trouble Ezzard imo.

Ezzard, showed he didn't have many problems with the cross arm guard against Moore, and that he could land flurries and combos on him, as well as outboxing cleanly in the first fight, although Archie was probably a little green there. Ken and Archie both used an erratic Bob and Weave, I don't think either would be/were a major part of their success, as Ezzard seemed to deal with Archie's pretty well.

Norton, for all of what's made of him being a stylistical nightmare for boxers, was always involved in very close fights with them. Charles was more versatile and skilled than Young, he'd also provide a much more varied offense, even if it does little to deter Norton, Young was a much better spoiler although Charles held his own in the clinches against Marciano. Holmes showed that fast feet and hands could give Norton problems, as did Ali when he had the conditioning to dance. It should definitely be noted that both of the above are much more mobile than Charles was at HW.

Norton also doesn't have the power of Rocky to slow Charles down as well, but Norton is a very bad style for him. Charles would have as many issues keeping Norton off him as Norton would setting up his offence. Norton would consistently land shots, even if they're grazing/scraping ones with little power, they'd still be scoring.

Norton's jab would play a major role here, he'd use it as his main scoring punch here imo due to Charles shutting down the rest of his offence. Charles would try and counter Norton's jab with straight rights over the top, which would probably make for the rounds being closer.


Gun to my head I pick Norton SD15, in a fight where Charles is landing cleaner, but Norton is landing more. Norton's jab and workrate taking it.

But it'd be a fun, technical fight, a rematch is definitely in order for this one. @Glass City Cobra raised the point of it being hard to score, I agree wholeheartedly.

 

Good post!