Trivia

Ken Norton

 

Bingo.

The Jimmy Young fight was fought as a title eliminator but Norton was awarded the WBC belt soon after the win when Leon Spinks chose to rematch Ali rather than face Norton.

Kenny’s three title fights were losses to George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. He was keeping some pretty good company there.

 

This fighter was knocked out by Rocky Balboa and Ken Norton.

Name him.

 

Pedro Lovell.

 

@salsanchezfan and @Dubblechin on the money here — Pedro Lovell was a real live heavyweight boxer who was 16-1 when he lost to Norton in early 1976.

He played Spider Rico in Rocky and Rocky Balboa, and lost in the second round to the Rock in what would have been 1975 in a club fight.

 

Which previously unbeaten fighter came out of his first two world title tries still undefeated but without the title?

 

Jaime Garza came pretty close...

 

Eijiro Murata - drew against Lupe Pintor and Jeff Chandler in his first two world title fights.

 

Boom - nailed it!

 

Let's try another one:

Which world champion started his career with the longest streak of fights, where he didn't suffer a single defeat (including DQ) inside the distance?

 

Jack Britton?

 

Jimmy Wilde.

 

Britton was ko'd already in his 3rd pro bout - so it can't be him.

 

Wilde had just over 100 recorded pro fights (103 if I have counted correctly) before being stopped for the first time.

That's pretty good - but not enough to be the answer to this question.