Eh- Norton benefits from Ali being older and out of shape twice, nearly losses to Young. He did make a worn, some call shot Quarry into mince though... Kenny was smashed by the three biggest punches he faced with ease age or no he took the shots and was crushed. It wasn't like he got a chance to show his age nor was he ever elusive his defence was swiss cheese and he was easy to cut the ring against the Ls to the punchers showed he was fragile worse and smaller then Kenny survived longer so cry me a river. unless you were cut from the cloth of Ali and Holmes he was pretty Hot and cold, You know those guys who relied on the one punch that made Norton shine, couple that with So-so power and a bit of a negative style and Kenny looks great but take it to him, well?
He nearly lost to Jimmy Young whom was no great wiz like he is made out to be. He was easily beaten by an injured Holmes contrary to popular belief. The first win over Ali was the result of an older, fatter, bored guy coming in with supreme confidence look at Kens record before Ali-1 he was a lamb. The second time Ali won with relative ease IMO. The third is up for debate but Ali could have retired before then and no one would have blamed him he was shot a year away from nearly losing to the great Earnie ****ing Shavers lol. Those three punchers had smaller, weaker and lesser men then Kenny beat and survive them. No excuses it was not a one off thing it showed he could not handle the pressure or power he had no chance to show his age he was simply crushed all three times and never adapted his tool kit.
I say Norton won III, but it does not bother me that you think otherwise. Like you say it was close, and I agree. However, regardless of if Norton beat Ali twice and Holmes once, we all know that Norton gave them some of the toughest fights of their careers. Actually though, I must agree. Although Norton has a fair record imo, it is lacking for a ATG HW.
First fight Ali was sleeping w two prostitutes minutes before the fight lol he def wasn’t ready. I was doing a top 20 list after this Norton def doesn’t make that and I don’t think he makes top 30 either but it would be close and depends how you judge I guess
A tremendously talented fighter, but fell very short against world class punchers. I would have liked to have seen Norton vs a post Manila Frazier in 76. I think Norton could have possibly decisioned him, and it would have been a much more competitive fight than Frazier's rematch against Foreman.
We have a non-fan of Kenny Norton here lol. I agree to disagree. Norton put up an excellent fight in the 2nd Ali (some people, including Foreman, thought he won that fight), and I'm surprised anyone would think he didn't win the 3rd. Put it this way, Ali himself admitted Norton unequivocally won that 3rd fight...do you realize what it took him to admit to something like that? He went years saying he won the first Frazier fight. I'm not sure too many people can hold the Shavers and Cooney losses against him. He was obviously past it. However, granted, he just didn't do that great against heavy punchers as a rule. Fair is fair. No disrespect intended.
There is a lot of circular reasoning that goes into the Ali story: Fighter A is great because he fought Ali, and Ali is great because he fought fighter A, who is great. Kenny Norton is probably the greatest beneficiary of this logic, though "young Foreman" is hot on his heels.
I do have to give Ali the second Norton fight, though imo it was pretty close. It might have been the last time Ali showed flashes of his 60s style for any significant lengths of time. At times he looked terrific. Still, Norton was just all wrong for him. Just really different and in some ways outright anathema. He had a terrible time trying to even hurt Kenny, which was unusual for Ali. The cross-arm defense and Norton's somewhat unique jabbing style totally foozled him.
I think Ken won the third fight don’t know where you got that from said it was up for debate in his favour against a shot Ali it shouldn’t be up for debate. Lol I would like to see a card for 2 where Ali losses. He can say one thing and believe another it’s Ali’s style he always has been a pompous hypercritical jerk with no charisma but the card I have says Ali won pretty soundly. His career defining moments are as follows a win over fat Ali as a huge underdog meant to be destroyed. A prepared Ali handled him well the second time quite soundly despite being again an older man. The third fight Kenny officially lost to a shot Ali. That’s his career in a nutshell besides a win* over Young. Losing to an injured Larry Holmes. A win over a worn out Quarry And an avenged lost to a nobody and three crushing losses to the only men who could punch on his resume.
Lol as I mentioned, you're a non-fan of Ken Norton. Nothing wrong with that, we all have our favorites and...not favorites To each his own. Cheers!
I think Kenny fought quite a few guys who were stylistic poison for him. This seems to hurt his legacy.
Yes Ken was indeed a superb fighter. Let's get it in perspective - In 1973 he defeated then lost by a hairsbreadth against a still highly dangerous Muhammad Ali. Ali was yet to produce,arguably,his greatest ever victory the following year. Then five years later he ran Larry Holmes close on the cards - a guy whom a lot of fight fans would include in their all time top 3 heavyweights.