Would Norton Have Stopped Ali In Their 1st Meeting Had It Been 15 Rounds ?

I highly doubt it, unless his corner threw in the towel.

 

Depends on when it was broke. Ali's team said it was as early as the 3rd round. Norton along with Futch were certain it happened in the 11th.
That's alot of pain to endure for a non title fight.

 

Imagine fighting ten rounds with a broken jaw.

 

Great question...and yes, I think he would have. Contrary to what the Ali worshipper have always said and believed, Norton didn't break Ali's jaw in round 1,...more likely in round 12....it was the round that Norton landed his hardest blows on Ali.

 

He didn't.

 

He wouldn't have stopped him, but each successive round would have been potentially cringe-inducing.

 

Trouble is it's not necessarily the hardest blows that cause such an injury. Marty Marshall broke Liston's jaw yet that same jaw survived much harder punches than Marty could ever conjure up.

It may have happened early, it may have happened later. Norton and Futch are obviously going to claim it happened late so as to make the victory look sounder.

The commentators were certainly onto something very early and a broken jaw was confirmed. I've seldom if ever seen commentators claiming such things yet they were validated.

 

Honestly, Norton would never stop Ali in a million years.

 

Excellent point. Rather co-incidental for that not to be related to the later confirmation of a broken jaw - it HURTS just saying it. Anybody here had a broken jaw? - not to dredge up previous trauma but if there’s anyone eligible, would they care to describe what it felt like?

 

Ain't that the truth. Even with a broken jaw there's just no quit in Ali.

 

I saw that fight live on ABC's Wide World Of Sports on Saturday, March 31 1973. I scored the fight for Ken Norton as much as I admire Muhammad Ali. As posted before, a friend of mine tried to get my Goad, he called and said your idol lost, then began to laugh, I plainly told him the better man won. There was dead silence, he said his mother or father was calling him, then hung up. But Ali himself said he did not train, I believe he ballooned up to 221 lbs, claimed he twisted his ankle swinging a golf club days prior to the fight, which was supposed to be a cakewalk, it certainly was not. In my own opinion, I think the jaw was broken in round 12, even Howard Cosell speculated that during the last round of the broadcast. Norton sure fought a very intelligent fight, deserved the victory. It was not Norton's fault that Ali did not train properly, Ali in his heyday of the 1960's as champion usually weighed 210 lbs. The only fight where he was bigger was against George Chuvalo on March 29 1966, he weighed 214 lbs. Carrying extra weight works against your stamina, is also very hard on the heart. That right hand that Norton struck Ali's jaw in round 12 was devastating, he then began to punch Ali around the ring. I know Dr. Willian Landeen, the physician who wired Ali's jaw said round 1, but I believe he was parroting several others. None the less, Ken Norton earned the victory in what would turn out to be a trilogy.

 

That is a good story!
However Ali weighed a bit more than 210 in several fights in the 1960's, but mainly his weight against Norton was not "ballooning". He was heavier in several comeback fights even before facing Norton--including 4 months before vs. Bob Foster. Almost th same weight later vs. Foreman, heavier still in Manilla-it was that he was untrained, softer, You can see his weights here... [url]https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/180[/url]

 

That could be. By the same token Dundee and Co would say that it happened early so that Ali would get praise for fighting 10+ rounds with a broken jaw..rather than the fact that he lost.

Looking at it Ali took alot of clean shots throughout that fight. If it was broken early it's insane that his corner didn't stop it. He would have gotten a rematch anyway.