Ken Norton vs Muhammad Ali The Trilogy Your Scorecards

Don’t remember my cards. Anyways, Ali lost the first one because he was fat and partied with Elvis. Second one he won fairly by my eyes and the third one? It’s meaningless, shot Ali might’ve lost.

 

Fight 1 Norton 7-4-1
Fight 2 Ali 7-5
Fight 3 Norton 8-7

I thought Ken just about deserved the nod in the third bout but a lot of the rounds were close. Not the robbery it's sometimes portrayed as. My favourite of the trilogy was the second fight. Ali was awesome in that one.

 

Ali-Norton I - California scoring

Round 1: Ali
Round 2: Norton
Round 3: Ali
Round 4: Norton
Round 5: Norton
Round 6: Norton
Round 7: Ali
Round 8: Ali
Round 9: Norton
Round 10: Norton
Round 11: Ali
Round 12: Norton

Total: 7-5 Norton (In rounds and on points)

There was always the usual dispute of what the round the jaw-break took place. The Ali corner said it was the first round. The Norton corner said it was the 12th. But it was interesting to hear Cosell say in the 8th that there was something wrong with Ali's mouth and surmised it might be a broken tooth. Didn't remember that from the original telecast, so it could have taken place anywhere around mid-fight.

Ali v Norton II - California scoring

California scoring of one point for a round, 2 if there is a knockdown and no points for an even round.

Round 1: Ali
Round 2: Ali
Round 3: Ali
Round 4: Ali
Round 5: Even
Round 6: Ali
Round 7: Norton
Round 8: Norton
Round 9: Ali
Round 10: Even
Round 11: Norton
Round 12: Ali

7-3-2 in rounds but 7-3 on California point system for Ali.

Ali v Norton III - NY rounds basis

Ali-Norton fight in Yankee Stadium. Scoring on the NY rounds basis.

Round 1: Ali
Round 2: Norton
Round 3: Ali
Round 4: Norton
Round 5: Norton
Round 6: Norton
Round 7: Even
Round 8: Norton
Round 9: Ali
Round 10: Ali
Round 11: Ali
Round 12: Norton
Round 13: Ali
Round 14: Norton
Round 15: Ali

Total: 7-7-1 Draw

 

I just looked at our scores in comparison. Man, we are not off by much.

 

Good cards and it just goes to show they split one each and the third was extremely close that you could score either way.

 

1st fight was a clear Norton victory 7-5 at least
2nd fight was a close win for Ali 7-5
3rd fight was a clear Norton win 9-6
Ali's body language at the final bell in the 3rd fight was telling, he knew he'd lost.
As Foreman said about these two, he got a decision once , but in my mind Ali never really beat Ken Norton.

 

Here you go, @Dynamicpuncher - all three cards from when I scored these sometime in 2020/21:

Muhammad Ali v Ken Norton 1 and 2

Never scored these fights so thought I should rectify that.

Ken Norton v Muhammad Ali 1

Norton fought superbly well here, using his jab at range and then attacking the body when in close.

By the 10th, Norton had done enough on my card to win the fight and there was no doubt about the winner - not sure how one judge scored this to Ali.

1 10-9 (good opener)
2 10-9 (close)
3 9-10
4 10-9
5 10-9 (close)
6 9-10 (close)
7 10-10
8 9-10
9 10-9
10 10-9 (Norton bossing Ali)
11 9-10 (good recovery from Ali)
12 10-9 (Norton closes the show - a clear winner)

Norton 116-113 Ali

Muhammad Ali v Ken Norton 2

Much tougher to score and I can see the case for an Ali win here. I had 4 rounds close, including the 9th which I scored even but two of the other other 3 close rounds went to Norton on my card. Ali controlled the first half before Norton came on strong fron round 7 on.

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 10-9 (Ali more mobile than the first fight)
4 9-10
5 10-9 (close)
6 9-10 (close)
7 9-10 (Norton's best round so far)
8 9-10 (Norton is coming on now; Ali looking tired)
9 10-10 (terrific round -Ali toughs it out and trades in ring centre)
10 9-10
11 9-10 (close)
12 10-9 (strong finish from Ali - it had to be)

Ali 114-115 Norton

Muhammad Ali v Ken Norton 3

Oh my days. Their first fight was a clear win for Norton and the right result; their second fight was tight and could have gone either way - I had Norton by a round but no complaints about it going the other way; this though was a clear Norton win but somehow Ali was given the nod.

I don't like crying robbery usually as there's always a degree of interpretation and often close fights are called robberies unjustifiably. But this was a gift to Ali. I've seen it scored closer than I had it but there's closer and there is still the right man getting the decision. The right man did not get the decision here.

Ali started moving in round 9 and I can only assume the judges got misty eyed ('he can still dance!') and that swayed their opinion.
The main difference I saw between the two fighters apart from Norton just being busier than Ali was the weight behind the punches. Norton was throwing to hurt Ali whereas Ali's didn't seem to have much behind them. I thought Ali did well in the 11th and took a few close rounds, but honestly, this wasn't close as far as I'm concerned.

1 10-9 (close)
2 10-9 (close)
3 9-10
4 9-10
5 10-9
6 9-10 (Ali hurt by a left hook to the body)
7 9-10 (close)
8 9-10
9 9-10 (close. Ali dancing but Norton with best punch of the round)
10 10-9 (close again)
11 10-9 (better from Ali)
12 9-10
13 9-10 (best round of the fight)
14 9-10
15 9-10

Ali 140-145 Norton

 

As I say in my post above, fight one was a clear Norton win, fight two was tight and could have gone either way but Ali fought much better than the first fight. And fight three I made a clear win for Norton. The fact that @Dynamicpuncher and @scartissue had it so tight does give me some pause and I’d be interested to score it again to see if I had it closer but I was pretty emphatic about it when I scored it last year.

 

That's sounds about same as mine, Stevie.

 

By that logic Ali win over Sonny Liston is pointless because sonny was shot by than countless knee and shoulder injuries he also tried to get the first fight postponed but was threatened with a strip of his titles if he didn’t fight on the original date of the fight in ‘64

 

Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton I: 7-5 Norton
Ken Norton vs Muhammad Ali II: 7-5 Ali
Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton III: 8-7 Ali