Inspired by the Norton vs. Louis opponents threads. How does he do vs: Bill Brennan Fred Fulton Luis Firpo Gene Tunney
Norton is about the worst nightmare for a slick boxer. Norton UD's Tunney and quite convincingly, maybe even stops him late. We have no footage of Fulton so who knows? Perhaps he could punch but he had a fragile chin. I would favour Norton to stop him. Brennan was sort of like a lesser Jerry Quarry. I think Norton is too strong for him. Fripo has the best shot as a puncher but he is far too crude IMO. Norton UD's him after surviving a few scary moments.
Norton beats Brennan Don't know about Fulton Firpo has a punchers chance Tunney has the best chance, but Norton typically did well vs boxers who didn’t have a big punch. He beat Ali once and arguably beat him twice and he ran a peak Holmes pretty close. Tunney didn't have the size of Holmes or Ali. Tunney in many ways was a 190 pound Holmes. He loses to Norton.
Honestly in a weird way I’d give the others a better shot at beating Kenny due to their power. Norton seemed to have the perfect fool for Gene
Sometimes I think Tunney's punching effectiveness gets rather underrated. He didn't toss thunder and lightning, but he could put a pretty steady tattoo on boxers trying to reach him, and had a nack for suddenly stepping in and catching them coming in, which was basically cracking them with some of their strength as well as his own. Reading Pollack's third Dempsey book, it does seem a general consensus that Tunney had become a punishing fellow to fight, even if he didn't throw bunker busters.
In what way is Norton the “worst nightmare” for any slick boxer? To begin with he never fought one, Holmes was not slick, Ali was not slick few boxing people who understand the meaning would agree with that statement… Conn was slick, Napoles and Pep too it’s not this stamp you get for being a good boxer as I at least understand it… but if you want to call them slick it’s fine just that Norton was never a “nightmare” for Ali, Holmes or Young he debatably lost to Young (fix rumours from boxing people also circulate noting Young’s lack of a body attack) Ali only lost when he was fat and Norton was just “a guy” when he was in shape and Norton was in shape Ali won but the third fight? The shot Ali after Manila STILL took Norton to the edge… Holmes beat Norton very clearly I really don’t know how to score it for Norton but if you did again it’s razor close… if he was this stylistic kryptonite why is it that he never got more then a razor close decision every time even against shot fighters and tier 3 guys like Young?
No evidence suggests that at all, all he ever managed against a Shot Ali and Young (potentially in cuffs) was razor thin decisions or debatable victories, in no way is he a “perfect” answer to any boxer if you want to see “perfect” look at Sanchez vs Lil Red look at Galaxy vs Moon or Holyfield vs Tyson.
Crude or not, I think Luis Firpo has the best chance of getting Ken Norton. Kenny beats all the rest of them.
Most likely 2-2. I’d favor Norton over Brennan and Fulton, but see him getting beat by Firpo and Tunney.
...now this thread has me thinking about Kenny v Dempsey...I'm betting recieved wisdom suggests Dempsey bombs Kenny out...but does he? I reckon Kenny beats all of the Dempsey opponents listed. Norton was stopped what, 4 times in a long career. Was he THAT chinny in reality? Two of those stoppages were against two of the heaviest handed fighters of all time. So now we have two losses by KO. Oh, and one of them was to Cooney, a prodigious puncher. So now we have the Garcia loss as his one 'dubious' KO. So, now we are talking about a guy who was blasted out by Foreman, Shavers and Cooney only. Chin doesn't look that bad now, does it? If Kenny gets out of the first three rounds, Dempsey has a long night....
Firpo and Brennan aren't on Nortons level. Tunney and Fulton would be very difficult for different reasons but lets say he goes 1-1 could beat them both or lose to them both. Dear lord you all are overrating Firpo. Hes better than Brennan but every elite HW of this period was better than Brennan. Firpos got a puncher chance against the green Norton who was nowhere near as good. Firpo knocked Dempsey down but otherwise that fight was a mauling. Firpos chin is nice and maybe goes the distance but no reason to think he'd win.
