Champion s Forever.

Yeah I used to have this back in the day. It's a great documentary

 

My grandpa had a copy, we used to watch it all the time.

 

Norton shouldn't have been on it, he never won the title just got it handed to him.

 

I think Norton def. deserved to be on there.

He beat Ali officially in one fight and, imo, was robbed of the win in the rubber match.

Also, even though older and past prime, he dropped a razor thin decision to Holmes.

Imagine if the officials (for the Holmes fight) afforded Norton was 1/50th of the favouritism given to Ali in Yankee Stadium - Ken would’ve easily retained his belt vs Holmes.

 

That vid came out back in the day when boxing footage was hard to come by - at least for me - so I definitely appreciated the vision provided.

Some time back, Phil Donahue also did a great television special involving Ali, Frazier, Norton and Holmes as guests.

 

100% disagree

 

I had/have this somewhere, can't remember if it was video or dvd. Great watch.

Frazier was slightly bitter during it but genuine as always, Holmes was cocky, saying he could have beat every heavyweight in history with the possible exception of Jack Johnson. Foreman was very humble and Norton was laid back, chilled. Ali, suffering from Parkinsons at this stage but still full of character and offered many wise words and wisdom. Him and Joe got a bit heated at one point. This is what I remember.

It was a great watch, fascinating insight.

 

Agreed .. to me he was 2 -0 - 1 vs Ali and the Holmes fight could have gone either way ...

 

The best part of that video which I had at one point was the additional segment where they filmed the guys eating together with Reggie Jackson interviewing them ... you saw the dynamics ... Frazier and Norton were buddies sharing inside jokes. Foreman was kind of aloof but very respectful to Ali ... Ali was already deteriorating and a bit zombie like and garbled to hear. Funny when Reggie asked Foreman about the first Frazier fight and asked the number of times he knocked Joe down Foreman didn't even remember the exact amount and when Reggie said six times George said something like that ... Holmes tried to be funny and was good spirited but you could tell Norton still couldn't stand him and never made eye contact with him even when Larry asked him a direct question. There is also a famous story not on tape that Joe started to drink at the meal and as the meal and the following photo shoot progressed he became dangerously agitated with Ali who made a playful joke at his expense about current hand speed. Larry first kept the peace by kind of staying between them but Joe kept on nudging and there was the threat he might snap ... when Foreman took notice he told Larry he'll take over and made sure Joe kept it cool and stayed almost as Ali's bodyguard. Larry recounts this in his book and said he was happy to let Big George handle it.

 

Best boxing documentary I have ever seen.

 

This documentary really got me into boxing as a 15 year old. Fantastic film.

 

I watched this documentary many times when I just started Boxing. I had the version with the dinner as well.

 

I never did think anything about Norton being in the video. I always just accepted it as a fact.

I actually met the guy that got Norton started in Boxing. I went to his hotel room with my trainer and Nortons trainer started making jokes at my expense putting up his middle finger asking me how many fingers he was sticking up, and joking to bring out the grease, because I was the only White Boy in the room. But after that he was cool. Saying something about marriage being teamwork I remember. Him and my trainer were talking because they were old friends.

 

I must have watched that vid rwo dozen times and could easily watch it two dozen more. And I think that Ken fits in pretty well.