What's Your Thoughts on Kenny Norton?

Yes I get that, I just don't have much faith in Bakole after the Parker shocker. Looked pretty bad against Jagba too. Norton lived the life and Bakole certain does not. I mean Norton has his issues with punchers but do we believe every fat out of shape puncher with no stamina beats him? Because I don't. As soon as you're out of breath in boxing, your hanging on to your life

 

What are the best examples of his commentary?

 

He did color commentary for the 3rd Ali-Frazier fight--that's one I can think of right off the top.

 

Not an ATG, a measure below but an excellent fighter all the same.

 

I always liked Ken. I rate him in the top 5 heavyweights of the 1970s and would have been a handful in any era.

 

Love how AJ would knock out Norton and nobody takes into account how awful AJs chin was lol.

 

Good fighter in my book. His major fault seems to be his vulnerability to big HW punchers.

 

I mean, if I’d trust anyone to give me a solid analysis of what Ali was doing, it would be Norton.

 

Norton wasn’t a huge puncher. I’d be far more confident in AJ surviving a few bombs from Norton than the other way around.

was Norton a better fighter than AJ? Hell yes. But he did seem to have a chin issue, and AJ has top tier power.

 

Was Ruiz a top puncher? No he isn't. AJ has a horrible chin.

 

I don’t read Ajagba as being that bad a performance. It’s clear that Bakole will have issues with movers because he’s the size of a battleship. Ajagba was moving great, landing some nice shots, seemed to hurt Bakole some.

Bakole could have lost his cool and panicked, could have withered under the adversity. Instead he went beast mode bully and Ajagba spent the rest of the fight trying to pitty pat and run.

What I saw was some warrior heart in the face of adversity. By the end, Ajagba was beat to hell, looking hurt and tired, and Bakole seemed completely fresh and uninjured.

Did I see problems? Hell yes. He needs to drop 40lbs, needs to work on his defense. But I did see the warrior heart there. And I still think that anybody who will stand in front of him, or who he can corner, is going to be in trouble. He’s got decent cardio for his size (compare him to Zhang! way, way better gas tank), and his offense still looks potent.

 

ok, so one guy with a glass jaw and a medium punch vs a guy with a glass jaw and a top tier punch. I still bet on AJ.

AJ is a two-time HW champ. He’s not some B-level fighter.

 

Kenny's standing suffers due to being bombed by Foreman and Shavers (and Cooney at a smaller level).

Sure those defeats look bad. But lets be honest, 99% of boxers around would go down like a bag of coal if caught flush by George or Ernie.

Kenny's vulnerability to all time big punchers has been overblown to the point that it is freely assumed every and any journeyman with a punch beats him. The "Oh, XXX has a punch, so he beats Kenny per sure" is way overdone by now.

 

I rate him as a third-tier great. He was 1-4 against other great fighters, but the two losses to Ali and the loss to Holmes were close enough that he could have been 4-1, or at least 3-2.

The real problem is that he didn't do great against other punchers.

It is also a problem that he was a titlist without ever having won a title fight, but then again, if you feel he beat Ali...

I think he's there with names like Bowe, Schmeling, Walcott...

 

Agreed.

I also think the perceived stylistic advantage that Norton took into fights against the likes of Ali and Holmes is also overdone.

If he couldn’t be bombed out, there were quality, broadly applied features to Norton’s game that would and did give many good fighters a lot of trouble.

Though not a KO artist per se, Norton could punch very hard, particularly when he was tracked on to letting his hands go.

I believe Cobb said that a least one single shot landed by Ken was up there with the best he took from Shavers.

Finally, it seems easy for some to forget that Norton was already 29 and 30 yo for the first Ali fight and rematch respectively.

Back then, Norton was fibbing about his true age, undercutting himself by 2 years (passing off a 1945 YOB). His true age didn’t come to light until after his career finished.

For his last fight, Ken was listed as 35 yo for Cooney when in reality he was just 3 months shy of turning 38 yo.