Supposing Leon Spinks had defended his title against Ken Norton...

Norton KO 5 Stinks in '78............

MR.BILL

 

Are we talking prime Norton or an inexperienced fledgling version tho? Norton improved vastly after losing to Garcia and indeed beat him up (in a decent fight) some 5 years later. Leon ain't fighting the Norton Garcia did initially.

 

Norton would decision Spinks, then beat Ali in a fourth fight, then lose to Holmes in late 78/early 79.

 

Garcia was around 20 years old, had been a middleweight just two years earlier, had two fewer fights, had been stopped in six by mediocre former middleweight Allen Thomas, and was a 5-1 underdog (as he should have been).

Ken was a full fledged heavyweight from the get go, an outstanding accomplished natural athlete, and again, was about to turn 27. If Garcia could do what he did to a physically mature Norton at this stage, Bob Foster might have killed Kenny as he nearly did Mike Quarry. (At this point in time, Bob was not adverse to beating up inferior heavyweights with Norton's inexperience either, as Cookie Wallace could attest.) Garcia-Norton I should never have happened.

Yes, Norton was vastly improved for the rematch, but the lazy Garcia had also regressed badly, despite still being only 25. Still, he actually had his moments, and lasted longer with Ken than he did with Bugner, Lyle and Alexander.

I'm not disputing that this early version of Norton was vastly inferior to later editions, but the nature of his loss to Garcia remains incredibly disturbing to me. Ken was dropped in the first round by a middleweight, and not a Hearns or Monzon caliber middleweight either.

He might well be the very best advertisement alive for Napoleon Hill and "Think and Grow Rich," but the chin was never really there. Examining his record, I find evidence for as many as 11 career knockdowns, about half of those early career knockdowns in early rounds by opponents who weighed under 200. Sure, he could get up to win, but he still had enough trouble with lighter opposition that I wouldn't dismiss Leon's chances on the basis of size alone. Mercado wasn't nearly as good as Ken, but he was bigger than Norton and a much harder puncher. (Norton simply didn't fight opponents under 200 pounds after 1972, but a good one may well have sprung another nasty surprise.)

Skill, experience and intelligence, not size or power, would have been Leon's biggest deficits against Ken. In that respect, the gap between the two would have been too much for Leon to overcome. Relentless swarming would not have worked with Norton, who had dealt with plenty of it in sparring with a peak Frazier on a daily basis.

 

Yes ... From the Yankee Stadium robbery in 76 through his title loss to Holmes in 78 ...

 

Norton wins.

 

I'll be back on this, ransacked my house for two mags i'd like to read and after sifting thru about 200 did not find the suckers. Must have put them aside.

 

You are not alone. Many seem to feel the same ... I'll rewatch it on youtube one of these days to get a recent perspective.

 

Take your time, JT. We've got a good dialogue going on this, and I'd expect nothing less from you than a quality response. (As I'll be recovering from a broken leg for the next several weeks, I can't rummage through anything, so I'd be more inclined to defer to whatever you can document.)

 

Sorry to hear that mate. How in the heck did that come about if you don't mind me asking.

I've got a couple of Eddie Futch interviews and i know he talks about the Garcia fight, i want to see what he said as i can't remember.