Does Anyone Here Feel Norton was Robbed VS Holmes?

Been awhile since I've seen it, but I scored it by one point for Holmes, in spite of the fact that I thought Norton took the last round.

Am I the only one who thought he did enough early to take the 15th? :huh

 

June 9, 1978

Caesar's Palace

Through 14-Rounds, all the judges scorecards tallied 133-133
Harold Buck, Lou Tabot and Joe Swessel

Most observers had Larry Holmes winning 4 of the first 5 Rounds, and the Judges
scorecards were marked exactly that way.

But Kenny Norton got the wheels going in Round 6, and carried 5 of the next 6 Rounds.

Larry Holmes, rallied, and had a good 12th Round to even up the bout.

In Round 13, Kenny Norton was having a good follow-up Round, until he got nailed by
a big right hand from Larry, which staggered Kenny. Larry tried to put in the finisher
on an almost out-on-his-feet Norton, but Larry could not find one more bomb.

Amazingly, in Round 14, Kenny pulls himself together, showing the Heart of a Champion,
and comes back from the 'abyss', and on strength and desire, Kenny wills himself to
batter Larry, and he shakes the Challenger with his own heavy assault.

To his own credit, Larry was hurt in the 14th Round, and almost looked like he wanted
to quit, as he could not hold off the hard-driving Norton. But, Larry dug down deep and hung in there.

Later, it was revealed, that Larry had torn a bicep muscle in his left arm, diagnosed 6-days
before the bout.

Worried about cancelling the fight, and losing a much needed $500,000 pay-day,
Larry Holmes against his Physicians wishes, goes through with the Championship bout.

Both fighters showed an incredible amount of strength and will, and proved to all, that
no one can measure a fighter's heart when trying to win a Championship.

 

Totally agree.

I watched just the first eight rounds and had Larry winning everyone.

I just thought that Kenny must have one the next seven.

 

not unreasonable. tough round to score

 

How history would have changed,,,,,,,,,if Kenny Norton had gotten the Decision.

Most likely, an 'easy defense' in October 1978, versus Alfredo Evangilista.

Then, onto, Ossie Ocasio in March 1979.

Both bouts, Kenny most likely would have won by early-to-mid round Knockouts.

Then, the obvious, a bout with former Champion Leon Spinks, most likely in June 1979.
Which I believe, Norton would still have been too much for 'Neon Leon'.

The rematch with Larry Holmes, wouldn't have happened until September 1979,
and only if Larry had kept winning.

Unless, Larry wandered over to the WBA-Elimination Tournament.

 

Would have been interesting to see how much DKP would have supported Larry if he lost to an independant like Norton. I think he drops him to the bottom of the heap and pretty much zero opportunities and time goes by.

It was far more important for Holmes to win that fight than Kenny. Don't you think Arum would have gotten Norton to go to South Africa for a big fight, instead of waiting for Tate to do it? That would have been a nice fight as well. but Kenny had to dig real deep in that Holmes fight and the old heavies seem to do that about 1 time only.

 

I'll be the first to admit to having Norton as the victor. I had it 144-141. Though I disagree with the verdict, I wouldn't vehemently protest the eventual outcome as it was closely contested throughout. I often think that Kenny's bodywork is criminally overlooked, and this leads to widely contentious fights with what would be stylistically advantageous opponents for him.

 

Kenny got paid $3,700,000 as his fight purse versus Larry Holmes.

No 'robbery' there.

Foolishly, did not sign a 'pre-fight rematch agreement'.

In a pre-fight interview, he thought Larry Holmes and his jab would be a 'deterrent' for
5 or 6 Rounds.

'I will concede the early rounds of the fight, as I will let Larry jab himself out,
then, I will wear him down with body shots, and take away his movement'.

'By Round 10, he will be standing still, and after that I will make my move.
That is when I will take him out, in Round 11.'

'I've got a good fight plan, and if I follow it, I will win big.'

 

No doubt to you but to the vast majority that judged it that fight has always been one that could have gone other way and was razor thin ... Norton without question dominated the second half of the fight and far more than Ali did anything with his jab, run and hold routine in the first half ... as George Foreman said in Champions Forever, "I'm not sure Ali ever defeated Kenny Norton." He was right ...

 

Ive always been puzzled by those who think this is a great fight and/or a close fight. Holmes outboxed Norton most of the fight with his left barring a handful of competetive round and a few action packed ones. This was a fairly easy fight to score and while I dont remember how I scored it Id say 10-5 at best in favor of Holmes is being fair and maybe even generous to Norton.

 

If I remember I had Holmes by 3 rds or so.

 

Watched this again over the weekend. No chance this was a robbery. I think Holmes took it 10-5 or maybe 11-4.

 

Interesting fact about that June 1978 bout.

Ken Norton was supposed to win, over Larry Holmes.

And Jimmy Young, who was ranked the #1 WBC Heavyweight was supposed to win
his 'tune-up bout' over 'undefeated but unranked' Ossie Ocasio.

This was to 'set-up' the Ken Norton vs. Jimmy Young II Championship Bout for
November 1978.

Larry beats Ken, Jimmy Young gets upset -------------enter Alfredo Evangilista for
the 'first defense', as the Spaniard had won '9 in-a-row' since his performance versus
Muhammad Ali in 1977.

 

I just dont think enough people have watched the full rounds. Holmes banked far too many of the first 10 rounds for it to be that close.

 

IMO Larry clearly won the fight. Going into the last round, my buds and I, at the time, had Larry ahead only needing to survive the 15th. What a great final round! We all thought Larry didn't think Ken could hurt him at that point and, rather stupidly in our opinion, went out toe to toe in the last round. As it turned out, he was right. I remember us being on our feet in the last minute as Larry was counter-bombing Kenny with shots.
Also, IMO, had they rematched in 6-9 months, Larry would have stopped him at some point.
My $0.02