Ali/Norton III - Classic's Thoughts?

The third Ali v Norton fight is a hard one to score on first view Norton looks in charge throughout. Closer analysis shows Ali keeping out of real danger and catching Norton with regular flurries. Neither man looks hurt and at the end they looked like they could have gone another 10 rounds.

It all depends on the style of boxing you prefer, people who favour pressure fighters reckon Norton was robbed, fans of pure boxers say Ali just did enough. Like Leonard v Hagler this is one that will be debated forever.

 

I thought Norton won it clearly, but I do tend to favour effective aggression and solid body punches.

 

Me too. Ali once thru a body punch back in 1965.

 

This is true, but i scored Norton the winner- and Leonard the winner. Even though perhaps most would either score Ali/Leonard & Norton/Hagler. The main reason being I felt Norton's aggression was more effective than Marvin's and that, like Leonard, he controlled the tempo of the fight and initiated the exchanges.

 

...in sparring against a midget- and it hit him in the face. :hey

 

I'll have to watch it again to see if I can see if "maybe Ali did enough", scoring is subjective.
But my natural inclination is to score most of the slower rounds to Norton, where he's applying constant pressure and slamming in hard body punches. Ali has to at least score equal amount of shots to take any of those rounds.

 

haven't recently watched these fights, but i think i initially felt like this one was the fight that was most clearly won by norton out of the three they fought. I think i saw the first one being very even, and the second one being for Ali (as it was scored). How much impact the rubber match and it's result had historically is debatable. You can certainly argue that Ali was certifiably over the hill and was perceived as such, and his most important victories were certainly in the bank already. Still, if he hadn't gotten the decision, he'd have been 1-2 overall against Norton, and he might very well have never regained the title, and his legacy might have been a little less great. Certainly Norton's would have been greater.
But overall in the grand scheme of things i don't think it would have made too huge an impact.

 

I THINK it was Red Smith of the New York Times who said:"If Ali won that fight last night...then the Japanese won World War II...

 

I watched that fight twice several years apart. Once with Ferdie Pacheco narrating and the other time with a different guy. Classic example of how the commentary can alter how you see the fight. With Pacheco, it seemed Ali won it with all those clean rights. The other guy emphasized Norton's aggression and made him seem to win.

 

I've only watched and scored it once, and I believe I had it 8-7 Ali. I thought it was really a very close match and could be scored for either guy depending on stylistic preference. Most of the rounds were fairly slow and extremely close, with Norton getting in a lot of good, thudding body shots on the inside and acting as the aggressor, while Ali landed more to the head and probably had the cleaner scoring. Neither guy really seemed to hurt the other at any time in the fight.

 

Norton won it. 9-6 is a good score. 10-5, 8-7,or 9-5-1 are all right. Bottom line is there is no way Ali won more than 7 rounds.

 

Take a look at Ali's face when the decision is announced in his favor. Is that the look of an elated winner? No it's not and for good reason, Ali knew he lost that fight as did everyone who was there that night. Norton was robbed plain and simple. The boxing world was'nt ready to go against it's number one cash cow quite yet. Losing to Spinks was one thing, everyone knew that Ali would win the title back in thier rematch. All he had to do was get in halfway decent shape. The boxing bigwigs new that if Ali lost to Norton, that would be it for Muhammed since he could'nt beat Kenny if they fought a 4th time. And with a young Larry Holmes on the horizon, Ali's chances would even be less. So let Ali keep the title for a couple more years before he becomes a completely shot fighter and shadow of his former great self and milk him for more millions against a string of non-entities until he's nood good to the boxing world any more. And we wonder how Ali got the way he is now?

 

Norton won the fight clearly IMO. In fact, I think Norton won all three fights against Ali and was robbed. The third fight vs Norton is one of Ali's famous gift decisions that unfortunately extended his career. I watched this fight numerously and have a hard time counting enough rounds that Ali won. A lot of people had invested time and a lot of money in Ali's career at that time, so boxing would have lost a huge revenue source. Still, I think the man should have retired after Manilla. There was no need for him to fight Spinks, Shavers, Berbick or Holmes.