Kidding aside I can say one thing for Firpo. He was a big man. I don't know what he was listed at but I remember seeing a publicity photo of an older Luis Firpo facing off with Rocky Marciano. He was the current champ. Ofcourse Rocky was smaller but it looked like a man vs child scenario. With Marciano looking up in semi amazment at the mountain that Dempsey tobbled over.
Any huge puncher has a very good chance of knocking Norton out. Norton could not fight backing up and his stance made it awkward for him to move side to side. More often than not he would back straight up to the ropes. Generally not good vs a great puncher.
I see Norton ripping up Firpo with that beautiful left, and I don't see Firpo landing a lot back due to Kenny's underrated defense.
Norton has a tendency to slap with an open glove. One of the reasons he did not hit as hard as he could have.
Total bullsh*t. Norton was KO'd twice anywhere near his prime. Once flukey by a 6-4 powerpuncher (who he later took huge shots from when he was 218) and once from one of the greatest offensive forces the division has ever known. You want to contend and tell me that means he folds beneath any huge puncher he faces? Be glad you aren't a lawyer. By the way, Kenny beat the greatest heavyweight of all time TWICE despite what the judges were leveraged into voting.
If Firpo didnt give Dempsey such a hard time in their legendary fight, not a single poster on this site would be picking him to beat Norton. Let's stop pretending people dont have an agenda here. They feel like they cant say Norton would school Firpo because that would somehow diminish Dempsey who is a precious "all time great". For the record, i would favor a prime Dempsey of the Willard fight to beat Norton 6/10 with his early ferocious blitzing style.
More lies but you can’t change it’s nature. If you lived through the times, you didn’t, it was well known, well understood Norton’s limitations. His style, stance made it very difficult for him to get out of the way from an opponent. Thus when pressured he would tend to back straight up against the ropes. Against the ropes is not where you want to be against a KO puncher. Not being able to move fluidly from side to side to avoid danger is not a positive attribute when facing huge punchers. He fought Shavers and Foreman and was totally obliterated by both very very early. Not being able to defensively box properly due to stance and style is the reason. Again very well known and understood during that time. Last time I looked Ali won 2 out of three from Norton. If you knew anything about the sport, and you don’t, the official decision decides the winner.
San Francisco Chronicle: “When he faced a hard puncher, his style worked against him. George Foreman took him out in two rounds, and Earnie Shavers and Gerry Cooney knocked him out in one. A weak jaw, a glass jaw, is nothing to be ashamed of. Most people don’t know if they have a weak jaw. A weak jaw is an inherited fact of life like a beautiful profile or height or shoe size.”
There should be a term for that--for when people overrate a fighter because he was a tough fight or an important win for one of their favorite fighters.
Heavyweight boxing of the 1970’s: “As long as Norton could move forward he could comfortably control the pace of a fight. However strong punchers, even those as frail as Garcia who could back Norton up could nullify his offense”.
Commonopponentitis. You dont see Liston fans claiming Marty Marshal would be this amazing h2h monster who would school Mike Tyson. You dont see holyfield fans claiming bert Cooper knocks out Wladmir Klitschko. You dont see Ali fans claiming Henry Cooper demolishes Tim Witherspoon. You dont see Tyson fans claiming James Quick Tillis would box circles around Anthony Joshua. This seems to only be a problem with opponents who gave "all time greats" problems pre 1960's. Coincidence...?