Sincerly yours Ferdie Pacheco, and the rest of Ali's family. 17 out of 20 writers saw it for Norton. That doesnt indicate a close fight.
The Unofficial AP scorecard had it 9-6 Ali; unofficial UPI scorecard: 8-7 Norton. Also their was a Program on CBS where 10 boxing experts including Pep, and Louis scored the fight. After tallying everyone's score the result was a draw. Of course it was close, regardless of who you had the winner. Don't be ridiculous.
I'm starting to think that most of these posters who said Norton won it clearly are just repeating a cliche and haven't actually watched the fight.
Where are you getting this "17 out of 20" figure? The UPI roundup of press scorecards shows an even split. https://news.google.com/newspapers?...BInAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UwMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1189,2637077
Can't believe 7 pages on this thread without a scorecard. OK, I will be the target. I scored this bout a week ago and posted it on the scorecard thread. hadn't seen it since '76 when I watched it live. Here is what I wrote upon re-reviewing it. Getting around to hitting all the controversial fights I can. And few more controversial than this. The 1976 Ali-Norton fight in Yankee Stadium. Scoring on the NY rounds basis. Round 1: Ali Round 2: Norton Round 3: Ali Round 4: Norton Round 5: Norton Round 6: Norton Round 7: Even Round 8: Norton Round 9: Ali Round 10: Ali Round 11: Ali Round 12: Norton Round 13: Ali Round 14: Norton Round 15: Ali Total: 7-7-1 Draw Actual scores - 8-6, 8-7 and 8-7 all for Ali. Damn close fight right down to the wire
Yep. Norton won a lot of his rounds clearly. Ali edged a lot of his. I think that's where a lot of the controversy comes from.
I had it coming down to the 15th which Norton ADMITTED he gave away. "In the third fight, after Slayton told me I had it in the bag, I took my foot off the gas, I let him land away, and I gave away the fight. My corner was wrong, the fight was close, and I gave it away when they told me to take it easy the last round."
Can't find it now, but last I saw the majority of writers at ringside gave it to Ali, actually. The American writers were for Norton, but on the whole Ali was given the decision by reporters.
I've scored it narrowly for Norton the times I've scored it, but a very close fight for me. I think there's often an exxagerated drama with Ali fights. The Young fight is also held up as a robbery by many, while I also found that a close fight that was hard to score. And Norton 2 and Jones are seen as could have gone either way, while I think they were more of the close but clear variety. Could be me that's partial to Ali, but there is a lot made out of many Ali fights, so maybe not only me.
I dug mine out of my boxing filing cabinet. Darn close to yours. The only difference was I gave Ali the 7th. We evidently look for similar things when scoring. I would have loved to have been an official scorer in boxing matches. I guess that priority was always in the back seat to other things going on in my life, some by design, and some forced.
10 out 12 of British reporters scored it for Ali, so he seems to have been favoured over all. And if we're going to talk about bias, it should be said that Dick Young and Red Smith, that had the perhaps widest scores in favour of Norton, were perhaps the two most known Ali critics among the press throughout Ali's career.
I tend to agree with your verdict going on my thoughts whenever I've watched this one - Norton edges Ali out. Ken had maintained his form from their second fight while,sadly,Muhammad had not. Interesting,though,that Ali's opponents always seem to get the benefit of the doubt in most of the really closely scored ones while Joe Frazier's first bout with Oscar Bonavena and George Foreman's first go with Gregorio Peralta don't get diccussed as often and they were just as "Rizla paper" close. George and Joe's "Doug Jones" moments.
