Norton VS Ali II

Muhammad Ali won it on Set 10 1973, he was by far in better shape than in the first fight against Ken Norton on March 31 1973 where he weighed 221 lbs, he looked puffy. In the return bout, he weighed 210 lbs, and used better footwork, I scored it 7-5 for Ali.

 

I consistently have it as 6-5-1 to Muhammad. My favourite bout of their trilogy.

 

In the Champions Forever film,Ken said "The second fight could have gone either way. But the third fight,the one in Yankee Stadium,I thought I won"

 

I really enjoyed Champions Forever, I used to watch it on a regular basis. I did not realize how Ken Norton ended up, his speech was slurred but his style though awkward, had a lot to do with how he ended up at the end, just like Smoking Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, the same way. Only George Foreman spoke in a articulate manner, unaffected by time.

 

To me this was one of the last impressive Ali performances. He showed flashes of brilliance imo. I gave it to him by three points, but I can respect people seeing it closer. I definitely don't feel Norton won that fight.

 

Richard, actually Ken was pretty clear up until the horrific accident he was involved in. After that, the slurred speech, labored movement, etc.

 

Dead even until Ali stole the show in the last round. Norton himself admits the fight was super close and that he had a bad habit of not going all out in the final round.

Norton wasn't as busy as the 1st and 3rd fights and let Ali get away with way too much circling and jabbing. Ali won some rounds simply by being more active and landing a little more while Norton would sometimes just follow him around.

 

We could say the same thing about the Holmes fight I think. Ken let too many early rounds go imo.

 

I think all their fights were close but clear. The judges got this right but blew the third IMO.

 

I'm quite certain Norton was banging his head against the closet door for years after the Holmes fight. That could have cemented him as a top 10 HW and could have lead to huge paydays with other guys like Witherspoon, Weaver, Spinks, etc.

On an unrelated note, my neighbor back in 2014 said he went to high school with Norton's son, Keith Norton. He ran into Ken when he came to pick up his son and shook his hand. My neighbor was surprised at how huge Ken's hands were and how big Ken appeared before him (my neighbor was a big guy himself, and was about 6'3 and 240 pounds).

 

Ken had an excellent build. I love reading anecdotes like this.

 

Thanks my friend for the info, I did not realize that, it is really too bad, I enjoyed his interviews in the past. Must have been a really bad auto accident.

 

I remember Ken in the movie, Mandingo, he was very built for a heavyweight, not like today's fighter that have no muscle definition.