He said he didn't lift much weights and it's a documented fact many old school boxers did not lift. It's in Rocky, Ali, and many other boxers biographies and training camps as well as interviews with trainers at the time. Norton has had many documented training camps and workouts, especially leading up to the Ali fights. Lifting heavy weights at 6'3 and 200+ lbs would lead to him becoming very slow and stiff and he wouldn't have the kind of insane stamina and workrate he had in the 70's if that was the case. It wasn't until the 90's that boxers started figuring out how to put on functional muscle while maintaining stamina. I have personally met guys who did not lift a lot who get shredded. If you don't think some guys are blessed with genes that help them put on muscle faster than others you have a lot of research to do.
Whole lot of nonsense. I never said Genes don’t help. I know for a fact you’ve never met someone who looks like Norton without lifting Lol. Lifting weights doesn’t make you stiff omg- and doing endless body weight exercises won’t do anything. This has nothing to do with Rocky or Ali who believable didn’t do much if any lifting lol. Have a look at Norton- Take a good look he didn’t develop his physique the way your citing or all the old school trainers there’s a reason true boxing trained fighters look lean but soft and average. He was a college athlete where they’d be readily offering PED’s and making him lift- he was a marine where they are more often then not all avid lifters lol- and he opened a chain of gyms in retirement he wasn’t exactly sheltered away from lifting or PEDs at all in his life. James J Corbett lifted, James J Jefferies and Sullivan- Jack Johnson performed strongman feats and there are many more lifting is everywhere. Nah- actually he had the greatest genes of all time and hit the bag- skipped a bit went on a run maybe shadow boxed with some weights right? Throw it all together he did a couple of sets of push ups on top of this. do you know how ridiculously gullible you’d have to be to think that’s what he did? I’m assuming you’re not very muscular because if you were you’d know how hard it is to actually look like Kenny.
I never said it was easy to look like ken. I am very muscular lol. You know "for a fact" I've never met anyone who looks like Ken? Tell me more about myself. And I didn't say Ken did not lift "at all", I said he didn't lift excessively or very heavy consistently. Learn to read. And yes, if you bulk up lifting very heavy weights you can become stiff, inflexible, and lacking stamina. You have to know what you're doing and do the right training. You do not need to look far in boxing history to see buff strong men who thought they could box and gas after just 2 rounds because they were too stiff. Larger muscles drain your oxygen rapidly if you do not train properly. For someone whose supposedly such an expert on weight lifting I'm surprised I have to explain this to you.
I can tell you’re neither a boxer nor muscular based on all the nonsense your spouting lol just stop.
I never said I was a boxer. You literally keep responding to things I never said. Try to actually read before responding next time because this is the 2nd or 3rd time you've talked out of your ass in this thread alone.
I have no idea whether anyone on this thread is muscular or not, and will not opine. The more relevant question is whether we have any examples of guys who look like Norton (1) whom we know never touched weights, and (2) who fought in the pre-steroid era. I can't really think of any. Maybe Sharkey? Jeffries is good sized, but doesn't look like Norton. Nor does Jeanette. Nor does Johnson who, as was pointed out, was doing strongman stuff anyway. Nor McVey, even, although once again he was very large. Cleveland Williams is technically post-steroids and was apparently lifting haybales to get bigger at one point in his career, and even he's not Norton sized. All that said, it may not matter, since it sounds like the differences between you gentlemen are actually fairly minor, despite the vehemence of your disagreement. You both agree Norton lifted. The issue is simply how much. Myself, I would lean toward him using them a fair amount. On the steroids issue, I will not comment, since I don't see any firm evidence.
When asked what he would have done differently as a fighter after he retired, Norton said, “Lift weights” If he’d been lifting all along, why say that? It’s not like he had secret training camps or workouts, if he pumped iron, we’d know it; he was a remarkably candid and intelligent man. He was a football player and track athlete in the 60s when athletes lifting weights was frowned upon for all the wrong reasons - we know better now, but the coaches back then didn’t. Didn’t affect his performance, his track coach entered him in eight events and he placed first in seven of them. That kind of genetic talent (and hard work!) can’t carry over to his physique? Some people just win the lottery …
If Norton was a slippery, notoriously unreliable character like some boxers are, I'd say that the motive to lie would be to present himself as so talented and naturally athletic that he didn't even need weights. But you're right -- Norton never had a reputation as deceitful or dishonest. So it would be odd for him to outright deny weight training if he was secretly lifting.
People lie. Are you going to believe Hershel Walker too? He was a genetic freak. claimed he just did endless push ups, ran and pull ups. He is an intelligent, candid man. C'mon man common sense.
If he believes Norton lifted why is it an issue anyway? He started on about getting jacked "In months" and started trying to talk down to me with all his little bro science facts. IMO The evidence is journeyman had started to use, they were widely available then and he was the most muscular boxer of the era.
True. You're probably stuck with some kind of circularity either way. And then there's the fact that, quite honestly, I doubt that all athletes who use steroids (or lie about their training) are vicious, deceitful jerks. Some of them are just generally honest men who lie on occasion. Depends how much initial suspicion you're going into it with, I suppose. I wonder -- what do you think about another possibility: that Norton weight trained for years throughout high school / college, but then dropped down to minimal weight training once he began boxing? If it's physically possible to maintain his mass that way, that would be consistent with what we know about boxing coaches back then (who hated weight training) and with Norton's own testimony. (A third, less likely possibility is that he secretly weight trained because his boxing coach was a traditionalist who hated weight training, and he didn't want to argue about it...)
We can never truly know. I have always maintained the idea he lifted in College for football, track ect and kept the lie alive by lifting in secret to create a bit of a myth about himself. He always stated he never lifted as a boxer and I think while he is an honest man he wanted to protect his image as a super athlete as lifting was quite regarded as a bit girly by some then- Charles Bronson and other stars used to tell the same lie "I was born this way" for fear of judgment.
Yes, the availability to journeymen is extremely suggestive, I agree. The biggest argument in Norton's favor (leaving aside reputation for honesty, burden of proof, etc.) Is the well documented antipathy that boxers had back then for weight training. I could believe easily that 70s boxers would use all sorts of potions, but they were almost allergic to weights.
