Both fought in 1978, and it was one of the best heavyweight fights of all time. Ken Norton was a bit past his prime in this fight. Larry Holmes was a bit inexperienced at the elite level and he didnt even hit his prime when he fought Norton. You could say that Holmes was much closer to his prime, than Ken Norton was, but then again, according to Holmes, he injured his left bicep 5 days before the fight. As we can see both weren't 100% for their fight in '78. How would a fight go between prime versions of both of them in a 15 round fight? Ken Norton in '73 was, imo, a bit more explosive, faster and had better stamina with a better workrate. Would prime Ken Norton be able to beat a prime Larry Holmes? Im picking Ken Norton by a close UD, but Holmes definitely has an excellent chance of winning it.
Holmes UD. He'll out jab Norton and the Holmes of 82 was sitting down more on his punches. He had a very hard fast rt hand behind that jab that he could throw strait or club you behind the ear. His rt uppercut was also in use more by then which he through very hard and sneaky and at times set traps with it. Despite his age I thought it was one of Nortons best performances. IMO it was better than his third against Ali in 76 and probably better than his second against Ali also. Can't see any version of Norton winning. Just because he gave Ali fits doesn't mean he automatically gives Holmes fits. If you watch the first fight without Cossell on Holmes won it handily by 4 or 5 rds with a tear in his bicep which I believe is pretty well documented and also confirmed by Arcel who said he was also treating it every night besides the Doc.
Nothing between them and either result can be argued reasonably but not overly strongly. Norton was most certainly past his finest form of around 73 tho still quite handy and Holmes got a bit better afterward as well. I would say they would swap wins in a trilogy and either could emerge victorious. In a fight against a peak Holmes Norton would know better than to start slowly expecting (then unproven over 15) Holmes to run out of gas so he take advantage later. It would be a grueling fight between two warriors battening down all the way. FOTY candidate near every time type of stuff.
Still a close fight. By 82, Holmes was pretty much his best version and Norton was the same in 73. Another great battle where we see both really going for it. I just belive Holmes beats most at this point in his life and that includes Kenny. But if Norton did get a decision, I don't think there'll be chants of Robbery.
Sure would have been a great fight! To me Holmes didn't start declining until Witherspoon (which on my card he won by two points anyway). I can see Larry coming closer to a TKO against Norton than he did in the first fight, but still having difficulties. No doubt in my mind he'd win more obviously in this match up, especially without the torn bicep.
This is one of my favorite fights of all time. Absolute nightmare to score the first time. I'll go with Kenny by razor thin decision as he would've started heating up earlier rather than the 77' Norton who was much more passive and didn't start up the offense til the 5/6th round.
Holmes and Norton will always be a close fight but logically you'd have to think a younger version of Ken would be harder for Holmes to take. I lean towards a younger Norton but there's really no wrong answer here.
I'm wondering if the folks who are picking Norton are forgetting Holmes' biceps injury in the first fight. Not to mention that, despite the injury he dominated the first five or six rounds handily. To this day I believe that, had Larry not had the injury he would have stopped Kenny in the late rounds. I can see how the bicep discomfited the hell out of him during the fight, and kept him from keeping Norton further away. Of course, we are considering a prime Norton, who was faster with better reflexes. That's a significant factor. But the Ali he beat sure wasn't prime Holmes, torn bicep or not.
That would have been amazing. I could see Holmes stopping him in one out of the three fights. The uppercut would have become a debilitating factor for Ken.
