How did Norton get stopped by 188 pound Garcia?

Norton was 27 at the time, so in his physical prime. And he had a 20 pound weight advantage in that fight. Garcia wasn't exactly a Dempsey or Marciano in punching power, both of whom were in the 180s. It gave me pause when considering how Norton would even do against Bob Foster.

What gives?

 

I believe he was very raw in skills, in his book he had the cliche "I was underprepared, and after that fight, I never underestimated anybody ever again.". This fight was also before he implemented the cross guard.

 

As already mentioned Norton was still very rough around the edges. Needed to improve his game. And I’ve also heard that he had stamina issues early on

 

The same reason George Chuvalo lost to a creaking Bob Baker or Jerry Quarry losing to an elderly Eddie Machen or the veteran Howard Davis holding Meldrick Taylor to a draw. They were young and still learning.

 

Was Machen really elderly?

 

On a side note, Jose Garcia wasn’t that bad of a fighter. He rose to being the WBA’s #2 contender around 1973 or so

 

I think the general gist of his reply was that Machen was past it and that lots of young fighters were upset by guys they shouldn’t have been.

 

I heard Ken Norton first picked up the gloves at 23 years old, so he could’ve still been very inexperienced in that fight, then maybe it all suddenly clicked soon after that loss (within a year or 2) would be my guess.

 

Eddie had been fighting for 11 years going into the Quarry fight, was 1-4-1 his last 6 fights, was 34 years old and less than a year from retirement. Well-chewed, but pulled one off at the expense of a young kid.

 

First of all Garcia could really crack. In the rematch, far past his best, Garcia still looked dangerous early. Norton always had a shaken chin. He was dropped three or four times in bouts before the Garcia loss. Against Garcia he was young and got caught. He got better and fought very few punchers.

 

Norton said in his book that he took Garcia very very lightly, that he was overconfident, even Eddie Futch was warning him about his attitude going into the fight.

 

I believe it’s unfilmed yeah?

 

What's there to wonder about? He always had a weak chin. Calling it inexperience is grasping at straws.

 

Add Jacinto Fuentes holding Wilfredo Gomez to a draw and Antonio Becerra beating Salvador Sanchez to that list.

 

He has a book out called Going the Distance, I recommend it.