Does Cooney take a prime Norton?

He was dropped in one of his early fights, against a man by the name of Eastlings and came back to win the very next round.

He was also hurt against Quarry, in that third round. The referee was actually moving in to stop the fight but backed off after Quarry's rally was successful and had backed Norton to the ropes.

The point I was making is that Norton only started freezing when he got hit with top-level power AFTER the Foreman bout. After being hit against Shavers, and Cooney, any semblance of a game-plan went out the window, and panic set in. This wasn't the case against Foreman. He was hit a fair amount but was undeterred and held his ground. He actually stood up to a huge punch that was a blatant foul. Yes he still ended up losing but that had more to do with his durability limits rather than a faulty gameplan, or him freezing up.

To put it in another way, Norton lost to Foreman despite his gameplan, he lost to Cooney and Shavers BECAUSE of his gameplan (or rather the absence of them) along with being past prime.

Does this mean he beats Cooney automatically? No. Cooney may very well have gotten to Norton's chin regardless, but he'd be in for a fight. No first round KOs here. There's not a single thing, Cooney did better than Foreman, who himself couldn't take Kenny out in the first. If Norton doesn't freeze up which I don't think he will, he has a solid chance imo. And no, I don't think he freezes against Cooney. He didn't freeze against the baddest mother****er around who'd dominated and decimated, the previous baddest mother****er around.

 

When I mean freeze I don't mean Norton being intimidated by Cooney like Spinks vs Tyson for example.

I mean he will freeze when he gets caught by a big punch from Cooney and that will be all she wrote.

I'm sorry Swag but in most of the scenarios in my head I see Norton being taken out by Cooney early most of the time.

A prime Holmes had to fight one of the most disciplined fights of his career to beat Cooney that shows you how dangerous Cooney was in his prime.

 

I understand your point. Our definitions of freeze are close enough, except I think that when Norton takes a big punch, he’s less likely to 'freeze' due to being physically hurt and more likely to experience panic, triggered by PTSD from the last time he faced such overwhelming power (Foreman).He objectively did not freeze against Foreman and as I stated, actually took some shots and held his ground.

Again, I'm not saying Cooney has no chance to win if Norton doesn't freeze up. He still has very viable paths to victory. I would just argue, Norton does as well.