...do you think he would take the rematch? Kenny was his cryptonite and he did whatever he could not to face him for the fourth time. Would the thirst for revenge drive him to do that? Or an accolade to become a 3x champ?
If he did he would lose the 4th fight because Ali was heavily declining at that point in his career. And Norton still had plenty left in the tank as his performances vs Bobick, Young, Holmes, showed.
I think ego would have driven him to try but it would not have gone well. I've said multiple times here that I think Ali was the GOAT but Norton for whatever reason was simply kryptonite for him, although I am an outlier here in that I don't think the decision in the third fight was that big a travesty. Norton coasted to the final bell because he thought he had it sewn up and he should've known better and I don't think his corner served him well in not pushing him to finish with a final kick and leave no doubt. I don't think Norton ever had the pop to stop Ali but he'd have beaten him up if they'd fought again.
That 3rd fight fight in New York is a tough fight to score I remember the early rounds going either way and had Norton winning the later rounds. The second fight was close and I had Ali just winning it 6-5 (1). Norton's counter punching was always going to cause Ali problems. He trained the hardest he ever did in his career for the rematches against Norton and Frazier in 1973 and 1974. He trained extremely hard also for the second Spinks fight in 1978. After that Holmes and Norton fought for the WBC Heavyweight Title and de facto Heavyweight Championship in Ali's absence. Norton himself said after the Ali rubbermatch he wasn't the same and his heart wasn't in boxing anymore despite that he still acquitted himself very well for the Holmes fight. Ferdie Pachecho said " the real cut off place was Norton at Yankee Stadium" although Pacheo stayed on until the Earnie Shavers fight n 1997. This content is protected
Norton holding the lineal title could take teh lineage in some radically different directions. Evan a shot Ali was fairly consistent across the various boxing styles. If Norton gets past Ali in the fourth fight, or finds a way out of it, then all roads in the heavyweight division lead to Norton. Imagine a scenario in which Shavers won the title from Norton, and then all roads lead to him. That is only one of the possibilities.
Muhammad was definitely on the slide by this point. If Ken defends against Muhammad first,he wins fourth fight by a clearer margin on points. Ken would lose to Foreman again though.
Arum or King would have put a lot of $$$$$ on the table for bouts. And to get the result they wanted. So no immediate Ali rematch. The question is for what? Arum was digging up people for exhibition worthy type defenses. And I cam imagine DKP trying to get a Foreman rematch with Kenny. Boxing being boxing; I see a match with--drum roll please--Wepner. Went 15 with Ali and would be a softie defense for Norton. A bout nobody wants to see. This is the kind of thing we the boxing fans have been getting for decades.
No I think that would be it or he'd challenge Nortons successor to try and get the 3x. Mind went to that scene in the Foreman biopic where Ali wanted Foreman to get Norton out of the way for him a few years earlier. If Norton won the trilogy he wouldn't exactly be obligated to give Ali a 4th match anyway. One might say that Ali should have given Norton a 4th match because they felt Norton won the 3rd fight and that didn't happen. I think the 3x thing mattered more to Patterson because he lost his title the 2nd time much earlier in his career. Patterson being the "first" 2x champ had become the defining accolade of his career so it makes sense he'd care more about that.
