Caracas Foreman Versus MGM Grand Holyfield*

He avenged his loss to Garcia and was a shot fighter when he got knocked out by Shavers and Cooney

 

36 for Shavers, 38 for Cooney. Boxers aren't like wine. They don't improve with age.

 

Jose Luis Garcia was 27 when Kenny avenged his defeat and stopped him. If Garcia was washed up at 27 what does that make a 36 and 38 year old Kenny? And around that time Kenny looked desultory at best against journeyman Scott LeDoux. Oh, and he didn't look particularly great against Cobb either.

 

I don't know who I would favor. Styles favor Earnie. I just reject the notion that he lost his bouts against Garcia, Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney because he was frightened. And the first Garcia fight went 8 rounds. If he was frightened he wouldn't have lasted that long.

 

You're correctly pointing to a technical and stylistic weakness. Kenny's whole style depended on coming forward. He couldn't fight on the backfoot. Freezing to me suggests he lacks courage. I don't think the ex-Marine was lacking in character.

 

You're seeing it right. His clinching game was non-existent. Because of his unusual cross armed defense and spring forward style he was the recipient of clinches and not the initiator. That style is not conducive against sluggers like George, Earnie, and Cooney. You also have to factor in he was on the back nine of his career after the grueling Holmes fight. He didn't look great against LeDoux and Cobb who were fringe contenders at best. If my memory is correct he got beat up pretty badly by LeDoux.

 

The decline of Ken Norton. At 34, he lost a hotly contested split decision to Larry Holmes when he was really coming on in the fifteenth and final round. That was the last time we saw him as an elite fighter. The Shavers fight was when alarm bells went off. Against Holmes, Kenny could eat right hands and sustain pressure of his own. Against Earnie, the first time Earnie landed seriously, Norton had no recovery phase at all. His margin of error was essentially zero. This is a good time to mention he was 35 years old and had fought a combined fifty-four rounds against consensus heavyweight all time greats Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. He then fights a split draw to journeyman/fringe contender Scott Ledoux, where he is beaten up badly, getting dropped twice in the tenth round. Contemporaneous accounts said he was done. He then wins a desultory split decision against Tex Cobb. The end- Cooney obliterates the ghost of Ken Norton. Saying Gerry Cooney beat the real Ken Norton imo is as absurd as saying Kevin McBride and Danny Williams beat the real Mike Tyson. "Old fighters don't paint great canvases. They become part of them."