Ali-Norton 3 revisited

I've got the fight on tapes' galore.............. ESPN loves to air this all through the year for reasons' unknown to me..........

Ali was age 34 and 221 pounds in 1976 against the chisled 217 pound Kenny Norton...... Both were fit to fight at Yankee stadium....... However, the fight was a letdown and dull, in my book..........

In reality, Ali and Norton's style didn't really mesh all that well..... I generally get bored reviewing parts of all three fights of the series......... Why? No KO's, knockdowns or even cuts to add excitement and thrills....... Aside from Ali's cracked jaw in fight # 1, little else called thrilling ever materialized.......

39 rds of tactical boxing at best.........

Okay, Okay......... Ali still gets the nod from me in his scrape with Norton at Yankee stadium by a **** hair.......... It was close, but I favored Ali.......... Norton whacked-off in round 15........ BIG MISTAKE!!

MR.BILL

 

Norton hurt Ali to the body early. It was not one of Ali's more stellar efforts but, as Mr. Bill stated, Norton decided to do nothing in the 15th and sit on a lead he obviously thought he had built up. As Ali said, Norton had no prestige next to him. The judges were not giving the fight to Norton in a tactical fight with many razor-close rounds. The last round sealed Norton's fate imo. The fightn was up for grabs and Ali nicked it in the 15th.

 

Ali was still the market and money man in 1976......... The politics surrounding the fight at Yankee stadium were / was aware of all that, too...... If Kenny Norton thought he'd get special treatment in a close fight, Norton was indeed on dream-land breathing the thin air too deeply....

PLUS! By late 1976, the boxing world was lickin' their chops for "Ali-Foreman 2" much more so than "Ali-Norton 4" for 1977..... In a way, I am glad NEITHER fight materialized in 1977.........

"Ali-Evangelista" sucked ass in '77, but Ali's fight with Ernesto Shavers was the right on, man.......

MR.BILL

 

I agree with you. I had Ali winning the last round and the fight by a 8-6-1 margin. I scored that fight recently and watched it close, some rounds watching more than once.

 

Norton landed the harder, more effective punches in the 15th round, and he was also the aggressor. I can't see how Ali won the 15th. He danced around flicked jabs, but did they even score?

 

I did see Norton stalking Ali in round 15, but I didn't see him landing ****..... The flicking jab of Ali's is what stole / took the round and the win.....
:deal

MR.BILL

 

I enjoyed the fight. I thought it was a good scrap but a lotof rounds were difficult to call. I did the exact same as the thread starter and watched it a few weeks back with the intention of giving Norton any break going and ended up giving it to Ali 7-6-2. I think its pretty universal that Ali stole the 15th as, like you said, Norton did a lot of stalking but not enough punching

 

Ive only ever seen highlights of this fight, I thought most seen Norton as the winner, the consensus seems to be that Norton got robbed from what Id read & heard before.

For the record, I scored fight 1 to Norton & fight 2 to Ali.

 

Norton won the 15, and the fight. Ali did not deserve to win this fight. 9-6 for Norton is a good score.

 

A good case for Norton winning is made on the basis of Ken's workrate over the closer rounds. It was hardly a robbery though,as a lot of people have made out over the years. Muhammad did enought to make it close,shopworn as he was. This was probably the dullest fight to watch out of their trilogy. My favourite will always be the second fight. Norton probably entering his overall prime,and Ali was at his 70's best. Good action packed fight. Came down to the wire,with Muhammad pulling out all the stops to take the last round.

 

Full fight has been on Youtube for a while!

 

I saw a replay of the fight in its entirety on regular broadcast television, about 15-17 years ago. About the only thing that I can remember was how unimpressive Ali looked at this stage. But frankly, I don't know if either man did enough to warrant being called the winner in a decisive fashion.. This was one of those close bouts where the victor could have been decided depending on one's individual judging criteria. A draw might actually have been a fair verdict... At any rate, Ali's doctor Ferdie Pacheco apparently felt that Ali had lost the bout, and while I have no source, someone mentioned a some time ago, that Ferdie had a heart to heart with Ali after the Norton fight, in effort to try and get him to retire...

 

Actually, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco sounded like he was wetting his pants during the 15th round commentary he did as an overdub for ESPN yrs ago.......... He noted Ali was moving, jabbing and piling up points while Norton stalked and threw hard blows into the midnite air....... Dr. Ferdie gave the nod to Ali by the slimmest of margins........

MR.BILL

 

Ali/Norton 3

Round 1: 10-9
Round 2: 10-9
Round 3: 10-9
Round 4: 10-9
Round 5: 9-10
Round 6: 9-10
Round 7: 10-9
Round 8: 9-10
Round 9: 10-9
Round 10: 9-10
Round 11: 9-10
Round 12: 9-10
Round 13: 9-10
Round 14: 9-10
Round 15: 10-9

142-143 Norton