I thought Kenny murdered him and that Ali should never have fought again. Actually, I wish he'd never taken this fight. It was sad watching him get pounded and I share the opinion that he never beat Norton
Been a while since I watched it, but I remember having this as a solid 9-6 for Norton in rounds, or 144-141. One of those fights where nobody is totally dominating and where it could be, on paper, deemed 'close', but at the same time it's still clear who the better man was. I feel Norton was unlucky here, and as others have said I detest the hoary old notion that a challenger has to dominate a champion to take his title as it's basically an encouragement to ignore the rule book and score fights how you please...Although @Dubblechin makes an interesting point about how this was probably cemented more firmly in the judges' heads in 1976 than nowadays, rightly or wrongly.
It's not just that the three judges had it for Ali, if memory serves so did the AP and the UPI had it a draw. It really was Norton's fight to win, especially the 15th round which he gave to Ali by landing one punch in the first 2 mins. thirty seconds. Ken's corner didn't realize it was a draw after the 14th and gave horrible advice to Norton. Ali did what he could do and Norton pretty much let it be enough for the win.
"Ali said during an interview with Mark Cronin in October of 1976: "Kenny’s style is too difficult for me. I can’t beat him, and I sure don’t want to fight him again. I honestly thought he beat me in Yankee Stadium, but the judges gave it to me, and I’m grateful to them." 1976-09-28 : Ken Norton 217½ lbs lost to Muhammad Ali 221 lbs by UD in round 15 of 15 Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York, USA Referee: Arthur Mercante 6-8 Judge: Harold Lederman 7-8 Judge: Barney Smith 7-8 WBC World Heavyweight Title (8th defense by Ali) WBA World Heavyweight Title (8th defense by Ali) Notes This content is protected Ali was an 8 to 5 betting favorite. Ali said of Norton before the fight: "I'll knock the sucker out inside five rounds." At the time of the third Ali-Norton bout, the last time a heavyweight champion lost the title by decision was when Max Baer lost a fifteen-round unanimous decision to Jim Braddock in 1935. Ali was guaranteed $6 million plus 50% of all revenue over $9 million, and Norton was guaranteed $1 million plus 5% of all revenue. The fight was shown on closed circuit television in 300 locations in the United States and Canada. The live gate was announced as $3.5 million. New York City police officers were on strike, leaving thousands of fans to police themselves. There were unruly mobs outside of Yankee Stadium, which promoter Bob Arum said created an atmosphere of chaos and terror, reducing the walk-up sales on fight night from the expected 10,000 to just 10. Though the attendance was announced at over 30,000, Arum said that was the pre-sale and only about 19,000 people actually made it into Yankee Stadium. Norton said after the fight: "I won at least nine or ten rounds. I was robbed." Ali said after the fight: "I had just enough to win. I know I'm the winner." Ali said during an interview with Mark Cronin in October of 1976: "Kenny’s style is too difficult for me. I can’t beat him, and I sure don’t want to fight him again. I honestly thought he beat me in Yankee Stadium, but the judges gave it to me, and I’m grateful to them." The January 1998 issue of Boxing Monthly ranked Ali-Norton III as the fifth most disputed title fight decision in history. Unofficial AP scorecard: 9-6 Ali; unofficial UPI scorecard: 8-7 Norton. Fight Poster, Photo #2, Photo #3. Articles "Ali and Norton in war of words" Glasgow Herald, September 23, 1976 "Norton Claims, 'I Was Robbed'" Milwaukee Sentinel, September 29, 1976 "Ali Plain Lucky To Win Decision" Milwaukee Sentinel, September 29, 1976 "Norton thinking of retirement" UPI, September 29, 1976 "Judges' 'Rally' Decisive" by Dick Young, New York News, September 30, 1976 "Debate May Rage Infinitely" AP, September 30, 1976 "A night to remember in the Bronx" by Wallace Matthews, ESPN, June 3, 2010 "The real action was outside the Stadium" by Michael Woods, ESPN, June 4, 2010 "Ken Norton will be remembered as one of the best heavyweights ever" by Dwayne McClary, The Grio, September 19, 2013 See Also Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton (1st meeting) Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton (2nd meeting)
Ken Norton said that he never was the same after that fight. He didn't put the same dedication to his training.
Ken Norton won the 15th clearly. Ali was dancing around jabbing short and Ken was brushing them off looking to get inside. Eventually he landed 3 or 4 solid rights and a few body punches. If the fight was 7-7 going into the last round Norton still won.
I'd been hearing about this fight for years as a notorious robbery before I got around to watching it and realised how close it was. Then I found out that, despite the famous "Japan won World War II" comment, the ringside press were split down the middle as well. http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...BInAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UwMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1189,2637077 It's amazing really how quick people are to accuse a referee as respected and experienced as Arthur Mercante of being either spellbound by Ali's charisma or corruptly favouring him to ensure future profits for promoters. On no evidence beyond the fact that they've seen the fight on fuzzy 1970s video and come up with a different score.
It was a close fight imo. I've seen it again fairly recently and scored it 8-7 Ken, but I can also see why it could be scored a draw or even 8-7 Ali. The thing is, Ali had the charisma and got the close decisions as champ. Ken didn't really seize the moment and didn't amp up the pressure at vital times in some of those rounds imo, because if he had, I think he had the beating of Ali that night. Maybe Norton lacked a little self-belief in the moment and maybe wily Ali conned him a bit.
He was respected as a referee. As a judge? IDK maybe it's a good thing they stopped having the referee score fights. Merchante isn't above reproach.
+1 Ali was that. He knew how to verbally hit the right spots to aggravate people, that's for sure. The look on Foreman's face after the fourth round of his Ali fight was that of a humiliated (and imo scared) person. Frazier and Norton weren't psyched out by Ali...Norton was even shoved by Holmes the day of that fight and Norton just went about his business. They weren't easily perturbed. A chink in the armor of Ali. Even when he was arguably still in his prime (Frazier I) he couldn't beat a fighter who saw through his mean taunts and red herrings, especially one who had a serious personal grudge against him (and BOY did Frazier have that, perhaps like no other Ali opponent before or since).
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Had Kenny won the title that nite Ali's standing wouldn't be any less than it is now. He may have retired sooner. His legacy was secured. They were all tactical fights. You can make a decent case Ali won the 2nd fight.
