Ali VS Norton III

I had the fight 10-5 Norton, watched ti several times but it's been at least 8 years since I watched it last. Terrible robbery, I struggled to give Ali 5 rounds.

 

Was actually referring to Magic Johnson, Muhammad's condition very obvious.

 

You're on target about Young there jowcol...underrated power. If he committed himself more to his shot, he wouldn't have been Jimmy Young.

 

As a previous post stated, the look on Ali's face as the verdict was being read said it all. He knew he lost that fight. I've re watched that fight numerous times and score it for Norton every time. It was a fairly close contest but there's no doubt who the winner was. The powers that be weren't quite ready yet to give up the biggest draw in the HW division, or all of boxing for that matter. If it was close, Ali wins. On a side note, I agree that Young won a close one against Norton....and he had more pop in his punches than given credit for. He tagged Ken with some fast crisp combos and kept him honest....and off of him for the most part.

 

i rewatched it about 6months back and gave it to Ali by a round. Yes, Ali may have thought he lost but it doesnt mean he did. Funny enough i thought Alis behaviour at the end of the 2nd fight indicated he thought he lost that, when he lashed out at drew brown. However, if kenny got the nod i wouldnt have argued. Close fight, coulda went either way, but no robbery

 

:deal

 

Didnt Mercante go on to explain how he judged a round by breaking it down into thirds? He gave kenny 1/3rd of the 15th and Ali 2/3rds of the 15th if memory serves me right. Ok, many would say it shouldnt have come down to the last round but ultimately it did

 

We were big Jimmy fans at the time. As an obvious sports fan jim don't you go back to your videos when you need a 'feel good' jolt on a bad day? The whole Secretariat triple crown effort brings tears to my eyes. Young-Norton? Check out that 10th round! Big bad Ken moving forward and gets nailed with a BIG right hand counter from Jimmy against the right ropes! We were going NUTS!

 

Norton I FEEL won close one

 

JM36 - I have always felt that Mercante's logic is flawed here. Say for example in the first minute (& how does Mercante know EZACTLY when each minute is up btw???) boxer A shades minute 1 & minute 2, but gets floored 3 times by boxer B in minute 3, does Mercante give the round to boxer Abecause he shaded minutes 1 & 2?

It doesn't stack up to me. I think it's a bull**** excuse & bull**** logic applied after the event to fit what happened in round 15 & justify what was an EXTREMELY poor decision.

Sadly I am old enough to have watched the fight at the time and remember too well the uproar and outcry this decision caused. My recollection is that even the die hard Ali fans admitted that Norton was robbed.

There is some revisionism on this subject these days, but I am glad that the large majority of this thread sees the decision for what it was - a bad decision at best, something more sinister to keep the Ali gravy train rolling at worst.