Are there any adjustments Ken Norton could have made to whup Big George?

When he was absolutely switched on, George displayed impressive accuracy which he probably doesn’t get enough credit for. His gob smacking power eclipsed the fact of his getting home a high % of absolutely flush punches.

Foreman once said some of the shots he landed on Ali were the hardest he had ever laid on a man. I would respectfully disagree- imo Joe Frazier was the unfortunate recipient of said punches. Hit exactly as Frazier was by Foreman, I can not imagine any other ATG faring better than Joe did.

 

Few boxers in history would stand a chance against this focused beast of a man. You don't just make adjustments against a guy who just got blessed by his childhood hero (Joe Louis shook George's hand before the fight and said: "Relax, you are the champ.")

 

Foreman's last punch that ended the fight is pure horror.
They would fall: Briggs, Holyfield, Morrison, Young, and Muhammad Ali would also fall (he fell from Frazier's hook).
The point is not to get such a blow, and not to check your chin.

 

Any way? Um, no.

It was scheduled for 15 rounds. I don't know how many times they'd have to actually fight for them to be in the ring together for 15 rounds.

Maybe if Ken was 1973 Ken and George was 1993 44-year-old George who fought Morrison ... and Ken ran for his life like Morrison did, maybe. But Morrison only did it for 12 rounds and was near collapse at the end.

1974 Ken Norton vs 1974 George, no.

Too much pressure, too much power from George.

 

It’s crazy to think what difference it would’ve actually made to Norton just to have Ali’s chin.

Of course great skills are still very much required in complement.

No slight on the man but even though George Chuvalo was lucky enough to have George Chuvalo’s chin - we saw that a granite chin alone will only take you so far.

Norton was boxing well in Caracas - very nice opening round though he did look a bit tight - as he later admitted to.

After the first stanza, there was perhaps even a slight hint of concern on Foreman’s face come round 2

Any concern so early in a fight might sound irrational but in his previous 2 fights GF had, after all, heavily dented and damaged his opponents even before the 1st round was out.

By the time he faced Ken, GF would’ve been feeding off his short route victories and growing aura of invincibility, well and truly.

By the end of round 1, Norton was not only relatively unscathed but had actually established himself as being more than viable and competitive for the potential, ensuing rounds.

As it was, in round 2, Norton appeared to literally come undone when Foreman caught Ken moving away with a long right hand - which saw Ken go down a super fast slippery slope thereafter.

One punch that saw a heavily disrupted Ken opened up for bigger follow up punches shortly thereafter.

With Ali’s chin, Ken takes that single right BUT maintains his composure and form and simply continues on with the job.

He doesn’t need Ali’s chin 24/7 throughout the fight - he only needs it for the random bomb that gets through - Ken’s skills otherwise might reasonably cover whatever else he needs to do.

And those single, random bombs will always get through sooner or later.

Therefore, it is difficult to imagine Ken with Ken’s own chin adjusting when such single punches in their own right can bring him completely undone at anytime - no matter how well he might’ve been boxing and defending prior to.

 

Hold like crazy and take him into the later rounds. Don't mind the booing, hold on for dear life. Use that killer, woefully underused jab on every break, try the right hand then hold as if...naw, your life really does depend on it lol.

 

Norton had a very underrated jab that gave some very good fighters a fit. But against George it didn't matter, Foreman just walked through Norton and Kenny never had the ability to move laterally . He could have grabbed, held and flat run and he might have went a round or two longer.

 

If he could have made such adjustments, it's likely he would have already. He was a professional fighter, and had already seen what Foreman had done to a guy he trained with.

 

Foreman's style simply isn't viable, unless you have incredible reflexes, and ability to instinctively find your mark.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?
And while it was a myth that prime Foreman was slow-as Ali found out in the small but slow ring in Kinesha-what you claim is generally held true about Ali, not Foreman.

 

There is a reason why there are so few fighters with Foreman's style.

For the average fighter, it simply isn't viable, against people who can box.

To succeed with this style, you need to be fast, and you need fly by wire intuitive accuracy.

You also need to be able to give a punch and take one, but that is a side note.

Ali used his reflexes to hit without getting hit, while Foreman used his reflexes to hit first, and follow up when his opponent was hurt., and f*** the boxing manual if necessary.

Against Ali he obviously met his master in the reflexes department, and then it came down to his power being his only major advantage.

 

That style was viable and devastatingly so until he met a man named Ali who employed an offbeat strategy that still anchored itself in the ability to take a tremendous punch.

Foreman’s performances in first career thereafter (post Zaire) were of a fighter in psychological disrepair but still ultimately devastating for the most part. His return to metered output and technical form in the Frazier rematch actually held a lot of promise for future matches.

Imo, GF probably could’ve gone harder and dispatched Joe more quickly in the rematch but the exercise wasn’t just about winning that one fight asap, it was also about prepping GF for future bouts when a longer duration might be imposed upon him - therefore making it necessary for him to pace and conserve his energy - which he clearly did not do in Zaire.

He actually already had most of those attributes - pacing, metering of output etc. in place going all the way back to the Chuvalo fight - but fast and easy KOs generally followed thereafter and Foreman got taken over by his own aura of invincibility, seeing him dispense with otherwise very useful fundamentals due to literal lack of necessity.

Ultimately, supreme boxers are often the antidote to supreme punchers. Peralta provided insight as to how Foreman might be beaten but even he had to uphold notable durability and Foreman did adjust a bit for a better result in their rematch.

My point really was that while some of Foreman’s swings and executions might not have been copybook he found the mark extremely well - especially against guys that even Ali found difficult to hit at times - let alone nail absolutely flush as GF did.

The overriding perception was that Foreman’s power won the day but that power still had to find its targets - and Foreman notably found the mark with above average accuracy.

The most technical feature of George’s game was his jab, the fundamental platform to launch other punches - and while Ali‘s strategy and inherent evasiveness negated that jab somewhat it also didn’t appear that Foreman was necessarily focused on using that jab in Zaire - so taken up he was in trying to kill Ali asap.

 

I believe the footage you are referring to involved Norton trying to replicate speed and movement for Frazier's upcoming bout against Jimmy Ellis.

 

The way I see it, no matter how skilled they might be, ATGs will always have their chins severely tested multiple times - and the proof of their chins will lend heavily to winning fights that might otherwise have been lost - and lend also to the overall perception of their greatness and chances H2H against past and future masters who we suspect will put their durability to the rest.

Norton had a lot going for him - but not an ATG chin - and even then, it would’ve required an absolute top end ATG chin and excellent recuperative powers to survive Foreman….ladies and gentleman, ….introducing Muhammad Ali…