Did Larry Holmes give Ken Norton more trouble than Muhammad Ali?

Kenny Norton said after he " lost" to Ali in 1976 he never trained with the same zest again. Perhaps he was a bit jaded. He got bigger but he wasn't anywhere near as quick as the 1973 version that fought Ali twice.

 

According to the 'you gotta take it from the champ' line of thinking it was awfully close and a tough way to lose the title.
When Ali was getting decisions that was the mantra...'you gotta take it from the champ'. Suddenly Kenny loses his title by a grasshoppers eyelash.

 

I'd say Norton had about equal difficulty with Holmes and Ali. Holmes dominated the first half of the fight in a way that indicated he was a step above Norton. Then Norton came on in the second half and tagged Holmes a lot. If Norton had not lost the last twenty second or so of the final round, he might have won the fight. It was that close.