Floyd Patterson v. Ken Norton

Ken Norton by KO

 

Floyd Patterson wins by decision. Ken Norton would follow him around the ring with his cross-arm defense, and duck his way out of sufficient damage early. Patterson's peek-a-boo defense would work well, but Patterson probably would be hit more in the early rounds, as Norton would likely swing around that.


But later in the fight, Patterson's general speed would be the deciding factor. He'd throw in combination more often, and double up on his jab. Norton's response to this would be to throw one punch at a time as his accuracy would gradually drop. The scores begin to tilt in Patterson's favor, and Patterson opens up more and more. By the 11th or 12th round Patterson is comftorably ahead, and he caps the fight by dominating the last round.

Patterson W12 Norton

 

Patterson has the power and speed advantage. It's a good battle for a while until Patterosn bores in on him, breaks him down, and brutally stops him late.:good

 

I'd agree. It's always difficult to pick Patterson fights simply because many are fooled by his two Liston debacles. But in these match-up scenarios, you naturally have to take the best of the two boxers. That undoubtedly would be the Patterson who fought Ingaemar Johanson in their rematch. That Patterson not only had the fastest Heavyweight hands the boxing world had seen at that time, but real power. I don't think Ken Norton, despite his strength and fine technique, I don't think he could handle the best Patterson.

 

Hard one to call, but I think Norton punched harder and I also think he had the slightly better chin. Floyd's handspeed would of course be an advantage, but how many 200+ lbs guys did Patterson beat? Norton had great strength and stamina, and good power and speed for a guy his size.

 

Patterson beat Bonavena (205 lbs.), Jimmy Ellis (200 lbs., and I mention Ellis because ALL who saw that fight know who the real winner was), George Chuvalo (210 lbs., Great Fight), Eddie Machen, Johannson (210 lbs, Two KO's), Brian London, the list goes on.

Saying he couldn't defeat Norton because of his resume against larger opposition just doesn't hold enough weight.

Patterson W12 Norton

 

I checked his record and, yeah, he did beat quite a lot 200+ pounders. According to Boxrec Ellis and Machen was 198 when they met and Johansson 195 when Patterson KO'd him the first time, though. Just to set the record straight.

 

Yup. Floyd takes this one.

 

I wouldn't say Norton had a weak chin against punchers. Move forward punchers would always beat Norton simply because Norton needed his opponent to move away from him as a basis for his overall style. Norton's worst performances typically came against fighters who simply would not back up. When forced backward, Norton relied on opening up and firing back (which left him open to be nailed) rather than counterpunching and looking for openings.

His style failed him against punchers more than his chin, in my opinion.

 

Great matchup! I lean towards Patterson by close decision.

 

Agreed. Patterson I think would use his power and unbelieviable handspeed to back Norton up and Norton had a lot of trouble fighting that way. It seemed to be a problem with his style and defensive technique: it was good on the front foot because it made him like a fortress, but on the back foot it limited his mobility severely, which is why Foreman and Shavers were able to walk him down so easily.

Patterson may not have the power of Foreman, Shavers or Cooney, but he had a lot of speed in hands (obviously) but also in his feet, his upper-body movement and his head movement. Patterson certainly had enough power that, combined with his speed, made him a very daunting prospect. He also wasn't THAT much smaller than Shavers who had no problems finding Norton. While Floyd had a poor chin I don't think Norton had the power to be assured of cracking it; Floyd was easy to put down but it took a great puncher to keep him down and that's just not Norton. I also think Patterson had better punch-variety and recovery skills in comparison to Norton, even if he didn't have quite as good a jab or balance.

In the Rabbit vs. the Crab, Patterson would win by TKO in around the third to fifth round, after considerable toe-to-toe exchanges with both men hitting the deck. Norton would freeze up at some point and take too many punches for the ref to let it go on.

 

Wait, Floyd's power wasn't "great"?

His power was unbelievable considering his size.

 

We all saw what happened did to a top heavyweight with a turtle shell defense(archie moore)..........I like patterson by Kayo in this one.

 

Norton takes this one, likely via TKO. Norton would not fear Patterson. He was bigger, hit harder, and likley took a better punch. Patterson has a small edge on speed, but Norton has a big edge on range, and was pretty fast himself. Norton's body punching was great. Its a wonder why he doesn't get much credit here. suspect its because the Norton vs Ali fights are seldom replayed.