How can Holmes-Norton be considered very close?

Have not scored this one in a while, but I did a few years ago. I had Holmes up 2-3 rounds. A close, but clear decision for Holmes.

 

I don't remember my scorecard, but it was a razor close Holmes victory.

I wonder if Holmes would've lost to Peak Norton?

 

I don't think so.
I believe Holmes was genuinely injured for the Norton fight too.

 

Sorry i forgot about his bad shoulder.

 

:good
Yeah, I think it more than evens up Norton's slight past-primeness.

Still, Norton was a hard man to beat for anyone unless they possess dynamite punching power.

 

The whole controversy about the outcome of the scoring was contrived by Howard Cosell and ABC, who centered post fight coverage on the fact the judges somehow had it even after 14 rounds. Then, they rebroadcast only the last round and asked, "Did Holmes really win those final three minutes?"

Not one single person I was with in the large group who watched it live (at a big high school graduation party) believed Norton had the slightest chance to win going into that final round sans knockout, and every single one of us was rooting for Ken. Like Duran in Montreal, Larry should have had this one sewn up on the cards after ten. The real controversy is how the hell these judges could possibly have it even after 14 rounds, and I suspect the answer lies in the overwhelming pressure to project Norton as a viable alternative titlist to Leon Spinks after Ken was awarded the WBC belt in a smoke filled room.

As was the case in Montreal, the closeness of the final score was very misleading. And if you think the scoring was still somehow controversial, imagine the stink if Ken had somehow been awarded the decision.

Peak for peak, I think a Holmes unhampered by serious injury would outbox the Norton of Ali I & II and Jerry Quarry conclusively enough to secure a clear UD. In their second bout, Ali similarly swept the first several rounds from Ken, and Muhammad may not have been quite as good then as Larry was in Shavers I. (If the uninjured Holmes of Shavers I had shown up for Norton, nobody would be discussing who the rightful winner of Holmes-Norton was.)

 

larry was fighting with one arm for this fight

 

Absolutely. Ali was a globetrotting world champion, the most famous man in the world, and a heavyweight titleholder who had generated ten successful defenses in his second reign. He deserved an opportunity to regain the crown.

Ken did not make the most of his 1976 shot at Ali, while Leon dethroned him with balls to the wall abandon. The honorable thing was clearly to grant a return to a great deposed champion.

Is there a snowball's chance in hell that Norton ever could have produced as many as ten successful heavyweight defenses at any time in his career? Ali's final successful defense was against an opponent who crushes Ken in one round anytime they square off. In October 1980, Leon legitimately qualified for his shot at Holmes by stopping the huge and deadly Bernardo Mercado in nine, showing he could be a far better heavyweight than he's remembered as today. Does Ken ever avoid being knocked out by Mercado, let alone actually win?

Well, in any event, there doesn't appear to be much controversy about who deserved to win Holmes-Norton among the knowledgeable posters here in Classic, or among those who have taken the time to view the entirety of their bout when it's been available on youtube, as you have viewed and scored it.

 

I thought Holmes won it in the last rd. and may have been ahead going into the last rd but the fight was close a roller-coaster fight and it depends on what you look for or favor in fight more punches or the power shots...Jabs or hard head and body shots. It was a fight that certainly deserved a rematch.

By the way it was one of my favorite Holmes fight and a fight that made me take notice of his will to win

 

Holmes-Norton was a cliff-hanger!!! One of the very best heavyweight bouts, or for that matter of any weight..I believed that Holmes took it it that last round alone.

 

my score of Larry-Kenny was 8-7 for Larry

V.close fight

 

Not sure how true that is. The doctor told him that at the start it would be almost 100% and only if it got injured during the fight would it start to really hamper him again. Holmes never really expanded on how his arm held up that night (at least to my knowledge), so he may have been relatively untroubled.