Would we have been denied the classic fight with Holmes in 1978. Would Ali have retired? He would have had to fight shavers in 1977 (like ali). he could of won that fight but you dont like norton against punchers I see a Ali 4 in 1977.
Had he got the verdict Norton would not have made a good champion. He was the kind of contender who could only match the worlds best fighters. To be a champion you have to be better than the worlds best contenders. you can be the #1 contender and not be the best contender. In 76' Ali was no longer better than the worlds best but he knew how to mess them around and kid them into keeping things too close for a title to change hands. On reflection IMO there was always about two other contenders as good as or better than ken. perhaps norton could win a voluntary defence but not a mandatory. Maybe ken was robbed of getting a draw against ali, It was an unpopular verdict and ali did not look good but norton did not look like a champion in that fight. He let Ali conn him into not going flat out for a win like leon spinks did.
Norton said the last Ali robbery killed his drive to win. He went into the Holmes fight already feeling like a fighter who was leaving the game - though many think he won that fight as well. Norton's woefully underrated on ESB. In his prime he was world class.
Ali-Norton IV would have been an immediate rematch in early 1977, the biggest money bout Ken could defend the title with. There might have been enormous pressure for a title defense against Foreman, but Ali would have been a "safer" and more lucrative challenge. I think Muhammad gets it together for Norton IV, regains the title for a third time on a UD, then retires a year later to end his final reign without making a defense, leaving Norton to likely regain the vacated throne briefly before Holmes or Shavers topple him.
This is exactly what happened when Jimmy Young lost to Norton..conversely, he lost his drive to win again. Getting screwed over in the sport of boxing...at that high level of championship competition can drain a fighter of the much needed impetus necessary to win.,,,to commit himself. It's strange that Norton should say that about his fight with Holmes because he performed at a very high level of competitiveness..I'd say it all boiled down to Holmes' sheer will to win in that 15th and final round. One hell of a losing performance for a guy who had "lost his spark".
I find it hard to believe considering that he probably never showed as much heart as he did in the Holmes fight, where he took a real battering in some of the rounds only to rally back. If anything, it was the loss to Holmes that took the fight game out of him. A heart-breaking decision loss after a monumental effort at his age, that can take a mental and physical toll which you will never recover from. Against Shavers he looked like he thought he could weather Shavers's early storm by playing defense against the ropes, and that turned out to be a really dumb move on his part. He should have atleast made a stand by throwing punches back but instead let Shavers unload on him with vicious combinations.
He'd have taken an easy defense and then either been forced to defend against Foreman or Ali. Foreman would've regained the title. Norton would've beaten Ali again. Ken could've been champ for a year or so, depending if he was forced to fight Foreman or not.
Foreman was the ****ing Terminator. If he had had his head screwed on straight he could have reigned for years and years. Norton had the misfortune of being a great HW fighting in the toughest HW era in history.
It was a good era but you could be getting carried away. jose luis gonzales remember him? Shavers aced Norton and stander and quarry aced him. It made for an exciting era.
It was the The era of HW boxing. Other than Garcia, Norton's losses are to Ali (at least one of which is questionable) and Foreman. He was completely checked out of the sport by the time he fought Shavers and Cooney. He stopped Quarry. What are you talking about?
I think Ali needed money, so no he would not have retired. Norton was robbed, plain and simple. The real question is, did Shavers or Young do enough to defeat Ali. I have not scored the Shavers fight in years.
Interesting question. If the decision in the third Ali fight had gone Norton's way,who would Norton have fought. Foreman or Muhammad ? If there'd been an early rematch with Ali,then I reckon Ali,due to pride,may have been able to pull it all out one final time,to regain the title on a close decision. Ken knew,I think,that he could never have beaten Foreman,but he would have been confident of repeating his victory over Ali. Ken also knew that Ali stood more chance of beating Foreman than he,himself,did. Therefore it's not beyond the realms of probability that Ken would have attempted to make Muhammad a 'policeman' That is getting the boxing authorities to call for an Ali-Foreman eliminator,and hope for Ali to repeat his Kinshasa victory.