Is Ken Norton a Top 20 ATG Heavyweight?

Close but no cigar.

 

The story of Ken Norton.

 

I placed him in the top 25.. He has a huge win over Ali, along with good scalps over Young, Quarry, Cobb, Kirkman, Bobick and a few others.. Most of his losses were primarily to great fighters, some of which when he was past it, and of all the men who ever fought in a heavyweight ring, he was one of the best conditioned. He comes close to top 20, but as some have already stated, doesn't quite make it there. His resume lacked either that crowning point, or consistancy that many of the others had. For example, he did manage to beat a better fighter in Muhammad Ali than anyone Wlad ever beat, but Klit has far more victories over ranked opposition, a better record and more longevity as a champ.. Still he is a great fighter... Perhaps he might have appeared on a top 15-20 list back around 1980 or so, but since the inductions, of Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis, and Klit, I think he got bumped off that list..

 

I guess it turns on quality of best wins vs versatility.

Norton is strong on the former, but weak in terms of resume vs a wide variety of styles.

 

Agreed,

He did exceptionally well against the very best of technical boxers, but fell very short against the best of hitters.. Of course, there are few punchers who match up to the likes of Foreman, Shavers and Cooney, plus he fought two of those men when past his best, but we never saw how he'd do against otherwise, so it remanins a questionmark..

 

40: Cleveland Williams
39: Zora Foley
38: Tommy Burns
37: Michael Spinks
36: James Douglas
35: James Braddock
34: George Godfrey
33: Jimmy Bivins
32: Max Baer
31: Jerry Quarry
30: Tim Witherspoon
29: Bob Fitzsimmons
28: Jack Sharkey
27: Sam McVey
26: Joe Jeanette
25: Vitali Klitschko
24: Peter Jackson
23: Ken Norton
22: Joe Walcott (Jersey)
21: Gene Tunney
20: Riddick Bowe
19: Floyd Patterson
18: Max Schmeling
17: Ezzard Charles
16: Sammy Langford
15: Harry Wills
14: James Corbett
13: Sonny Liston
12: Joe Frazier
11: Mike Tyson
10: Lennox Lewis
9: James Jeffries
8: Jack Dempsey
7: Rocky Marciano
6: Evander Holyfield
5: Larry Holmes
4: Jack Johnson
3: George Foreman
2: Joe Louis
1: Muhammad Ali

23 IMO.

 

I think he has a solid case to be top20, he arguably beat most peoples number 1 2out of 3 times - well arguably 3 out of 3, past prime or not. Many of the top20 just didn't face Norton's level of competition

 

No, I did it a few years back, and to be honest I still think Vladimir is struggling to get on there.

Maybe time will make me more respectful of the brothers Klitschko, at the moment I resent them.

 

When Norton was the one with the punch in the match, he could be relentless against the best competition of all time.

When facing superior power, he shrank, only too ready to lie down.

I'm confident there have been 25 better overall heavyweights over 100 years.

Boxing was a Plan B for college attendee Norton. He himself said he was never totally "serious" about boxing. It was never this or nothing.

As Larry Holmes said, you can know a man by the way he fights. I respect Norton, but, in essence, to me he always seemed to be looking beyond the ring at something else, for something else.

Physically, Norton was amazing. Mentally in the fire, not so much.

 

He did give two of the top four all time heavyweights the toughest fights of their careers ... in addition he beat the absolutely best Jimmy Young ever ... however, against the monster hitters he froze up big time ... the question is how many were there that had the style to do that to Ken ?

 

i also rank vitali over bowe